Dig The Well

“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.” (Ps 84:5-6 AV)

 

This is the only mention in all of the holy scriptures of the valley of Baca.  Some suppose it was an actual valley through which the pilgrims traveled.  The absence of this place in any other passage leads a good number to suppose it to be an allegory much like the valley of the shadow of death found in Psalm twenty-three.  The name means weeping.  There are a few who suppose this speaks of mulberry trees grown in this obscure valley whose sap regularly drips from its extremities.  No matter who you read, most commentators make an association between the meaning of the name with the experience of the pilgrim.  Once a year, the entire nation would travel to the tabernacle or temple.  They would bring their offering of atonement.  As they traveled, they would be reminded of the failures and sins for which they would atone.  They might also be reminded of the petitions stored deep in their heart which they would leave with the priest to offer at the altar of incense.  The picture is a tremendous one.  Traveling through the valley of weeping, the pilgrim would dig a well.  The rain of his tears combined with the showers of blessing would turn an unpleasant situation into one of blessing.  The application here is obvious.

One of the longest times of my life was when I broke my arm.  I was only about ten, I think.  I broke it messing around on a banister.  I fell a flight of stairs and landed right on my wrist.  It snapped.  The doctor took an x-ray and he was pleased the wrist had not shifted at all.  He recommended a half cast but warned me if I did not baby it, he would have to rebreak it and set it in a full cast.  This is exactly what happened.  We returned to the doctors a few weeks later and it was not healing straight.  Out came the sledge and down on my wrist.  He set it and placed a full cast on the arm.  This lengthened the healing time.  It almost doubled the time before I could get the use of my arm back.  For a ten-year-old to be down one arm for about eight weeks at the start of summer is not good.  It was hard trying to find fun when my siblings had full use of their extremities.  When one has a limb in a cast, he has to make his own fun.  There is the fashionable and traditional signing of the cast.  This was very important to me.  In school, I was not a popular pupil.  I was one that everyone else wanted to pick on.  But when I had a cast and several sharpies, all of a sudden I had friends.  In fact, it was the cast that got me invited to the birthday party of one of the most popular kids in the class.  I came prepared with markers intending for a bad situation to turn into a better one.

Life will always have downturns.  Life will always have sorrows.  Life will never be perfect.  It will always come with loss.  But with these times, there are also blessings.  We simply have to know how to, and where to, look.  Not only that, but we have to be prepared to receive them when they come.  The terrain around us may be arid.  There may be little water available, but if we dig a well in expectation of the rain, in time, they will be full.  The pilgrim knows there are sunny days and there are rainy days.  There are up days and there are down days.  The pilgrim expects hardships along the way.  He or she knows that life consists of easy days and hard days.  It is what we do with that expectation that makes the journey easier.  Or, at the very least, able to be traversed.  The pilgrim who wants to get where God wants him to be will prepare himself to receive blessings even in the least expected places.  He will dig wells.  He will watch the clouds.  He will know in his heart of hearts that even though the way may be rocky, there are pleasures to be had.  This is the way of the pilgrim.  So, dig wells.  Dig them deep.  Dig them large.  And, place a bucket in the middle so that when the soul is parched, a cool and refreshing drink can be had from the river of life which is always there.  Dig, my brothers and sisters, dig.  Or the blessings of life will run right past.  Dig because your tears and the rains will fill them.