by Kevin Burton
On those seemingly rare occasions when I am able to wrestle a problem to the ground and tie it up in a bow, I’ve been known to say “on to the next crisis.”
The idea behind that proclamation: here I am, buffeted by the storm, what evil circumstance is coming next?
Where there should be gratitude to God for allowing me solve a problem, there is an implied complaint. Now what? Keeping my eyes peeled and heart guarded for some other calamity.
Last week from the book of Psalms and from Alistair Begg, speaker on the Truth For Life radio ministry, came a reminder: God provides strength, His strength, for those wise enough to seek it.
With my eyes on the world and my problems, it seems as if I go from crisis to crisis. With my heart set on God, I know I am really going from strength to strength.
Here’s Psalm 84: 5-7, NKJV:
“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.”
The Valley of Baca referred to in that passage speaks to a place of weeping, according to the website www.gotquestions.org.
“The Valley of Baca is mentioned in the Bible only once, in Psalm 84. Baca is rendered ‘weeping’ in most translations: “What joy for those whose strength comes from the LORD, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem,” reads a passage on the website.
“When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings” (Psalm 84:5-6 NLT).
“The Hebrew word baca is related to bakah, which means ‘to weep.’ Baca refers to a type of ‘weeping’ tree; that is, one that drips resin or gum-like tears, such as a balsam, mulberry, or aspen tree.”
Though we walk through that valley, we can count on God’s strength, Begg writes.
“They go from strength to strength.” There are various renderings of these words, but all of them contain the idea of progress,” Begg writes. “They go from strength to strength. That is, they grow stronger and stronger. Usually, if we are walking we go from strength to weakness; we start fresh and in good order for our journey, but by and by the road is rough, and the sun is hot; so we sit down by the wayside and then resume our weary way.”
“But the Christian pilgrim, having obtained fresh supplies of grace, is as vigorous after years of weary travel and struggle as when he first set out. He may not be quite so elated and buoyant, nor perhaps quite so hot and hasty in his zeal as he once was, but he is much stronger in all that constitutes real power; and if he travels more slowly, he does so more surely,” Begg writes.
“Some gray-haired veterans have been as firm in their grasp of truth and as zealous in spreading it as they were in their younger days. But sadly, it must be confessed it is often otherwise, for the love of many grows cold, and iniquity flourishes; but this is their own sin and not the fault of the promise, which still holds good: ‘Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint’” (Isaiah 40:31).
“Fretful spirits sit down and trouble themselves about the future. ‘Unfortunately,’ they say, ‘we go from affliction to affliction.’ Very true, O you of little faith; but you go from strength to strength also. You will never find a bundle of affliction that does not have in it somewhere sufficient grace. God will give the strength of ripe maturity along with the burden allotted to full-grown shoulders.”
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