Tuesday, May 20th, 2025
I did some end of the day Bible reading recently and when I asked God where I should be reading, He led me to Psalm 84. The title of that chapter is The Blessedness of Dwelling in the House of God. Well, I thought, that’s a great way to start. That has been my desire lately. I don’t want to just visit with God every once in a while, I want to dwell there without ceasing. I want my every thought and decision to come from a place of intimate dwelling with the Lord.
In today’s blog I am going to focus on two verses from that chapter, verses 5 and 6:
5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
They make it a spring;
The rain also covers it with pools.
This is the cry of my heart. I am tired of failing at trying to find my strength in anything but God. The more we continue to look for strength from a lesser source the more we will discover how weak we are. When we finally accept and embrace this weakness, then God’s strength has the ability to come alive within us.
I want to look more closely at verse 6. There are a few key words that will bring life to this verse. First, let’s look at the Valley of Baca. This name literally means the Valley of Weeping. The people who make God their strength are able to go through a season of sadness and tears and turn it into a flowing spring. The Blue Letter Bible says that the Hebrew word for spring here also means a fountain and a figurative source of satisfaction. Sign me up for that! The last word I want to look at here is pools. This word in Hebrew means blessing. In 2 Chronicles 20:26 this same Hebrew word shows up for the Valley of Berachah. Jehoshaphat had just defeated the people of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir and the people assembled in the Valley of Berachah so they could bless the Lord for their victory.
Those whose hearts are set on the ways of the Lord will go from a Valley of Baca to a Valley of Berachah, or from a Valley of Weeping to a Valley of Blessing. This is the Biblical way of saying they will make lemonade out of lemons. Again, sign me up for that!
Final Thoughts…
Lord, we want to be a people like this. Everywhere we set our foot, we want springs of life to well up from them. No matter what valley of weeping, heaviness, pride, anger, fear, or any other darkness we find ourselves in we want to leave fountains of satisfaction and overflowing pools of blessing behind us. That we would not only be immune to the darkness, but that we would eradicate the darkness and leave a wake of Your presence that draws others into your healing love and grace.