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We learn that Jesus came to touch people's hearts, by bringing revelation of the Power of God, for: salvation; healing; deliverance. Jesus made it clear we would have difficulties and problems, but He has overcome all evil with good - on the Cross, and through His ministry to us. As we face the reality that we are hurting and suffering, and allow the Lord to help us repent and forgive, He will always respond. God is committed to our character and growth, not our comfort.
I want to share with you two verses now; and we’re going to go into Psalm 84.
The Bible tells us that the ministry of Jesus was to touch people. Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit, the power of God was upon Him; and He set people free who were oppressed by evil spirits.
When Jesus described His ministry, He said: the Holy Spirit was upon Him to preach the gospel, to explain to people how they could be reconciled to God. Jesus said: Repent, change your mind, for the kingdom of God is near you. But Jesus also came to heal the broken-hearted, and to set people free who were imprisoned by evil spirits.
Psalm 84:5 – “Blessed is the man whose strength is in you, whose heart is set on pilgrimage or a journey. 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.”
Now, Jesus made it very clear that in the world we live, we will suffer difficulties, problems; and he said: but have courage, because I’ve overcome everything that could come your way. Jesus understood family pressures. He understood betrayal. He understood what it was like to be rejected. He understood what it was like to experience people criticising Him. He understood what it was like to face injustice; but He always manifested the life of God. He always overcame evil with good.
These few verses here describe how we can become free. He talks about the valley of Baca. The name Baca means ‘sorrows’ or ‘weeping’. So the Bible uses a picture to describe a painful experience in our life. A valley is a low place. The mountains are the high places. So when a person is in a valley, they’re in a place of challenge and difficulty. There are many valleys mentioned in the Bible. There’s the valley of the shadow of death. There’s the valley of trouble. There’s a valley of sorrows or weeping.
So in this passage, God describes a valley – a difficult place in life. Valleys happen to every person. Difficult experiences, experiences that produce sorrow. It can be a marriage; a family; finances; ministry; in the workplace; or with our friends. Sorrows come in life. So when a person is in the valley of sorrow, there’s grief and pain in their heart.
The Bible tells us in this verse, it says: “Blessed is the man whose strength is in the Lord, who passes through the valley of sorrow.”
So valleys are inevitable. They happen to everyone. Valleys are painful, but valleys can be profitable –we can grow in them. Whatever experience you are facing, God intends you to grow through it. He wants to come to you in your valley; He wants to show you how much He loves you; and He wants to help you walk out of your valley. God does not intend us to stay in the valley. He intends us to pass out of the valley.
So blessed is the man whose strength is in the Lord, who passes through the valley; and makes his valley-experience a well that refreshes other people. Whatever painful experience you’ve gone through in life, you can remain stuck in it – being angry and resentful and sad all of your life; or you can choose to reach out to the Lord and change, and make your valley a well. A well, for the people who were reading this, was a place of refreshing and life.
The Bible uses pictures to describe spiritual experiences: a valley of sorrow, for a time of weeping and difficulty; becoming a well of blessing, with God’s spirit moving in that situation. Valley of sorrow; well of blessing. It says: they make the valley of sorrow into a well.
So you can’t stop difficult things happening to you. You can’t stop life happening to you. But when painful experiences happen, you can choose what you do with it. You can become bitter; or you can become better. You can become sour and hurt and resentful; or you can grow in the grace of God. You can be angry and blaming others; or you can reach out to God to help you. You can become twisted and distorted by this experience; or you become sweeter, and more gracious.
You choose - it’s your choice. We have no choice, sometimes, over what other people do to us; but we can choose how we respond. So, the Bible says: “blessed is the man whose strength is in the Lord, who passes through the valley, makes it into a well, and God begins to pour rains of blessing on him, and that person goes from strength to strength”.
That’s from one level of strength to another level of strength. You want to be strong? Handle adversity well. You want to become a bigger person? Handle your difficult situations well. So we see, God’s plan is never to leave us in a valley of sorrow. In fact, the Bible tells us in Isaiah 53 – Jesus carried our grief and sorrows, so we don’t have to carry them.
I want to ask two questions. First one: why did people get stuck in a valley? Why do they get stuck? The second question: how do you get out? How do you make your valley into a well? So you come out stronger, not weaker and bitter.
So firstly, why do people get stuck in the valley? Over the years I’ve met many Christians, and many non-Christians, and their lives are full of grief; they’re in pain. There is a part of their heart where there’s a valley of sorrow. So I’ve tried to find out why people stay there, when they don’t really want to be there. Every now and then, someone will say something or do something, and it triggers off their anger, and triggers off their reaction.
So here are some of the reasons I’ve discovered why people remain in a valley; why they carry sorrows in their heart; why they have a place in their heart where they’re stuck. There are several reasons - let me just give you a few of the reasons.
The first one is when a person denies or minimises that they’ve been hurt. If you get hurt by someone, or some situation; and you deny that you’ve been hurt, or you sweep it away and say – “It’s nothing really”; then you are embracing a lie. The pain is buried, and you’ve covered it with a lie.
I have found many, many women suffer - women who’ve had abortions for example. Deep in their heart of hearts, they know what happened; but they’ve covered it and minimised it, and denied what it really was. So there’s a part of their heart where they’re sad. Until we face the truth about our situation, we can’t get free. I’ll show you the steps out in a moment. So when people deny or minimise there’s a problem... I’ve found often in Asia, people won’t talk about the things that hurt them. They’ll bury them in the heart, and hold them down in the heart; trying to get on with life, and not face the thing and deal with it.
Another way that people stay in the valley is through unforgiveness. Unforgiveness means: you’ve hurt me, and you owe me, and I refuse to release the debt. When we hold unforgiveness in our heart, the Bible says we open the door to tormenting evil spirits; and they torment you. They keep reminding you: it’s not fair. They keep stirring up hurt, stirring up injustice. They keep stirring the fire inside you; and each new experience adds to the previous one. I find some people are angry, and they’re just about angry at everything. But really what’s happened is: they were hurt, and got angry, and they never forgave.
Anger is like a debt, similar to unforgiveness. When a person is angry, they believe something was taken from them, something they were entitled to was stolen. “You owe me. You need to apologise. You need to put it right.” So anger and unforgiveness are like a demand – you pay me back. But you may never pay me back, and what you did may be so serious, and so bad, you can’t pay me back.
So, if I remain angry and harbour unforgiveness in my heart, I am trapped in the valley. I’m stuck in the place of sorrow. Trapped in there by my own unforgiveness; and God is saying – “Hey, I want to help you. I want the valley to become a well, but you are holding onto your unforgiveness and anger. You won’t let go, so you’re staying in this difficult place. I want to get you out of there.”
There’s another reason that people may stay in the valley – is they make Inner Vows. They harden their hearts; they speak “I’ll never let any man near me again.” “I’ll never trust a woman.” “I’ll never be in that position again.” So when we make an inward vow, it’s rooted in anger and bitterness – we stay in the valley. “I’ll never be like my father.” “I’ll never be like my mother.” These kinds of statements are rooted in anger and bitterness; and they’ll keep you in the valley.
So there are many reasons that people stay in a valley: Denial; Minimising; Unforgiveness; Anger; Inner vows; Judgements. People just get their lives all messed up. Now, we can choose how we handle difficult situations. So notice what the Bible says – “Blessed is the man whose strength is in the Lord.” Blessed! That means God’s favour rests on them. Notice why the person was stuck in the valley – was because they were trying to control all the pain, and control their own life. They were trying to manage their own world. When we control our own life, we don’t make room for God.
So here are the steps out of this – “Blessed is the man.” In other words, God’s blessing flows on this person. Here’s number 1 – “whose strength is in the Lord”. That word strength means: ability to get victory is found in the Lord. So blessed is the man who comes to the Lord for victory over the situation. Instead of just trying to control it, instead of trying to bury it, they come to the Lord and bring it to the light. It says –that person, makes the valley of sorrows into a well.
How do they make it into a well? They make choices. They make choices that give God room to move; choices that allow the Holy Spirit to come into their life; choices that let God change their heart; choices to open this pain to the Lord to heal.
God doesn’t want you to walk through life suffering alone. This is what it says in 2 Corinthians 1 – “Now today, the God of comfort; God who comforts people, comfort you in all your tribulation.” So God is a God who comforts people. Every difficult, precious situation, God wants to come and comfort you. Now the God of all comfort, comfort you in all your tribulation.
Now listen to this: “...so that you may be able to comfort others, with the comfort you have received.” So if you’ve been through a painful situation, God wants to come and comfort you, and heal you; and if you are a living testimony of the power of God to change people’s lives, you can help others, because you understand them, you’ve experienced the same pain.
So what are some of the steps out of the valley? They’re usually far easier than you think. The difficulty is just doing it, but the steps are easy.
Number 1 – I need to face the reality of my plan. I need to be honest - I’m hurting. What happened to me, really hurt me, and I’m suffering. The first step to any freedom is just honesty. Instead of pretending, and covering, and saying: it’s not much; say what it is – I’m hurt.
Number 2 - I need to be honest. I need to face the situation – what happened to me, how did it affect me, how did I react. When you ask those questions, you start to really face the problem. Now I need to reach out to the Lord –“Lord I need Your grace to help me now.”
So number 1, I need to face the problems with honesty. Number 2, I need to ask the questions – what happened, how did it affect me, how have I tried to react and solve this problem.
Number 3, I need to ask the Lord to help me now and make a decision – I will forgive. I will grieve over what happened, and I’ll forgive. Sometimes we just need to grieve before we can forgive properly. Tears are the language of the heart. Issues of the heart, you have to process from the heart. Jesus said – When you forgive, forgive from the heart. Usually what happens – tears come, and that’s a sign or language that we’re sad.
When I work with people and we’re counselling them or talking with them, I always watch their face. I found the moment you touch the heart, the place where the person is in pain, the windows to the soul – the eyes start to flood with water. You can just tell the person’s really hurting; and I usually focus on that, because that is the place God wants to heal them.
So, face the situation. Ask the questions – what happened, how did it affect me, how have I tried to protect myself. Then come to the Lord with these things, grieve over the problem, release forgiveness. Start to bless the people who hurt you. If there’s any inner vows or judgements, renounce them; and expect God to help you, to give you grace to come through it. Expect God to speak to you because His words bring comfort.
I remember I was facing an incredible situation – one of my daughters had been sexually assaulted, and I was broken-hearted by this; and I was in a valley of sorrow. I could not be fixed by anyone. People didn’t even understand how sad I was. Deep at the core of my inner-most being, I was struggling with whether I could trust God again. So I had it all bottled up in my heart. I just tried to carry on life, tried to be a good Christian, tried to overcome.
Someone said to me –they were trying to help me – they said: if you could say anything to God, what would you say? So I was alone one day with God, and I began to weep. I began to face the sorrow. Then I spoke out my heart, and I said: “God, I feel You’ve let me down. I expected You to care for me, and look after me, and now I don’t trust you. I’ve prayed, and I pray for my family. My family is hurting, and You have allowed this thing to happen, so I’m struggling to pray anymore.”
I was just honest with God, and began to weep as I shared my heart, and shared the real struggle. There was a silence for a moment, and I could feel God coming on me to help me. When you are honest, God always responds. It’s just sometimes we try and pretend it’s better than it is. I felt the Lord begin to speak to me, tell me how much He loved me. He said – “I’m not committed to your comfort, I’m committed to your character.” He said – “I want you to grow. I know this is a sad experience for you, but in the midst of it, you will grow, and your family will grow, and I will come and help. Then you will be able to help many others.”
I began to weep. He said – “When you pray, you’re just praying for everything to go right in your life; and I’m not committed to your comfort, I’m committed to your character. Then He said to me this: “You know how you feel about your daughter. I feel that about My people too, when sin defiles their lives.” I just began to weep and weep as I felt the heart of God, and I let go. I said: “God, I thank you that You’re going to help us.” Within a space of 3 months, my daughter had an amazing encounter with angels, and her life changed. God supernaturally came to help, and the situation turned around.
Blessed is the man whose strength is in the Lord. He turns to the Lord in the midst of sorrows and troubles, instead of trying to control it all and bury it in the heart. Blessed is the man who turns to the Lord, and makes choices that turn the valley into a well. You can choose to trust God. You can choose to follow His way. It says in that scripture, we’ll read it again now: “Blessed is the man whose strength is in the Lord, whose heart is set on pilgrimage.” In other words, whose heart is willing to go through a process. We just want someone to pray and fix us, but God wants you to journey with Him and trust Him. So I went from strength to strength to strength.
When I think about that situation now, there’s no pain in my heart. I’m sad that it happened, but God has given great victory; and we have prayed for hundreds of people to be set free, who were grieving over a similar trauma. “Blessed is the man whose strength is in the Lord, whose heart embraces God’s process. They go through the valley of sorrow and make it a well, and the rain fills them, and they go from strength to strength, and they experience God.” That’s what the Psalm is saying.
Blessed is the man or woman whose strength is in God, who turns to the Lord in the midst of their trouble and says: ‘God, I’ll go through the journey and the process with You.’ They pass through the valley, they don’t stay in the place of being bitter and angry and sad and resentful - they turn it into something sweet. Instead of being angry, they forgive; instead of cursing, they bless; instead of being bitter, they do good, show kindness. That person goes from strength to strength, blessed by God, enjoying the presence of God.
You can’t enjoy the presence of God when you let bitterness in your heart. When Paul wrote, he said: don’t grieve the Holy Spirit. Don’t let there be bitterness and anger and fury in your hearts. Don’t let there be malice, payback. Rather, be kind, tender-hearted. Forgive. Enjoy the presence of God. I love the Holy Spirit. I love the presence of God. I want my life to be free. So whenever sorrows come, you must make a choice whether to stay in the valley, or turn it into a well.
Please just close your eyes right now. Tonight there’d be people here who don’t know Jesus. You were born into this world separate from God; but God loves you, He has a destiny for your life. Jesus came and died on the cross for your sins, and rose from the dead after 3 days. This is what He said: to everyone who received, to everyone to believed on Him, He gave power to be a child of God.
If you’re here tonight and don’t know Jesus, I want you to make that decision tonight. “I will receive Jesus Christ. I will turn to Him – the God who loves me. I’ll trust my life to Him and receive Him into my heart.”
[Sinner’s Prayer]
“Father in heaven, I come to You in Jesus’ name. Thank You for loving me. Thank You for sending Jesus to die on the cross for my sins, and to rise again from the dead. Tonight I turn away from sin. Tonight I turn to You. Jesus, I receive You as my Saviour. I ask You to forgive all my sins. By faith now, I receive forgiveness. I receive Your Spirit into my heart, and I give You my life tonight. Before heaven and earth I declare, Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord, and my friend forever. Amen.”