Walking On WaterSample

Stuck in Suffering

Surely no one would choose to get stuck in suffering! Wouldn't we do everything in our power to avoid getting stuck in something as obviously unpleasant?  But, as with all things to do with our inner emotional and spiritual life, it's more complicated than that. Most of us don't consciously choose to suffer, but through our beliefs and choices, that's what can happen. We are in a spiritual battle, and when we are wounded emotionally, mentally or spiritually, we need to guard that we don't pick up an infection that can spread from the wound to the healthy places; an infection like unforgiveness, bitterness, a sense of rejection, shame or self-pity.  Even if we are careful not to allow infection to spread, we also need to do what is necessary to allow healing to take place by not denying we are wounded on one hand, or, on the other, not continually inspecting the wound, and metaphorically picking the scabs off when the wound starts to heal, by continually focusing on it. 

Psalm 84 talks about those whose hearts are set on pilgrimage, which is us. We are on a journey through this life and our destination is eternity with him. The Valley of Baca, mentioned in v5-7, is commonly agreed by Hebrew scholars to mean the Valley of Weeping, so this could read: “As they pass through the Valley of Weeping, they make it a place of springs.”

The Valley of Weeping sounds a lot like a time of suffering to me, and according to this Psalm, it's a place through which we all must pass on our way to appearing before God. The question is, have we, in any way, set up camp and decided to settle in the Valley of Weeping instead of passing through it? Perhaps we can't see our way out of the Valley? It stretches so far that we lose hope that there's something better ahead, so we don’t bother carrying on.

It’s sometimes said that the opposite of faith is unbelief, but a more accurate observation would be that the opposite of faith is fear. Faith is the confident, joyful expectation of good things. Fear, by contrast, is the anxious anticipation of bad things happening. When we learn to praise God for what he is doing, then it is so much easier for our faith to rise. So praise and thanksgiving release us from the pain of the past, move us on from suffering, and prepare us for the blessings that lie ahead.