VICTORY IN THE VALLEY OF TEARS
Psalm 84:5-7
Introduction:
In 1838 and 1839, as part of President Andrew Jackson’s Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma. They were driven from their homes, herded into internment camps, and moved by force to this new and strange land.
The Cherokee people called this journey the “Trail of Tears,” because of its devastating effects. They faced hunger, disease, and exhaustion on the forced march. Over 4,000 out of 15,000 of the Cherokees died.
Davy Crockett, a Tennessee Congressman at the time, opposed this Indian removal policy, and his disapproval ultimately played a critical role that destroyed his political career. He left Washington D.C., and came to Texas. We know the end of that story.
Unfortunately we are still living in a world that is politically and socially as out of joint as it was when the Cherokee peoples were uprooted to begin their “Trail of Tears.” In our world of turmoil and terror the Trail of Tears scene continues to be lived out as refugees stream out of their homes, villages and cities, uprooted and displaced often with only the clothes on their backs. You can hardly see a newscast that is absent of the shrieks, moans and tears of men, women, and children either in the lands of Israel or the Palestinians to say nothing about Iraq. Our memories are seared with the fire, smoke and deaths of 9/11.
As a gospel song says, “Into every life some rain must fall.” Sometimes it rains gently, and at other times it is a deluge. But one thing is common to us all. Into each of our lives comes the rain, sometimes gentle and sometimes like a flood.
In some way, at some time in the past, or perhaps even in this present time we have known to a degree what it is to walk our own personal Trail of Tears. It is not on the scale of the suffering of the members of the Cherokee Nation of 1838 and 1839 but we have, nonetheless, experienced the tears.
Because tears are so universal so, “no respecter of persons,” you would be right if you guessed that the Bible has much to say about tears. If one researched the Authorized King James Version one will find that the word TEARS is mentioned 35 times. The word WEPT can be found 68 times. I choose only a few examples.
1. Job said: “My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.”
2. David said: “I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.”
3. Later he says, “My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?”
4. And the blessed promise, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.”
5. But blessed of all promises, from Revelation 21:4: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”
Yes, a day is coming when God will do exactly as promised. He will “wipe away all tears” from our eyes. But that is sometime in the future. It is not today. Today, we will shed our tears. Today, we will wipe our tears. And there is nothing wrong with that. We all do it.
As I have said earlier, the journey taken by the Cherokee over 150 years ago is known as the Trail of Tears. But a direct translation from the Cherokee language is, “The Trail Where They Cried.” We all know what it is to walk that trail. Some may be walking it right now.
Our Biblical connection is found in Psalm 84:6: “Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. (KJV).
BACA is the English rendering the Hebrew word BAW-KAW’ for “weep” or “weeping.” Here it is called the “valley of weeping.”
Psalm 84 is about a group of people who are on a journey. They are on their way up to Jerusalem to the place where the Tabernacle resided; the Tabernacle that held the Ark of the Covenant and the manifest presence of God. It was a place of worship. It was a place of finding forgiveness and cleansing. It was a place of joy and happiness. It was a place of fellowship with friends. It was a happy time, a time of celebration. It was the place that God had commanded for all males in Israel to come three times a year to celebrate.
On their way to Jerusalem these pilgrims must travel through a very dry and desolate place. This dry and desolate place called the Valley of Weeping. It is called Valley of Weeping because it was so hard and difficult to go through. It was not an easy road to walk on. It was indeed “The Trail Where They Cried.”
We can relate to this story in a meaningful way if we will see it and the experience of these pilgrims as a story with a spiritual application that provides a model, a template if you will, of our journey of our spiritual lives today. The Apostle Paul says these stories of the Old Testament are written for this very purpose; that we might receive strength and comfort from them as they serve as illustrations of the dangers and perils that exist on our personal journey of faith. (See: 1 Cor. 10:11)
I don’t mean to sound gloomy or moody and if I do it will be for only a moment because this passage of Scripture is full of hope and encouragement. But as I have said, someone here today is either presently experiencing a trip through the Valley of Weeping, or if not now, all of us will sooner or later take a journey through this Valley of Weeping. We will experience our own Trail of Tears.
The first thing I want you to see in this passage is the fact that the Scripture says, “Who PASSING THROUGH the valley of tears….” (vs. 6).
I’m reminded of Psalm 23 that says, “Yea though I WALK THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.”
We don’t dwell in the valley. We WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY. We suffer the hurts, the disappointments, yes, the TEARS all the while we are GOING THROUGH. Going through implies an end of an event. It is not to be our dwelling place. Not a place for us to camp, to stay. God’s intention is for us to GO THROUGH, to pass through. “…weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Psa. 30:5).
Verse 7 tells us how. Look at it: “They go from strength to strength.” We go in God’s abundantly available strength. Listen:
1. I will love You, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust. (Ps. 18:1,2 NKJV)
2. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer. (Ps. 19:14 NKJV)
3. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Ps. 73:26 NKJV)
4. The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. (Ps. 118:14 NKJV)
5. But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (Isa. 40:31 NKJV)
6. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:8-10 NKJV)
Look again at verse 6. “Who passing through the valley of Baca (weeping) make it a well.”
Let’s get down and serious. We ARE going to face a valley of weeping.
1. A place of barrenness
2. A place of affliction
3. A place of confusion (From a sermon by Mark Ferrante)
We will feel –
1. Desolate, discouraged, depressed
2. Unproductive or unfruitful
3. Lonely, deserted, hopeless
4. Empty, worried, distressed
5. Puzzled, perplexed, bewildered (From a sermon by Mark Ferrante)
What we do next will determine our fate; whether we win or lose; whether we come out victorious or get knocked down, defeated, and destroyed.
Our Scripture says that these pilgrims who are passing through the valley of weeping MAKE IT A WELL.
1. They don’t through up their hands in despair.
2. They don’t give up to the circumstances.
3. They don’t spend time bemoaning their fate, talking about how hard it is, how destitute they are, how lonely they feel, how deserted. NO . . .
4. THEY DIG A WELL!
Let’s take a few minutes to revisit Isaiah 12. Earlier I read a couple of verses from this book. I want us now to take the broader look at what is found here. The chapter is only six verses long. But they are power packed. Let’s understand our text from Psalm 84 in the light of the six verses of Isaiah 12. How do we gain victory in the valley of weeping? Let’s read it together.
1 In the day [when you are passing through the valley of weeping] you say: I will praise the Lord
2. In the day [when you are passing through the valley of weeping] you recognize that God is not against you but is for you.
4. In the day [when you are passing through the valley of weeping] you begin to look for God’s comfort (in the Holy Ghost of course).
5. In the day [when you are passing through the valley of weeping] you confess with meaning, “God is my salvation.”
6. In the day [when you are passing through the valley of weeping] you confess with meaning, “I will trust.”
7. In the day [when you are passing through the valley of weeping] you confess with meaning, “I will not be afraid.”
8. WHY? “Because the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.”
· THESE ARE THE WORDS OF A WELL-DIGGER, IN THE VALLEY OF WEEPING,
· YOU ARE DIGGING A WELL.
· THESE ARE THE WORDS OF AN OVERCOMER, IN THE VALLEY OF WEEPING.
· THESE ARE THE WORDS OF A SURVIVOR IN THE VALLEY OF WEEPING.
THEREFORE --
“with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation” vs. 3
1. Say “praise the Lord.”
2. Call upon His name.
3. Declare His doings among the people.
4. Give your testimony, your confession of faith. Let the people hear it.
5. Make mention that the Lord’s name is exalted, because YOU are exalting it.
6. Sing unto the LORD. In fact, the Bible says:
1. Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands. Ps. 66:1
2. Sin aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Ps. 81:1
3. O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Ps. 95:1
4. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. Ps. 95:2
5. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Ps. 98:4
6. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King. Ps. 98:6
7. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Ps. 100:1
8. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. Isa. 12:6
CONCLUSION:
Jesus has promised to every believer “a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (Jn. 4:14 KJV). The well is within you.
There is a Gospel chorus that says: “Spring up O well within my soul; spring up O Well and make me whole…” It is based on the song Israel sang in the wilderness when they dug a well in their “valley of weeping” saying, “Spring up O well;; sing ye unto it” (Nu 21:17 KJV) From The Message: “sing the song of the well.” It’s all about praising while you dig; and digging while you praise. Therein lies the victory in the “Valley of Weeping.”
And the words from an Ira Stanfill (1946) song says:
You can have a song in your heart in the night
After every mile, after every trial
Anyone can sing when the sun’s shining bright
But you need a song in your heart at night.
(You are welcome to send email: cholt@gt.rr.com)
