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Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
DIGGING WELLS IN THE VALLEY OF BACA
Psalms 84:5-6, "Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools."
To begin with let us establish the fact that we are strangers and pilgrims in a dry and thirsty land. This world is not the home of those that love the Lord. We are traveling to our final destination, Heaven, where the tabernacle, or house of God, is found. Heaven is our promised land and to that eternal home we are bound.
In the book of Judges 2:1-6 we read of the account of Israel as they are led into the land that God had promised to Abraham for many years. It seemed that Israel would never really experience the promise of the covenant that God had made with them. Their journey from the time of the promise to Abraham to the time when they crossed over the Jordan River on dry land to enter Canaan had been filled with both good times and bad times, victories and defeats, successes and failures. Now, at last, they were ready to enjoy the great promises of God.
God has made a covenant with those who call themselves Christians and who are living in obedience to His word; to those who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and have had the Blood of the Lamb applied to their heart.
To each of us is given the promise that Jesus spoke of in John 14:2-3, "In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
Even though Israel was God’s chosen nation, his earthly wife in the spiritual sense, they still had to go through a journey filled with troubles, trials, tests, battles and enemies in order to claim their promise.
The Valley of Baca, also called the Valley of Bochin in Judges, was the only passageway into the high hills where Israel’s Cities of Refuge were located. Some scholars state that the Valley of Baca was also representative of the valley that led up to the city of Jerusalem where the temple of God was found. A weary traveler, searching for safety from those who were pursuing him because of an accidental death or some inadvertent sin that he had committed, would have to travel this valley to find refuge and safety in the House of God or the Cities of Refuge.
The Valley of Baca was part of the desert country. The valley was filled with thorns, wild animals, pitfalls, vipers and all sorts of danger. In addition, there were wells of water but they were often far apart and hard to get to. It was nearly impossible to travel this valley without facing extreme hardship and suffering. That is why the Valley of Baca was named because it literally means “Valley of Tears”.
Every one of us is traveling through this “Valley of Baca” right now. If you are looking toward Heaven and longing to be with Jesus then your life is just one long journey through a valley filled with suffering and tears.
Surely God has placed in your path some wells to draw from. Without those wells of water, those times of refreshing that come from the Lord, none of us would make it to Glory for the journey is too hard and we are too weak.
Acts 3:19, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;"
Those who traveled this valley did not find relief until they reached their final destination. The dangers of the valley of Baca were real and relentless and threatening until they finally went through the gates of the city where safety was finally found.
None of us will god through this life without traveling the valley of tears. There is an old saying that goes like this, “Into every life some rain must fall”. I dare say that there is not one man alive who has not felt the sting of trouble, sickness, disease, sadness, pain or death at some point in his life.
Some of you are facing terrible trials right now:
Sickness in your family or in your own body
Continual pain and suffering of chronic physical problems
Watching a loved one as their body deteriorates and the quality of life fails
Experiencing the pain and sorrow of the death of a loved one
Troubles in you relationships with families being destroyed
The power of sin is taking its toll on those who have lived a life of rebellion against God
All of these are experienced by each of us at one time or another as walk this Valley of Tears called life. Whether you are a Christian or not, you must walk this valley. The difference is that when you walk it as a Child of God, Jesus walks it with you and He carries you through the rough places.
There is a familiar poem that goes like this:
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints
Sometimes there was only one set of footprints.
This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life
When I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could only see one set of footprints.
So I said to the Lord, “You promised me, Lord, that if I followed you, that you would
Walk with me always.
But I noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there is only one set of prints in the sand.
Why, when I have needed you most, you have not been there for me?”
The Lord replied, “The times when you have seen only one set of footprints is when I carried you.
The over-coming Christian must walk through the “Valley of Baca or Tears”. There is no way around it, only through it.
Those things in life that bring us pain or suffering can do one of two things; they can either break you or make you into a better person.
Like one teacher said, “Its not what happens, its how you handle it that matters.”
Like many of those listed in the great chapter on faith in the Book of Hebrews chapter 11, we too must look forward to a better day through the eyes of faith and persevere in the face of great odds.
Through faith that those things which we cannot see but that we have heard are more real to us and more important to us than those things that we can see on earth. We look to the time when we shall see Jesus as He comes to take us to Glory. Having never seen with the eyes of flesh the great promises of God, yet we embrace them through eyes of faith.
Like those same great heroes of the faith, we shall not see the Promised Land until after this life is over.
As we travel through this Valley of Baca we must learn to turn our times of sorrow and distress into wells from which we draw the waters of spiritual maturity and growth.
Moses traveled the Valley of Tears as he fled into the wilderness – but he dug a well.
He rebuilt his relationship with God and drank from the well of water that the rain of God provided and became the great leader of the Children of Israel.
Abraham traveled the Valley of Tears as God led him to the mountaintop to sacrifice his only son upon the altar as a symbol of his faith and obedience to God – but God had a well prepared for Abraham and provided a ram for the sacrifice. (A great picture of our substitution sacrifice through the Lord Jesus Christ for our sin)
Job traveled the “Valley of Tears” as Satan was allowed to strip away everything that God had blessed Job with – but Job dug a well in the desert spiritually speaking. He never lost his relationship with the Giver of all good things. Job drank from the well of the living water and God restored to him many times more than what he had lost.
David traveled the “Valley of Tears” as he failed God so many times, even having an illegitimate son from another man’s wife and watching God take that son away from him because of his sin – but David found the well that the rain of God had filled in his life and called upon God once again to forgive and restore him. God still called David a man after God’s own heart even through all of David’s failures.
Some of you have faced the “Valley of Tears” in your life as well.
You have faced the death of a loved one and then turned to God in your hour of greatest need. You have drank water from the living well and God has strengthened you and given you peace.
You have faced the sicknesses that Satan has come against you with and have learned to put your trust in the Great Physician to make you well. You too have taken from the well of living water that rains from heaven above.
Just yesterday I received another letter in the mail from a young man in lockup at the parish jail. That’s the second inmate to contact me in the past few weeks. These young men have traveled the Valley of Baca and are still searching for the well of God’s water.
My prayer is that they will soon find that well and allow Jesus to turn their lives around.
Yes, life is a journey through the Valley of Baca – but blessed is that one who will dig a well and learn, who will draw knowledge and get understanding, and who will not allow the Tears to destroy him but will turn his face toward God and search for the lessons that God is trying to teach.
If you are in the valley right now and there seems to be no way out, I want you to know that God has already prepared a well for you to be refreshed. He has promised to never leave you nor forsake you but to with you to the end.
There is nothing too hard for God. There is nothing He cannot do. He knows how to meet your need.
Blessed is that man who will pass through the Valley of Baca and dig a well that he may drink of the water that rains from heaven above. Hold on to God and have faith. He will deliver you.
