Refreshment in Our Valleys

The Bible shows us that God walks with us in our valleys, whether they be the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23) or a valley of another variety. By studying and meditating on the Bible, we can learn how to positively handle the disappointments of life, and to discern the comforting truth found in God’s Word. We can be encouraged and learn to deal with the waves of trials, depression, and discouragement that threaten to flood our souls. Hidden in the Psalms are portraits of what faith looks like in times of trial.

Keys for our victory are to:

remember what God has done (Psalm 77)
hide in His presence (Psalm 46)
cling to Him (Psalm 63)
praise Him for all we cannot see (Psalm 84)

The glorious promise from Psalm 84 is that as we walk through the "valley of weeping," it can be turned into a place of blessing.

Psalm 84

1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,(valley of weeping)
they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.
8 Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty;
listen to me, O God of Jacob.
9 Look upon our shield, [c] O God;
look with favor on your anointed one.
10 Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
12 O LORD Almighty,
blessed is the man who trusts in you.

The Psalm says "passing through the valley of Baca, they make it a well." This valley of Baca appears to have been a very perilous pass, through which pilgrims journeyed toward Jerusalem—and on account of the difficulties, dangers, and sufferings that they met with, it was named "the valley of Baca," or 'the valley of weeping,' 'the valley of tears.'

And is not this very emblematical and figurative of the valley of tears through which God's people journey in their course heavenward? There are many circumstances which draw tears from their weeping eyes. Depend upon it, if, in the course of your life, you have never known anything of this valley of Baca, you will someday. Parts of life can indeed be a valley of tears for the Lord's family, a "valley of Baca," which they have to pass through in the journey to the heavenly city.

But the Psalmist says, "Blessed is the man in whose heart are the ways of them, who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well." And David, thinking of water wells dug for the pilgrims, applies them spiritually to the refreshment of God's living water available for God's people.