Baca - The Valley of Weeping

The personal trials and struggles I have encountered lately have been numerous and very hard. So blinding the pain and suffering they have caused me that I had to have a loving Sister in Christ point out to me that I am/have been in Baca, the Valley of Weeping.

Ellicott's commentary for the full chapter of Psalm 84 is here:
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers.

I am certain that this valley is where I have been. It is also where I still am, but I have found a pool of strength from my God. Where I was drowning in my pain and sorrow before, I am now beginning to revive and renew; yet I remain in the valley. So, if I am still in the valley, what has changed?

All of this time I have been depending upon my own strength to deal with the many trials that have come up. Even in places which I thought I had given to the Lord, I was really relying on myself. Instead of running to God at the first sign of trouble I tried to deal with it in my own strength, either alone or talking to a friend. How often we take for granted our God!

Finally, I reached my breaking point. I felt I could no longer go on. My misery and pain was so great, so blinding, I felt my faith so small that all it would do is get me through the gates of heaven. Now, I love my God. I do. I love Him so very much. Yet, I was not trusting Him. I trusted Him to get me into heaven, but I did not trust Him to get me through these trials. (And I didn't even realize I had stopped trusting Him!)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

I was doing the exact opposite!! No wonder my world was falling to pieces around me! Would you bother answering someone who asked you for something but didn't really believe you? I did a lot of praying, yet I remained in my misery. God had not left me. He simply was not going to answer prayers that were not from a trusting heart. I was not trusting Him with all my heart, and I was leaning on my own understanding (which, quite frankly, wasn't much!).

Are you in Baca? Is it a dry and unrelentingly draining place you find yourself in? I encourage you to self-examine. Cry out to God. Tell Him exactly how you feel. Repent of your lack of trust. Once you do, He will begin answering you, by sending the rains to fill the replenishing pools. You may not find a downpour. I have not encountered a downpour, but the sprinkles I am finally getting are slowly collecting in those pools and I am drawing the strength I need to continue by simply focusing on getting to the next pool of strength. Right now, I cannot look to the horizon and find the end of this valley. If I do, I will lose sight of where the next pool of strength is and thus be drained once again. Just keep your focus on those pools of strength and trust that God will lead you to the end of the valley.

God bless you dear ones.

Where is Your Heart?

Jesus is concerned for our hearts. Consider Matthew 6:19-21

    Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Verse 21 says "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (emphasis mine). Why do we want to lay up our treasure in Heaven? My first instinct in answer has always been because in heaven my treasure won't be hurt. I never thought any farther than that. I feel I've been so foolish in leaving my thoughts stop there! God is telling us of a treasure that cannot be destroyed, yes. But He is also telling us to keep our hearts there. He is saying the way to keep our hearts from being destroyed, broken, stolen, is to place our treasure in Heaven. To lay our treasure in Heaven is to keep both preserved. To lay our treasure on earth is to have both treasure and heart destroyed, broken, and stolen.

Interestingly enough, the following verses (vs 22 and 23) begin telling us the eye is the lamp of the body.

    The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

What does your eye do? It sees. It takes in visual information and feeds it to our brains. So then, what are we allowing our eyes to see and in turn feeding our brains? Keep your eyes on Jesus! He is the way, the truth, the life. (John 14:6) He alone should be where we keep our eyes.

Verse 23 says if your eyes is bad your whole body will be full of darkness. Remember, your heart is within your body. And Jesus just got done saying we need to keep our heart and treasure in Heaven. How can we keep them in heaven when we fill our eyes with the darkness of the earth? Do you see the connection?

Then verse 24 says no one can serve two masters.

    No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Scripture also tells us the the love of money is the root of evil. (1 Timothy 6:10) What does money do? Nothing... except buy us anything we want of this world. One loves money because of what it can do for them. Money in and of itself can do nothing and will pass away with the world, as will all the things it paid for.

Jesus is saying you can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't have your heart in heaven and your treasure on earth. You can't have your treasure in heaven and your heart remain on earth. The two are inseparable.

Where is your heart? Find your treasure and you'll know your heart is there too.