Kari Morris-Guzman
Kari Morris-Guzman is a Free Methodist elder serving on the pastoral team at The Avenue. She lives in Riverside, California, and is an alumna of Azusa Pacific and Greenville universities.
By Kari Morris-Guzman
Have you ever been reading through Psalms, and you stumble across a Psalm that you recognize because you heard it in a song? And then the tune of the song almost becomes a distraction from what the Psalm is offering? This happens to me all the time. It takes a lot of effort to filter out the tune of the song in order to read the words of the Psalm.
One such Psalm is Psalm 84. Matt Redman popularized this Psalm in the mid-90s modern worship music pool as “Better Is One Day.” I sang it so many times that whenever I actually came across Psalm 84 I would quickly skim over it because I thought I had it practically memorized.
Psalm 84 says this (I dare you to read it carefully, maybe even out loud without singing it):
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.
Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young —
a place near your altar,
Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.
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.
Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty;
listen to me, God of Jacob.
Look on our shield, O God;
look with favor on your anointed one.
Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield:
the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.
Lord Almighty,
blessed is the one who trusts in you.
But as I slowed down and examined it more closely, my eyes kept focusing on verses 5-7, which are sandwiched between the phrases highlighted in Redman’s popular song. This part is not in the song:
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.
While I was reading this, two things kept being highlighted for me: “pilgrimage” and “Valley of Baka.” I discovered that the New Living Translation uses the phrase “Valley of Weeping.” I don’t think you can fully understand this Psalm until you know this. “Baka” is the Hebrew word for “weeping” or “tears.”
Psalm 84:5–7 reads like this in the NLT:
What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,
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.
The Valley of Weeping? That struck a chord with me.
For the past few years, I feel like I’ve been stuck in the Valley of Weeping. There are personal realities I’ve wallowed in: living my life from a wheelchair, loss of multiple loved ones, family struggles, depression and anxiety, etc. Those struggles and challenges were swallowed up by greater societal realities that we’ve all faced: COVID-19, systemic racism, tremendous political tensions, and mass shootings. In some ways, we’ve all been in the Valley of Weeping.
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“There are some things we cannot know without suffering.”
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Warren Wiersbe describes the Valley of Baka (Weeping) as “any difficult and painful place in life, where everything seems hopeless and you feel helpless, like ‘the pit of despair.’”
Does that feel familiar to you?
The worshippers in Psalm 84 have set their minds on a pilgrimage, a sojourn, a journey, to Jerusalem to worship. They made a decision and committed to it. In the pilgrimage, the path leading to worship, to the dwelling place of the Lord Almighty, the altar, the house of the Lord, goes straight through the Valley of Weeping. But an amazing transformation takes place when we walk THROUGH the Valley of Weeping.
The house of the Lord is not a destination point to escape from this world that we can arrive at with a shortcut. It is not the only place we find refreshing and blessings. But rather when we commit to seeking the dwelling place of the Lord Almighty, we also find refreshing and blessings going through the Valley of Weeping. There are some things we cannot know without suffering. Our suffering and willingness to face the suffering is what allows healing and refreshing in the Valley of Weeping. Those who trust and worship God may expect to pass through the Valley of Weeping. But don’t be afraid!
When you choose to go through the Valley of Weeping, the tears will transform to a refreshing spring. The autumn rains will clothe the weeping place with blessing. The worshippers will grow stronger. They will appear before God. There is anticipation and amazing promise in the word “will” that is seen four times in verses 6–7 — the promises of transformation and strength.
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“We don’t have to make the pilgrimage to worship alone in our own strength.”
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When we allow ourselves to journey through the valley of weeping, new possibilities are open to us. Life-giving springs begin to flow; rains of blessing begin to fall. But it’s only our decision and commitment to the pilgrimage to worship that leads us through the Valley of Weeping.
It takes courage to journey through the Valley of Weeping. Strength to journey through it is from the Lord in verses 5 and 7. We don’t have to make the pilgrimage to worship alone in our own strength. We don’t have to sojourn through the Valley of Weeping joyless and weak. God, the One we are seeking to worship, is with us, strengthening us, giving us courage to journey through the hard places of suffering in our lives. So journey on, pilgrim! Flowing springs and rains of blessings — the very goodness of God — are abundant. +
Kari Morris-Guzman
Kari Morris-Guzman is a Free Methodist elder serving on the pastoral team at The Avenue. She lives in Riverside, California, and is an alumna of Azusa Pacific and Greenville universities.
