Meditation Moments 1: "BACA"
"IF I HAVE WOUNDED ANY SOUL TODAY,
If I have caused one foot to go astray,
If I have walked in my own willful way,
Dear Lord, forgive."
PSALM 84 SAYS: "HOW AMIABLE ARE THY TABERNACLES O
LORD OF HOSTS! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the
courts of the Lord: My heart and my flesh crieth out for
the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and
the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,
even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.
"BLESSED ARE THEY THAT DWELL IN THY HOUSE: They will
be still praising Thee. 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.
"THEY GO FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH, everyone of them
appeareth before God." Now we take that little verse:
"PASSING THROUGH THE VALLEY OF BACA THEY MAKE IT A
WELL" (Psa.84:6) -- I talked to someone today, a woman
that came to my home, who is dwelling in the valley of Baca.
NOW THIS VALLEY OF BACA YOU'LL NEVER FIND on any map! I
looked myself on the maps of Palestine and it doesn't give
any location of a place called Baca. And God did that purposely.
HE TOOK THIS WORD "BACA" AS A THING THAT'S BEEN
IN YOUR LIFE, a place where you and I -- all of us I guess
-- have been some time or other. It's a place of suffering,
a place of sorrow, a place of hardship.
IT'S A DRY, DUSTY PLACE, this place of Baca, just like a
desert. But you remember your Baca, don't you? When you
passed through the valley?
WELL, THIS WHOLE SCRIPTURE HERE BRINGS OUT THE THOUGHT which
is so very beautiful -- that Baca is bigger than any geography,
it is larger than any maps -- and that thought is that
DURING OUR LIFE SOME TIME OR OTHER when we have passed through
such a place, we have had the great privilege of turning
the difficulty, and turning the sorrow or whatever the hardship
was, into a blessing.
I KNOW SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN SO AFFLICTED! This man has been
a friend of ours for many many years, and once traveled
with us in the Lord's work and has since been greatly afflicted.
But he never talks about it and he has turned his valley
of Baca into a great blessing: He has digged a well there.
YOU GET DOWN AND DIG DEEP IN YOUR HEART to find what God
is talking to you about and just what has brought about
this thing that has come into the life, and see if God wants
to say something special to you about that thing. Do some
real digging.
DIG A WELL THERE AND THEN DIG IN GOD'S WORD until He reveals
His precious truth to you in his wonderful promises. In
that way the Christian life can become victorious over any
dry dusty place like this Baca that we are talking about,
and you can transform that whole valley into a beautiful
place.
SOMEONE HAS SAID THAT A WELL DOESN'T LOOK SO GOOD BESIDE
A RUNNING STREAM. I know that I sat by a little stream in
Yosemite Park, and I don't thing a well would look so good
or so refreshing as far as a drink is concerned, beside
bubbling, beautiful clear stream!
BUT YOU PUT A WELL OUT IN A DRY DUSTY DESERT, and there,
oh, the water will be mighty refreshing, and looks awfully
good!
AND WHEN A CHRISTIAN IN TIME OF SORROW AND DISTRESS YOU
CAN STAND ON THE PROMISES OF GOD and be so faithful that
others will notice your faith, and there in that hardy dry
dusty place you will dig a well -- that is, make it a place
of refreshing -- that is where the Christian life looks
good: When you become an overcomer in the place of difficulty.
NOW A WOMAN THAT CALLED ON ME TODAY, that I spoke about,
true she was having terrible sorrows, but she sees only
herself and she sees only her sorrow. She isn't getting
her eyes on the Lord at all!
HER FAITH SHOULD BE THAT WHICH WOULD TRANSFORM THAT VALLEY
of suffering into a place of blessing and refreshing. You
remember Hagar lifted up her eyes and then it was that God
showed her the water and she saw a well of water and refreshed
herself and her son.
BUT SOME PEOPLE JUST CAMP DOWN IN THEIR SORROWS, they sort
of luxuriate in their martyrdom and they just stay in the
valley of weeping, they stay in the valley of Baca.
BUT YOU KNOW THAT THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS SUPPOSED TO BE A
LIFE THAT IS SUPERIOR TO CIRCUMSTANCES, superior to all
these things, and we can live above it because we have all
these wonderful promises of God.
WE ARE NOT TO STAY IN THE VALLEY, and not to just endure
our troubles, that isn't victory, just to endure!
IT'S TO PRAISE GOD AND SHOUT THE VICTORY and to prove the
promises and so stand upon god's Word that you really get
real victory out of defeat! And when you overcome in that
way, you'll find so many Divinely given Living Waters that
spring up!
GOD'S WORD SAYS, "THE RAIN ALSO FILLETH THE POOLS and
you go from strength to strength." Use this passage,
read this passage! It is a very wonderful Scripture, this
84th Psalm.
YOU KNOW THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE THAT HAVE NOT TAKEN THOSE
DIFFICULTIES and sufferings and sorrows and made a well
of them right in the very valley of Baca. Will you bow your
head in a word of prayer?
JESUS, WE ASK THEE TO HELP THESE WHO ARE PASSING THROUGH
THE HARD PLACE, that defeat might be turned into victory
because they look to Thee alone and their eyes are on Thee,
not themselves or circumstances, but looking unto the Author
and Finisher of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask
in His Name, amen.
