There are moments in life when everything seems to be going your way. The future looks bright. Doors are opening. Prayers are being answered.
And then there are valleys.
Scripture never promises us a valley-free life. In fact, when Israel was preparing to enter the Promised Land, God described it as “a land of hills and valleys” (Deuteronomy 11:11 NLT).
David understood this too. In perhaps the Bible’s best-known description of suffering, he wrote:
“Even when I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will not be afraid,
for you are close beside me.”
—Psalm 23:4 (NLT)
Notice what David did not say. He didn’t say he avoided the valley. He didn’t find a shortcut around it.
He walked through it.
That one word matters. Valleys are places we pass through, not places where we are meant to live forever.
So when we find ourselves in a difficult season, the question isn’t only, How do I get out of this?
It’s also: What should I do while I’m here?
The Bible gives us several practical answers.
1. Remember That the Valley Is Not Your Destination
Valleys have a way of distorting our perspective.
When we’re surrounded by uncertainty, loss, disappointment, or fear, our immediate circumstances can become all we see. A difficult chapter begins to feel like the whole story.
But Psalm 23 gives us a larger perspective.
David says, “Even when I walk through the darkest valley” (Psalm 23:4 NLT). Two verses later, he says, “I will live in the house of the LORD forever” (Psalm 23:6 NLT).
We walk through valleys. We dwell with God.
One is temporary. The other is permanent.
That’s why hope is so important during difficult seasons. In Psalms 42 and 43, the psalmist repeatedly speaks to his own discouraged soul:
“Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!”
—Psalm 42:5 (NLT)
Sometimes we spend too much time listening to our emotions and not enough time speaking truth to them.
Grief may be real. Fear may be real. Disappointment may be real. Scripture does not require us to deny any of those things.
But what you are feeling today does not have to become your identity, and what you are experiencing now does not define your future.
The valley is a season, not your final destination.
2. Invite the Holy Spirit Into Your Valley
One of Scripture’s most dramatic valleys appears in Ezekiel 37.
God takes Ezekiel to a valley filled with dry human bones. Israel was in exile, and those bones represented a people who believed their future was gone: “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off” (Ezekiel 37:11 NIV).
Then God asks Ezekiel a remarkable question: “Son of man, can these bones live?” (Ezekiel 37:3 NIV).
From a human perspective, the obvious answer was no. But Ezekiel wisely replied, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”
God then instructed Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones. Eventually he commanded him to call for breath to enter the bodies, and they stood alive.
There’s an important detail in this passage. The Hebrew word ruach can mean wind, breath, or spirit. The valley changed when the breath of God entered what looked dead.
That gives us an important picture of what to do in a valley: invite the Spirit of God into the places that seem hopeless.
Maybe what looks like dry bones in your life is a broken relationship. Maybe it is a calling you abandoned, a financial setback, a disappointment you cannot shake, or a future that no longer looks anything like the one you imagined.
We should be careful not to assume that every lost dream will be restored exactly as we want it. Scripture doesn’t promise that.
What Scripture does show us is that God is present in the valley and capable of doing what we cannot.
So pray.
Ask the Holy Spirit to give you his perspective. Ask him to breathe fresh hope into you. Ask him to show you what obedience looks like today.
The presence of dry bones does not mean God has left the valley.
3. Look for Purpose in the Valley
When something painful happens, one of our first questions is usually Why?
- Why did God allow this?
- Why did this relationship end?
- Why did I lose this opportunity?
- Why am I still waiting?
Sometimes there is an identifiable reason. Often there isn’t.
That means there may be a more fruitful question than What is the purpose for this valley?
Ask instead: What is my purpose in this valley?
That changes the direction of our attention.
Instead of endlessly looking backward for an explanation, we can look upward to God and outward toward the people around us.
- What can I learn?
- Who can I encourage?
- What can God change in me?
- What act of obedience is available to me today?
- Where is God already at work?
That distinction matters because searching for a reason can keep us circling around the past, while seeking purpose gives us a way to move faithfully in the present.
Scripture repeatedly teaches that difficult seasons can produce something within us. Romans 5:3–4 says that suffering produces perseverance, character, and hope. James 1:2–4 similarly teaches that the testing of faith develops perseverance.
That doesn’t mean pain itself is good or that we should rush someone through grief. Sometimes the first faithful response is simply to grieve, breathe, and regain our bearings.
But pain does not get the final word.
God can grow fruit in places we would never have chosen to visit.
4. Let Scripture Nourish You Instead of Simply Reading More of It
When we’re struggling, Christians often tell us to “read the Bible more.”
That’s good advice — but quantity isn’t always what we need most.
Joshua 1:8 instructs Joshua to meditate on God’s Word “day and night.” Biblical meditation means slowing down enough to think deeply about Scripture, understand it, remember it, and put it into practice.
In a valley, you may not need to race through three chapters just so you can check a box on a reading plan.
You may need one verse that you truly digest.
As you read, ask questions such as:
- Who wrote this passage, and to whom?
- What was happening when it was written?
- What does this reveal about God?
- How does it point me toward Jesus?
- What truth do I need to believe?
- What practical step can I take today?
The goal isn’t simply to get through Scripture. It is to let Scripture get into us.
Especially in difficult seasons, slowing down with the Bible can give us strength and nourishment that hurried reading cannot. Even one verse, carefully understood and applied, can become something we carry through the day.
5. Keep Doing the Next Good Thing
Some valleys last longer than we expect.
We pray for God to change something, and nothing seems to happen. Weeks become months. Sometimes months become years.
What do we do while we wait?
Galatians 6:9 gives remarkably practical advice: “Let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up” (NLT).
Waiting on God is not necessarily passive. There are things only God can do. But there are often things he has placed in our hands to do today:
- Fill out another application.
- Make the phone call.
- Forgive again.
- Serve someone.
- Ask for help.
- Rest when you need to rest.
- Pray — and then obey.
The timing may be in God’s hands, but there is often still something in ours: a step to take, a gift to use, a person to bless, or a good work to continue.
And don’t underestimate slow progress.
Galatians 6:9 connects harvest with refusing to give up. Hebrews 10:36 says, “Patient endurance is what you need now” (NLT).
Some valleys are more like marathons than sprints. The faithful response may not be dramatic. It may simply be to slow down, pace yourself, and keep moving.
God Is With You in the Valley
The most important truth about valleys may also be the simplest.
God is there.
David did not say, “I will not be afraid because I understand why this is happening.” He said, “I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me” (Psalm 23:4 NLT).
- Sometimes God changes the valley.
- Sometimes he changes us in the valley.
- Sometimes he shows us a path we could never have seen from the mountaintop.
But he does not abandon us there.
So if you find yourself walking through a valley today, remember: you are walking through it.
Put your hope in God. Invite the Holy Spirit into the places that seem lifeless. Look for purpose instead of demanding explanations. Slow down with Scripture. Keep doing the next good thing.
And above all, keep your eyes on the Shepherd walking beside you.
The valley is real.
But it isn’t home.
Are you in the valley, feeling like you’re under spiritual attack? In What to Do in a Valley by Jabin Chavez, discover the transformative power of the Holy Spirit’s gym, where trials become the pathway to strength and spiritual growth.
Take life’s valleys as not mere challenges but divine appointments designed to refine and strengthen your faith in this deep exploration of Psalm 23:4-6. You may be at your worst, but that’s when God can do his best work in your life. Take heart and use this opportunity to growth spiritual strength and wisdom as He walks alongside you offering encouragement and spiritual insight.
Jabin Chavez is a pastor, artist, podcast host, and highly sought after speaker who has a long track record of growing departments, ministries, and organizations. After five years serving at the influential Free Chapel under Pastor Jentezen Franklin, in 2018 Jabin Chavez and his wife Shanen decided to plant City Light Church in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is also the founder of Jabin Chavez Ministries, a multi-cultural and multi-generational ministry that is helping lead people to Jesus, through which he speaks and leads worship all over the country and the world. Chavez has spoken widely at influential churches and conferences and hosts the Jabin Chavez Leadership Podcast. He lives and ministers in Las Vegas, Nevada, with his wife Shanen and their kids.
