The Valley of Baka

Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.

Psalm 84:5-7

Since the psalmist didn’t live in Jerusalem, he had to go on pilgrimage to be near God’s presence at the temple. Israelites were supposed to make this trip to worship three times a year. I think it’s difficult for us to really understand what it was like to have to travel by foot for days or even a week or more to Jerusalem to worship. But this was a shared experience for many Israelites. They would all travel the same roads and pass through the same places on their way up to Jerusalem to worship.

One of those places that they passed through was the valley of Baka. The word 'baka' comes from the Hebrew word for weeping or wailing. And we think that this was a dry or desert-like valley. Yet... the psalmist says that the pilgrims make it a place of springs. It’s hard to say for sure but it’s possible that the image here is of pilgrims weeping in the valley of Baka. They “make it a place of springs” because of the tears that spring forth from their eyes as they go up to Jerusalem to worship.

But if so, it’s important to note that salty tears aren’t the only source of water in this dry valley. The psalmist says that the autumn rains cover it with pools as well. This, I believe, is a picture of God providing water for His people in a dry, difficult place associated with suffering. This is a picture of God helping His people and providing for them as they travel the hard road to worship.

And what I want to point out to you today is this idea found in Psalm 84 that the road to worship can sometimes lead through a valley of tears. Mourning, weeping, and wailing can draw us nearer to God. They can, in the end, lead to worship. Because it is often in the dry, lonely, difficult places of life that God meets us and provides for our needs.

And that makes the hard roads of life, no matter how difficult they may be, precious to the believer. Even the hardest of roads can become precious to us if it leads us into God’s presence.

Maybe your own path has been painful. Maybe you have done more than your fair share of weeping. Don’t give up! The psalmist is telling you that the difficult road you are walking can lead you into God’s presence. It can lead you to worship, if you will let it. I know this has been true in my own life. My prayer for you today is that any difficult roads you must take in this life will lead you to worship in the very presence of God as well.

Yearning for God

How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Psalm 84:1–2

Have you ever been so in love with someone that just being near them is a thrill? Suddenly, the places and things connected to that person become precious to you. The house they live in or the scent of their perfume or even the clothes they wear may become precious to you simply because they belong to them. That is how the author of Psalm 84 feels about the Lord. 

Psalm 84 begins with praise for the dwelling place of God. The psalmist says that God’s dwelling place, the temple that Solomon built, is lovely. In fact, his soul yearns and even faints to enter the courts of God’s house. His heart and his flesh cry out for the living God.

Don’t miss that. The psalmist’s desire isn’t to go to church… it’s to go to the place where God is. Yes, Solomon’s temple was glorious, but what the psalmist longs for isn’t pretty buildings or beautiful ceremonies… it’s God Himself. He longs to enter into God’s presence.

During this time in the Old Testament, God’s presence was especially concentrated and located within the temple, in Jerusalem. That was the place God’s people went to meet with God, to enter His presence. And this psalmist is so in love with the Lord that he longs to enter God’s presence in that special place.

Do you? Are you this eager not to come to church and see your friends but to enter into God’s presence… to sing His praise… to bow at His feet in worship? Do you long to get up early and have a personal time of worship with Him?

You see, as modern Christians we have a privilege that this psalmist did not have. He had to travel to Jerusalem to be where God’s presence was specially focused. But we carry God with us everywhere we go. Christians have the Holy Spirit living inside us. We don’t have to go anywhere to meet with Him. All we have to do is quiet ourselves and the noise around us and seek Him. 

But do you desire Him enough to do that? Is God this precious to you? Are you this in love with Him? Do you derive this much joy from His presence? 

For most of us the sad answer is... no. Ask the Lord right now to help you love Him more. Commit, right now, to think more about how precious He is and not to take the privilege of His presence for granted. Stir your love for Him by setting aside a regular time to spend alone with Him. And don’t just read your Bible during that time, but spend a portion of it simply loving and worshiping your God. 

Do You Have a Reservation?

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:11–15

One day you will stand before God and be judged for what you have done in life. But nothing you say or do is as important as this one detail that fixes your eternal destiny. That detail is whether your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life or not. 

Scripture tells us that those whose name is not written in the Book of Life, those who never placed their faith in Jesus, will be cast into the Lake of Fire. But all who have believed in Jesus have their names written in this book, and on Judgement Day they will be declared innocent on account of His atoning death and will ushered into eternal life. 

Revelation chapters 21 and 22 tell us that this world will pass away. And God will make a new heaven and a new earth. And the Heavenly City, Jerusalem, will come down from heaven to this new earth. And that is where Jesus’ throne will be. Believers won’t spend eternity in some spiritual place, sitting on clouds and playing harps. No! Our great hope is a physical resurrection and eternal life lived on this new heaven and new earth. Our great hope is dwelling with the Lord in paradise… in a place with no mourning, no crying, no pain, no poverty and no death. There we will have an eternity to spend with Jesus, reigning over God’s creation for His glory.

The question I have for you is this: Are you sure you will be there? Do you believe in Jesus? Have you accepted Him as Lord of your life? Are you certain that your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? If not, then confess your sins; put your faith in Jesus' atoning death and resurrection for the forgiveness of your sins; and make Him Lord of your life today.

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:9

All the Promises of God

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

2 Corinthians 1:20

Jesus fulfills all the promises of God... but He does so in a way that no one expected. What God’s people seem to have expected was a human Messiah who would establish an earthly kingdom. They expected Him to be a great warrior who would defeat Rome and return Israel to power. And they, no doubt, thought he would establish a great dynasty and that His descendants would reign after him in a never-ending succession. That’s what God’s people seem to have expected... but that’s not what they got. That’s not what Jesus was.

Jesus was born in a stable. He was laid in a manger. His birth was attended by shepherds. And He was almost killed by Rome before He even reached adolescence. His family fled to Egypt for a time. Then when Jesus did return, He didn't live in Jerusalem or even Bethlehem where David was raised. No, He lived in the small and insignificant town of Nazareth. Jesus wasn’t noble or highly educated; He was a carpenter’s son. And for 30 years, as best we can tell, that’s all Jesus was… was a carpenter from Nazareth. For 30 years of Jesus’ life, the biblical story didn’t really move forward in any significant way.

Then, when Jesus did start His ministry in earnest, He didn’t raise an army, or ascend the throne. He became a homeless, itinerant preacher. And when He began calling disciples, they weren’t the kinds of disciples God’s people expected. Jesus didn’t call any of the Pharisees or religious leaders to be His disciples. No, He called fisherman and a political zealot and a tax collector… common folks to be His disciples. And the message that He preached was often spoken in parables and riddles. And He seemed to reserve His harshest judgment not for tax collectors or prostitutes but for the religious leaders. Indeed, Jesus was said to be a friend of sinners!

But He did have special power, didn't He? Jesus performed many mighty miracles. He healed the sick and gave sight to the blind. He made the lame walk and raised the dead! But even this was mostly met with disapproval from the religious leaders because Jesus often healed on the Sabbath day which was unexpected.

Jesus lived and ministered in this way for about three and a half years. He wasn’t the Messiah God’s people had expected. He was a king... but not in an earthly sense. He came to establish a spiritual kingdom not a physical one. He never sat on a throne on earth. Nor did He defeat Israel’s enemies. In fact, He never fought at all. Instead, He willingly suffered!

And that was perhaps the most surprising development of all. After about three and a half years, the religious leaders conspired to kill Jesus. They arrested Him and put Him on trial and begged the Romans to crucify Him. None of this was what God’s people were expecting… and yet, it is what God had promised! 

Understand that Jesus did all of this for you. He was the surprising answer to all our problems, to all our needs, and to all the promises of God. The entire biblical story leads up to Him. And if you don’t know Him, if your life isn’t fully and completely centered around Him… then you are missing the point of the story.

Fix your eyes on Jesus. It’s all about Him! And without Him, you will never be what you ought to be.

Have You Wearied the Lord?

You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”

Malachi 2:17

Have you ever been wearied by someone’s words? Maybe you have a friend or a spouse who is a talker and it just wears you out? In these verses, Malachi tells God's people that God feels that way about them! Only, it wasn’t that they were talking too much. It was what they were saying that wearied the Lord. 

God's people were attacking the very character of God! They said “God is pleased with those who do evil.” They asked “Where is the God of justice?" They wanted God to make the wicked pay. They wanted Him to punish their enemies and bless them.

Can you relate? Do you ever feel like the wicked are prospering? Does it seem to you that God either doesn’t care or doesn’t see what the wicked are doing? If so, then maybe you too have questioned God’s justice.

Judah would soon learn the error of their ways. They would soon learn that wickedness wasn’t just a problem out there… among the pagan nations. It was also a serious problem within their own hearts. But they couldn’t see it because they had grown blind to their own sin. That’s how Judah ended up calling for judgment, when it desperately needed mercy.

There are lessons we can learn here. First, never attack God’s character or question His justice. Who are you to sit in judgment of the Almighty God?! Your perspective is far too limited to evaluate His justice. You barely see your own sin, you have no right to tell Him how to judge the sins of others.

And second, before you cry out for God’s judgment to fall on the wicked, you better make sure you aren’t counted among them. Often, you and I would be better off begging God for mercy and a changed heart, than calling for judgment.

Cleanse Me With Hyssop (W.o.W. Rewind)

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Psalm 51:7

Hyssop was a type of plant that God’s people used for ceremonial cleansing. We think it grew in leafy or spriggy bunches allowing Israel to use it almost like a paintbrush. This is the plant they used to paint the blood on their doorposts in Egypt when God struck down the firstborn. But, more to the point, they also used hyssop in purification ceremonies. You can read about this in Numbers 19 or Leviticus 14. But basically, if a person had an infectious skin disease or if they had touched a dead body, then they were declared unclean. They were cut off from the people and the sanctuary of God. And before they could return, they had to be cleansed. The cleansing ceremony involved dipping a bunch of hyssop into water mixed with either sacrificial blood or ashes and then sprinkling it on the person.

Most of us read right over “cleanse me with hyssop” in Psalm 51:7 without giving it a second thought. But when you know this background, you realize that this is a powerful image. David is saying, “I feel unclean. I’m unworthy to come before you, Lord. I’m as polluted as someone who has touched a dead body or who has leprosy. Make me clean again, Father, so I can enter Your presence!”

This is a powerful reminder that sin has consequences. It threatens your intimacy with God. David understood this. In verse 11 he asks God, “Don’t cast me out of your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.” This is a reference to King Saul, whose sin resulted in him being rejected as king and losing the Spirit’s anointing. David doesn’t want the same thing to happen to him, but he fears it will... because of his sin. 

Even after you are saved, your sin matters! Your spot in heaven may be secure but your intimacy with God must be maintained. Sin separates you from God. It stuffs cotton in your ears and makes it difficult for you to hear His voice. It smears mud on your eyes and makes it hard for you to see His glory. It turns your heart of flesh into a heart of stone so that you are no longer drawn to love the things of God. And it offends God and makes Him want to move away from you. 

Some of you are like David today. You know that you have rebelled against God's commands and sinned against the Lord. You are unclean; and your relationship with God has been affected. Pray the words of David from Psalm 51:7 today. ASk God to cleanse you with hyssop, then you will be whiter than snow.

For further reading...

• Psalm 51- Read all of this confession psalm to learn more about sin and forgiveness.

God is Still Calling

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Genesis 12:1–3

When God first began to call a people for His name, He didn’t start with an existing nation or people group. No. He began with one man (likely a pagan) named Abram. God called Abram to leave his country, his people, and his extended family to go to a land God would show him. Why? Because God had a special plan for his life. 

To that end God makes Abram certain promises in the passage above:

1. God will make Abram into a great nation.

2. God will make Abram’s name great.

3. God will bless those who bless Abram and curse those who curse him.

4. All peoples on earth will be blessed through Abram.

Those are some pretty big promises! And a little later in verse seven of the same chapter God adds another. "The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” (Genesis 12:7)

5. God will give the Land of Canaan to Abram’s offspring.

God gave all these promises to Abram and his wife Sarai. And He called them to step out in faith, follow Him and trust Him to keep His Word.

Do you know that God works the same way today? Even now, He’s calling people to step out in faith, to believe His promises, and to obey Him. Is the Lord calling you? 

Have you heard Him calling you to salvation? Have you heard Him calling you to ministry or some other great faith adventure? If so, step out in faith like Abram did. Obey God and see what He will do.

You Have An Enemy

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

Genesis 3:1

Genesis 3 never directly identifies this serpent as Satan, but we have every reason to believe that’s exactly who it was. First, the fact that this snake talks suggests that there is some spiritual being operating behind the scenes. And it begs the questions “Who could that be?” As we read the rest of the Bible, we find that there is a spiritual being who opposes God, deceives His people and tempts them to sin. He is called Satan. The conduct of this serpent in Genesis 3 is perfectly in keeping with what we know of him. 

Second, several New Testament passages seem to identify Satan with this serpent. Revelation 12:9, for example, describes Satan as, “that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.” So, I think we have every reason to believe this serpent was Satan.

And that's important, because if this serpent was Satan... then he's still around. And that means that this passage serves as a warning for you and I still today. 

Genesis 3 is the first passage in all of Scripture that reveals to us that we have an enemy… someone who is actively working to separate us from God, to draw us into sin and destroy us. It’s important that you don’t forget that. It’s pretty easy for a snake to hide in the grass and wait to strike when you don’t know he’s there, but the Fall teaches us that he is there and it warns us to be careful.

This same warning is echoed throughout the Bible in passages like 1 Peter 5:8.

"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

Are you aware today that you have an Enemy? There is an intelligent and powerful being who is trying to deceive and tempt you… who is working to lure you into sin so he can destroy you. You are under attack! Beware! Be careful! Don’t allow yourself to be deceived like Adam and Eve were.

Creation is Revelation

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

This is how the Bible begins… with a simple but bold declaration that God created all that exists. But does the Doctrin of Creation really matter?

As it turns out... it really does. There are many ways in which Creation sets the stage for the rest of the biblical story, but one of the most important ways it does this is by giving us our first revelation of who God is. Creation reveals quite a bit about God to us!

First, it reveals that God is powerful. Genesis 1 tells us that God spoke creation into existence. He created by His Word. God simply said “Let there be light," and there was light. He said, "Let dry ground appear.” And it did appear! And God did the same with the sun, the moon, the stars, the plants and the animals. He simply spoke them into existence. That’s power!

Second, creation reveals God’s glory to us. Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” In the same way that the moon has no light of its own but only reflects the glory of the sun, creation itself is only glorious because it reflects the glory of God. The evidence of God’s glory is all around you!

Third, creation reveals God's goodness. God didn’t have to make food taste good. He didn’t have to create beauty. He didn’t have to give us the ability to feel happiness or joy or pleasure... but He did.

Fourth, and finally, creation shows God’s wisdom. Who but God could have designed the eye? Who but God could have set the planets on their courses through the heavens? Who but God could have set the tides and currents in motion? There is such order and such wisdom to creation that God’s wisdom is unassailable.

I could go on. Creation reveals even more than this about God’s nature. But for now let me ask... when was the last time you looked up at a clear sky or out over a planted field and glorified God? Your worship shouldn’t be contained to the church sanctuary. If you will only open your eyes, you’ll find that there are more than enough reasons to praise God all around you. Don’t let all that creation reveals to us about who God is go to waste. Take it in and worship the Lord.