Big Buts of the Bible

An excerpt from Chapter 17.

Read Matthew 17:1–3, 9, 14–21

Most of us would gladly choose the mountaintop.

Those are the moments when God’s presence seems unmistakable. Prayer feels natural. Worship comes easily. Scripture comes alive. We leave church encouraged, a conversation with a friend strengthens us, or God answers a prayer in a way we couldn’t have imagined. For a little while, faith seems almost effortless.

The disciples experienced a moment like that on the Mount of Transfiguration. They saw Jesus in His glory. They heard the voice of the Father. They stood in the company of Moses and Elijah. It was the kind of experience you would never forget.

But they couldn’t stay there.

Neither can we.

The very next scene takes them into a valley where a desperate father is pleading for his suffering son, the other disciples have failed to help, confusion fills the air, and everyone is wondering what went wrong.

Doesn’t life often feel that way? One day you’re standing on the mountain, convinced God is near. The next you’re wondering why your prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling.

One day you’re filled with hope. The next you’re trying simply to make it through the afternoon.

Notice what doesn’t change. Jesus.

He is just as present in the valley as He was on the mountain.

The circumstances changed. The scenery changed. The emotions changed. Jesus did not.

When He speaks about the disciples’ lack of faith, He isn’t scolding people for having difficult emotions. He’s inviting them to remember what they’ve already seen. The same Savior who was revealed in glory on the mountain is standing beside them in the valley below.

That’s what faith learns to do.

The writer of Hebrews says, “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

Hope looks forward. Faith looks beyond what is immediately visible.

Sometimes God gives us mountaintop moments to remind us of who He is before leading us into valleys where we’ll need to remember.

Perhaps you’re walking through one of those valleys today. You can’t see what God is doing. You don’t understand why the path has become so difficult. You wonder if He’s still there.

Matthew 17 offers a gentle reminder: The Jesus who shines with glory on the mountain is the same Jesus who walks into brokenness in the valley.

He hasn’t gone anywhere. He’s still teaching. Still comforting. Still touching fearful hearts. Still meeting desperate people. Still calling us to trust Him, even when we cannot yet see what He sees.

Maybe that’s where broken stories meet God’s grace today.

Not in avoiding the valleys. But in discovering that the One who met us on the mountaintop never stopped walking beside us when the path led downhill.