Why can't they all be mountain top experiences?

Our text today is in the book of Matthew.  We are going to be reading from

Matthew 3:16 - 4:1

Lets begin reading.

16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 

17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Jesus is having what we would call a mountain top experience.  Meaning that everything seemed to be going well. It is those times when you find out you got an A on that test you were studying so hard for, or you got the promotion at work.  That is a mountain top experience.  

For me I had a mountain top experience 12 years ago when I proposed to my girlfriend and she said yes to being my wife. We had an engagement of about six months and were married in July.  

But… Before we were married my grandmother passed away.  She lived to see us engaged but not to see us married.  

That is a valley experience.  Where everything seems to go wrong.  Nothing you do works out.  Depression and defeat are on all sides of you.  

Have you ever noticed that after the mountain top experience there is a valley experience?  Why can't we stay on the mountain top all the time?

Jesus even went through the valley experience several times. He has just had a mountain top experience when God said:  "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

Then if we keep reading in our text we find out just after that…

4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

You see?  Even Jesus who was God in the flesh had valley experiences.  He was on a mountain top just before, then led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.  

Question: Why can’t we just have mountain top experiences? 

Answer:  Because: Nothing grows on a mountain top. It only grows in the valley.

Think about every mountain top you have ever seen pictures of.  What is up there?  Rich plant life?  Nope.  Nothing growing.  Just rock and snow.

Now think about a valley.  Rich plant life?  Yep.  Valleys are alive with plants and animals.  

So God doesn't let us just have mountain top times,  he lets have times in the valley too.  He wants us to lean on him.  To grow closer to him.  To trust him more.  

This seems to be a pattern.  After the mountain top experience, God leads us into the valley.  Then in the valley, the enemy comes to attack us. It is here that we are tempted to complain even as the people did to Moses in Exodus 14:11-12.  We want to have a pity party and say, Woe is me.   What did I ever do?  When instead we should be saying “Lord what do you want me to learn from this?”  This is harder to do than to say. 

But Matthew 19:26 says:

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Just because we have a valley experience does not mean that we can't have victory in the valley.