As children of God, we know that God is good and that God loves us.  Yet, we wonder.  We wonder why eternal sunshine does not light our pathway.  Why is the sunny day followed by the dark and gloomy night?  Why is our pathway not always covered with roses?  Where do the cruel thorns that block our path come from?

If God loves us, why are we not always surrounded by prosperity?  Why does our neighbor count his fertile land in hundreds of acres and at the same time we have but a few or none at all?  If God loves us, why is it that when fortune seems at last to smile upon us, and we are borne aloft on a tide of prosperity, something must always happen to turn our prosperity into dust and leave us with disappointed hopes and broken dreams?  Why is it that when we have almost ascended the hill, something always seems to overtake us and send us hurtling to the bottom?  Why, if God loves us, we ask, is that light at the end of the tunnel always an oncoming train?

If God desires our well being, why do pain and sickness assail us?  Why can't we be hale and healthy, full of vim, vigor and vitality?  Then, when God blesses our lives with the precious gift of love, why is it ever blotted out?  The little child that sums up our life-dreams is suddenly snatched back again into the unseen.

If no name is so dear and unforgettable as "mother", why does the day come when we look on the silent form and call her name in vain?  Why does the time come when a husband and wife who are inseparable in devotion experience the anguish of parting?  Why does our own youth vanish so quickly and old age creep on us so stealthily, until finally that which was once so precious is now but dust and ashes?

Every generation sooner or later comes face to face with this problem.  Every preacher is forced to wrestle with it through the long night.  Here are the words of the Psalmist, Psalm 84:5-6, "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."  

The valley of Baca is not a geographical location.  Rather, it is the valley of weeping or lamentation.  It is a picturesque expression for the experience of those whose strength is in Jehovah and through his grace find their sorrows changed into blessings.  The Psalmist pictures for us the valley of weeping or lamentation,  The imagery is that of a company of pilgrims,  They are on their way toward the holy city.  In their path lies a desolate, sterile valley.  In that dry and thirsty land many a traveler has fainted with thirst.  Many a feeble or careless foot has slipped on those rugged rocks.  Yet, no matter the trials, the pilgrims gird their loins,  They pitch their tents and they dig deep.  Their toil is rewarded with cool treasures of living water.

Our way to the better land lies through the valley of tears. Sometimes, either thoughtlessly or bitterly this name is applied to human life as a whole.  This is both untrue and unreasonable.  Life does have its deserts and dangers.  Life has its weary wasted, gloomy gorges and perilous passages.  However, life also has breezy sunny uplands.  Life has smiling valleys and fields of happy fruitful labor,  Life has quiet resting places that are cheered by bright hopes, warm affections and pleasant memories.

Yet, it is just as untrue that life is all sorrow as it is that it is all joy.  At some point, the valley of weeping has to be crossed.  There are lives whose whole course seems to be within its shadow,  Even the happiest path runs so near its border that at any moment we may enter the valley of weeping.  Perhaps soo to emerge or perhaps not until the pilgrimage is over.

However, hidden well-springs of comfort and blessing are provided by God,  God provides wellsprings for his children when they are passing through the valley of weeping.  He provides comfort under trial.  He provides blessing through trial and hope beyond trial. 

Trouble will come into our lives.  We can either meet it in the way of the flesh or the way of the spirit.  The flesh anticipates troubles with terror.  It prepares for them with trembling hands.  It prays in a panic and cringes before the trials,  This was Jacob when he bowed himself to the ground seven times before he came near his brother (Genesis 33).   The way of faith is far better.  Faith clings to God and listens to God.  Faith hears God say, "I am with thee and will keep thee".  Faith believes that God will keep his word,  Faith meets trouble not cringing but erect,  Faith is certain God has already been at work,  We must not look for troubles to cause our weeping.  Those who look for troubles will not be long in finding them,

We must lift our eyes higher to Him from whom comes our strength,  If our faith does not bring us greater strength in trials, then there is something seriously wrong with our faith.  If the valley of weeping is to become our well, we must have a full and complete trust in the providential care of God.  The kind of faith that sustained Job, the confidence that Abraham had and the faith of the Apostle Paul.  Remember, what Paul said in Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

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