Beautiful Redemption in the Valleys of Our Pilgrimage

A Restful, Refreshing Retreat

Almost three weeks ago, I had the joy of attending a four-day retreat called Abide hosted by Sixty-One Acres (SixtyOneAcres.com) and Spacious Place, a retreat center in Okeechobee, Florida. It was such a beautiful, refreshing time. There were thoughtful lessons, amazing home-cooked meals, stunning sunrises, lots of laughter, sweet surprises, and best of all, a lavish amount of personal time just to abide with Jesus. One of the Scriptures we read was Psalm 84. Here are some things the Lord has been showing me as I have continued to meditate on this Scripture.

Psalm 84:5-7

Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a spring; the rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion. Psalm 84:5-7 

Blessed is the man whose strength is in You…

We are blessed if we know and believe that our strength is found in God alone. If we  understand and acknowledge that all of our physical, spiritual, and material strength, our wealth and prosperity, our health and well-being, our inner-fortitude, integrity, and confidence is in Him, and sustained by Him. 

Acts 17:28

For in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).

Isaiah 41:10

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10).

He strengthens us, He helps us, and He upholds us. 

If God is the one upholding us, we experience what it means to be blessed. When we have God’s blessing, He is offering us His favor, His protection, and His peace. When God’s favor is over my life, I can see His hand in everything. I see Him working within me, in my relationships, in my circumstances—every aspect of my life. 

Whose heart is set on pilgrimage…

A pilgrimage is a journey. When we are a part of God’s kingdom, our understanding of ‘home’ changes. We begin to understand that this is not home… we are sojourners, people who are on a journey. But we are not on a wandering, aimless journey. Our journey is like a pilgrimage. We are walking this journey with Jesus, and we are partnering with Him to bring forth His Kingdom here on earth. Our journey is not without purpose and destination. 

Inherent in pilgrimage is movement.  We are in motion, we are not stagnant, standing still, or settling down. Knowing there is purpose in our journey, we continue forward with definite direction toward our destination. Yes, it’s tempting to settle down into being satisfied with our ‘creature comforts.’ But when my heart is set on pilgrimage, I can’t settle or stop or quit. So I stay the course, listening for Holy Spirit to direct my next steps.

Don’t misunderstand me—we need rest, and we need a house to live in, and we can call that place “home.” But there is an eternal Home that we long for when we embrace God’s Kingdom reality.

The Lord is drawing us, inviting us to set our hearts on the pilgrimage we are taking with Holy Spirit, and to live as sojourners, traveling through a ‘foreign land.’ 

As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a spring…

Most translations will provide a footnote giving the meaning of Baca which is “weeping.”

And we know that a spring is a source of water, which is sustenance and life. Spring here is also defined as a ‘source of satisfaction.’

So … 

As they pass through the Valley of Weeping, they make it a source of satisfaction.  

How can sorrow and weeping be a source of satisfaction? 

We must all, at times, travel through the Valley of Weeping, where we experience challenges, difficulties, and loss. Pain and grief are part of the human experience. 

In His great kindness, doesn’t the Lord meet us in times and seasons of grief? He journeys close beside us, even carrying us at times. He comforts us, He counsels us, He reminds us of all the ways He has brought us through before. In these times He may also be revealing hurts or wounds we are harboring from the past. And in fact, He may be wanting to heal our hearts of more than just the pain of our current loss. 

Intimacy With Jesus

When we journey with Jesus through seasons of pain or hardship, the intimacy we experience with Him becomes our source of life, our source of satisfaction.

My healing journey was this to me. Three years of counseling and inner-healing was a long season of grieving. Yet through the grieving and the healing that I found in the process, I was given back my life. And I wouldn’t trade that season for anything. My Valley of Weeping became a life-giving spring to me… and as that living water flows out from within me, it can become a source of strength and encouragement to others.

In the Valley, Not Beyond It

Note here… that this Scripture does not support the idea of “putting the past behind us” without first facing it, as I have often heard people say. The spring is made in the valley, not beyond it, and I believe this is very purposeful language. We don’t ‘move on’ to happier times to find the spring.. They make it (the Valley of Weeping) a spring.  

The place of weeping is the very place where the spring is birthed… the place of weeping is where we meet the Lord… and where the Lord meets us. It is a place of reconciling ourselves to truth. The place of weeping is where the life is, because it is where we are choosing to face our pain, accepting what is real; we are acknowledging what has been lost, and allowing Holy Spirit to minister to us in our grief.

At times, it is the place where He wants to reveal “truth in the inward parts” — to show us the reality of our inward condition. Maybe we have harbored bitterness or unforgiveness; maybe there are idols we have made of certain pictures or relationships or things we think we can’t live without; maybe we have been living with unhealed wounds that He wants to heal.

The Fires Of Sorrow

John 12:27-28

Oswald Chambers writes about ‘the fires of sorrow’ based on Jesus’s words in John 12:27-28 …what shall I say? ‘Father save me from this hour?’ But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name…

Chambers writes: 

“Our Lord received Himself, accepting His position and realizing His purpose, in the midst of the fire of sorrow… We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, we are foolish…Sorrow removes a great deal of a person’s shallowness, but it does not always make that person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me…The only way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrows…You can always recognize who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your moment of trouble and find that he has plenty of time for you…if you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.” 

Surrendering All to God

Blessed is the man who turns to the Lord in his dark hour, his Valley of Weeping, and invites Jesus into his pain, asking Him to reveal Himself in that very thing that hurts so much… who invites Holy Spirit to minister in the midst of heartbreak, who submits himself to Gods sovereign power and His ways. Like Job, he can say, Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.

The Passion Translation translates Psalm 84:5 this way: Even when their paths wind through the dark valley of tears, they dig deep to find a pleasant pool where others find only pain.

The rain also covers it with pools… 

Early Rain

The Hebrew word for rain is also translated, “early rain.” The early rain is the rain that falls to soften the earth before the plowing. It signals to the farmers that its time to plow. The early rain also helps the seeds that are sown to germinate and begin to grow.

In our Valley of Weeping, the Lord sends His early rain to soften our hearts so that the seeds He sows within us are able to germinate and begin to grow.

Interestingly, the word for rain is also translated teacher.

This is the work of the Holy Spirit as our teacher—softening our hearts, leading us, guiding us, revealing His ways to us in the midst of our Valley. 

The word for pools refers to a blessing or benediction, and prosperity. 

So in our Valley of Weeping, as we invite Holy Spirit to walk with us through it, comforting and counseling us, He sends His early rain to soften the soil of our hearts, that we may receive what He wants to plant there and be receptive to what He wants to teach us. Over all of this, He is covering us, providing pools of blessing, which means His favor, provision, and peace.

They go from strength to strength…

Here the Hebrew word for ‘strength’ is different than the word for ‘strength’ in verse 5. Verse 5 (ʻôz or oze) is more about the strength of our being—our well-being, the strength of our inner-man, and the strength of our resources and security. 

Here in verse 7, the Hebrew word for strength is chayil, which is more about  ‘force,’ particularly in terms of men, means, or other resources. Some of the words in the explanation for chayil are: army, wealth, virtue, valor, substance, train. 

So chayil is more about the strength of ability to move forward or to advance, like an army, or a train. 

Think: Advancement of God’s Kingdom. Forward movement (like pilgrimage). Taking ground. 

When we are journeying with Jesus, this is our promise: 

They go from strength to strength.

They take ground and then they take more ground, and then more. 

They are advancing like an army against the enemy, and they advance again and again. 

Each one appears before God in Zion…

Deuteronomy 16:15-17

In Deuteronomy 16:15-17, We find this same phrase: 

Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all you produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice. Three times a year, all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as He is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you. 

These instructions were given to the Israelites as a way to observe and acknowledge God’s constant blessing and provision. It was a way to continually remember where their provision came from, and to offer back to God their reverence, thanksgiving and praise. 

Each one of us ‘appears before God’ every time we come to Him, and we don’t come empty-handed, because He has been our strength, and has blessed us, protecting and and providing for us.  

But we will also appear before Him in the final judgement as it is written in Revelation 20. If our names are written in the Book of Life, we will live with Him forever. 

Revelation 21:3-5

Now, listen to what we are promised: 

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne  said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Revelation 21:3-5

God is Our Destination

God is our destination! We are blessed if we find our strength in God, if we set our hearts on pilgrimage. We will walk through the Valley of Weeping, but it will never be in vain. It will make our love for Him deeper, our life with Him richer, our strength in Him stronger. On the other side, we will know His redemption of it, and we will not stop thanking Him for it.

He never leaves us for a minute, but walks with us on our journey, offering His favor and blessing to keep us and sustain us. With Him, we will advance His Kingdom purposes again and again, continuing from strength to strength, victory to victory, until we meet Him face to face, and He has made all things new.