Passing Through



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, NKJV

I've puzzled over these verses several times, read them, studied them, meditated and pondered over them.  As with all things, there is a time for understanding, and my time came today.

We are, every one of us, on a journey of birth, life, death, and after. We travel from point to point, not always by the most direct route.  The road is never an easy one to walk, for no matter how skillful or careful we are, there are always twists and turns, unforeseen detours, potholes, pitfalls, and perils along the way, not to mention other travelers.  And the only thing on the journey over which we have any control at all is ourselves.  Even then, we are sometimes our most dangerous companion!

But the Psalmist understood something about the journey, this experiential university of hard knocks, when he wrote, "The man who finds His strength in God is happy and blessed.  And he's even happier when he realizes he's just passing through."  This life, from birth to death, is a pilgrimage to our final destination.  This world is not my home, the old song says.  Like Abraham, our eyes should be fixed on the shores of a country far beyond the sky, looking for a city that has foundation whose builder and maker is God.  As one old saint told me one time, "I've got too much on the other side to want to stay here."  But between now and then, there are many things we must go through, many things we must do.

There's an old song that talks about living on the mountain underneath a cloudless sky, drinking from the fountain that never runs dry, and feasting on manna from a bountiful supply.  How wonderful it would be to stay there.  But life is not about staying here, it's about moving on.  And beyond this mountain lies a valley dark and deep, long and low, covered in shadow and uncertainty.  In order to get to the next mountaintop, it is necessary to navigate the valley.  The Psalmist gave it such an appropriate name, too; he called it the Valley of Weeping.

On that mountaintop everything is bright and beautiful.  Even the last part of the climb to reach the summit was refreshing and exhilarating, and now that we are rested and ready for whatever's next, the initial descent doesn't seem so bad either.  But down in the valley, when we can't see the peaks through the dark clouds of discouragement and despair, what's around us sometimes overshadows the reality of what is ahead.  Our tears are like springs of water, and the rain falling upon us threatens to flood our current valley.  When God is not the source of our strength, how easy it is to throw up our hands and quit, or worse yet, turn back.  I've known too many people who gave up in the valley of weeping, never knowing that joy was coming with the dawn.

But when God is our strength!  When I place my faith, my hope, my confidence and my trust completely in the Lord's ability to both see me through and bring me out safe on the other side, I can be assured that this valley is just scenery along the path.  It is not my destination, merely a landmark through which my journey must pass.  God never intended for us build our home here; we're just pitching tents until we get to the next mountain, and the one after that, until finally we arrive safe home. That is how we move from strength to strength.

God knows we grow weary in the valley, especially when we come to the steep climb that leads us out.  But as we scale the utmost heights, and catch a gleam of glory bright, suddenly our hope is renewed.  As we call out on the Lord, we hear Him answering our cry, urging us onward and upward.  And when we finally reach the top and see how far we've come, we find rest and blessing and fulfillment and triumph, all of which we're going to need.  Because we can look into the distance and see our goal, but between us and it is yet another valley.  So take a deep breath, gird up your loins, and start making your way down.  You'll never get where you're going if you stay where you are.

As I look back on nearly 40 years of living, I realize there are seasons and circumstances I am happy to have passed through.  I'm not necessarily happy about the particular situations themselves, but joyful rather that I kept on walking and didn't stay.  There are some things I wish I had done differently, some things I wish I had avoided altogether.  Nevertheless, here I am today, a learned man because of what I went through.  Had I not walked through them, I would not be the man I am today, and though I'm not yet perfected in the image and likeness of Jesus Christ, I can say I am a better man after all those things than I was before, and I hope that tomorrow I will be better still.