Those Moments

With all the joys of traveling there are “those” moments.

You know…

                     When the tire finds the only nail lying on the road.

                     When the fuel pump decides it is taking a vacation too.

                     When the reservations get all mixed up.

                     When the kids don’t want their sibling touching them.

                     When someone gets sick or hurt during the time memories are suppose to be being made.

Those moments…the times when the joy of the journey has taken flight and all but disappeared.

Continuing on in Psalm 84 we find that the Psalmist knows about those moments as well:

                     

When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,

Psalm 84:6a

Notice he didn’t say IF…he said WHEN.  When they walk through the Valley of Weeping.  Many versions use the word Bacca, which meanings weeping or tears.  Bacca trees dotted the landscape and these trees have sap that oozes out like tears thus giving the name. This exact location of the area is not given specifically but the writer knows the road map to Jerusalem well enough to know it is there.  He also knows that on any journey The Valley of Weeping is associated with any difficult or painful situation in life. 

How many times do we get caught off guard because we enter into the “Valley of Weeping”?  I know I do!

Things were going so well…but then WHAM! We get blindsided. 

The moments when life gets interrupted…

                        When you receive bad news from the doctor.

                        When an attorney shows up at your door.

                        When a loved one falls ill.

                        When your spouse says we’re moving.

                        When the paycheck didn’t make it through the month.

                       

The Valley of Weeping…those times when all seems hopeless and you feel helpless. 

When you want to cry out, “ this is not what I bargained for!  I thought the journey to God’s hope and promises was not suppose to go across these of pathways.  What did I do to end up here?”

Although my valley may look different from yours, I have cried out loudly these exact words to God.  I have traveled these valleys and felt the heat scorching my back.  I have searched for the relief only to find none for the moment.

Why?  Why would God call us on pilgrimage to Him and then allow us to go through the Valley of Weeping?  The clue is in the next few verses of Psalm 84.

It will become a place of refreshing springs.

The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.

They will continue to grow stronger,

And each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.

Oh LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer.

Listen, O God of Jacob.

How could it be that the Valley of Weeping can become a place of refreshing springs?

From a dry and thirsty land to a spring that is refreshing, now that just might just make the journey not so bad. That is exactly what we will dig into with the next post. 

Stepping out of the shadows!

Cynthia