“As they go through the Valley of Baca”
-Psalm 84
Oh Valley of Baca, the Valley of Weeping, the valley of dark anguish and dry, barren ground… How you taunt your travelers. How you loom ahead as a daunting path of shadows and drudgery… You make your sojourners weep…
Are you amidst the dark, mean, rocky walls of a valley? Do you look ahead and see its path stretch forward, with no hint of an end?
Does it feel that at times, even when you look up, you can barely see the sun’s light or feel the familiar comfort of its warmth?
Where is the light? Where is the warmth? Why this valley? Why so dry? So many tears, so much weeping…
Psa 84:5-6 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; (KJV “a well”)
Digging valley wells is no mean feat, and requires a special, super-natural strength. It requires a special kind of hope.
Rom 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
To dig a well means you believe the water will come.
Well digging requires faith and focus. It’s hard work. It’s looking for the right spot, putting your shovel into the ground, and lifting the dreaded soil one load at a time.
It’s, though tired and weary, turning the page of your bible with seeking and expectant eyes.
“Speak Lord”
It’s doing the next thing in your agenda and believing that each task is another shovel full of dirt removed in the valley, and more room for sweet waters of refreshment to come. It’s pushing through the depressing darkness and batting off the enemy’s darts of discouragement and despair.
“Give up, turn back, go home,” he screams through the shadows. “Get out, find an easier path,” his voice can be constant and his suggestions unending.
At times you’re tempted to listen, yes, sometimes ready to drop your shovel and run… but you know he’s a liar, and that nothing worth living for lies beyond the path God has carved out for you. You are right where you’re meant to be, digging a hole in the drought of the Weeping Valley. Your hands shake with weakness, your mind grows tired in the strain, you dig and weep and dig and weep….you build your well…. and
“…the early rain also covers it with pools.
They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion…”
RAIN. Sweet refreshing rain. God given, heavenly showers! The labor was worth it, the hole is filled with revitalizing life. You drink your fill and wash your weary and worn body in the long awaited waters. You are stronger than ever and ready to move further through the valley.
Now, not only are you more experienced in well digging, your body has adapted to the work and your mind is ready for the next hole digging season. Most exciting of all, God has used you to make something that other valley sojourners can drink from. There in your past, is a well, that when others pass by and see it, they can drink from and gain strength from the journey.
Oh Baca, oh Valley of Weeping… was it here amidst your arid pathways, with solid rock towering high on each side that God collected all my tears and put them in a bottle? Did He turn those bitter waters sweet and shower them down in this valley to make a lasting well and a monument to His supernatural grace, hope and strength?
Psa 56:8 “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle.”
Psa 84:11-12 “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!”
There in the valley, all along, the Lord is your sun, your shield, and your strength. Though the sunshine of life doesn’t always shine, the Lord brings what we need, in constant abundance.
Psa 84:1 “How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!”
Gods dwelling place is anywhere you find yourself. Valley and mountain, He is the lovely dwelling place your soul longs for.
Psa 84:4 “Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah”
Blessed is the one who trusts in you Heavenly Father.
Blessed is the one who praises you Almighty God.
Blessed is the one who, while digging wells in valleys, sings sweet songs of worship and feels the inner sunshine of God’s Spirit.
Blessed is the one who takes a break from digging, lifts their shovel to the sky and screams “HOW LOVELY IS YOUR DWELLING PLACE OH LORD OF HOSTS!”
Blessed is the one whose heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Blessed is that one whose soul longs and aches for God’s presence.
Blessed is that one, who digs and praises and praises and digs.
Blessed is that one who confuses the enemy and causes him to run screaming from a place once dark with despair, now illuminated with Holy Ghost hope.
Blessed is the one who knows “a day in your courts is better!”
Better than a thousand elsewhere.
Better than an easy life.
Better than riches and temporary success.
Better than acceptance.
Better than fame.
Psa 84:5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
Blessed are the ones with a constant vision of their glorious home in heaven and He who we long for standing with open arms.
“Well done good and faithful well digger…well done”