Have you discovered that mountaintop experiences with God are often followed much too

quickly by a visit to the pit? You have a sweet season of intimacy with the Father, and then

BAM! – a personal attack or a vicious display of evil surrounds you. You certainly didn’t see

THAT coming! I have to believe that those special mountaintop moments with God are meant to

strengthen us for times in the valley. And even though we may be flabbergasted and blindsided

by unjust attacks, we must remember God’s faithfulness – and trust Him to be with us in the

valley just as he was with us on the mountaintop.

Soon after Stephen was doing those amazing things because of God’s grace and power (a

mountaintop moment), something happened:

… some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves … started to debate with him. None of

them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke. So they

persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, “We heard him blaspheme Moses,

and even God.” This roused the people, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So

they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council. The lying witnesses said,

“This man is always speaking against the holy Temple and against the law of Moses. We

have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the Temple and change the

customs Moses handed down to us.” (Acts 6:9-14)

Stephen’s accusers had no words of truth for their part of the debate, so they resorted to lies

and lying witnesses. That’s what mean people do when confronted with truth – they have to

make up stuff. And that’s what they did to Stephen.

In the room where the high council was meeting, you can imagine the faces staring at Stephen

waiting to see what he might have to say to these false accusations. All eyes on Stephen. And

then… God gave them a visual they would never forget:

And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an

angel. (Acts 6:15)

Does that just take your breath away? All those hate faces waiting for him to respond in anger;

and instead, they saw what appeared to be the face of an angel – the face of one who fully

trusted that the God of the mountaintops was also the God of the valleys, a face that reflected

the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness… and

self-control.



Look in your mirror: what kind of face do you see? Probably not the face of an angel. But is it

the face of God’s love?

By Judy Shrout