4. Pilgrimage to Paradise: From Weeping to Joy

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What is it that makes it possible to turn a valley of sorrow into a mountaintop of joy? Psalm 84:11 describes the believer’s journey toward the heavenly Zion as “the valley of Baca” or the valley of weeping. 

"Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength till each appears before God in Zion."

“Baca” or ”Bakah” refers to a tree that weeps resin, likely a Balsam or Mulberry tree. In the psalmist’s day pilgrims would pass through what is now considered to be the actual Valley of Baca, on their way to worship in Jerusalem. It was waterless, dry, barren.

The psalmist uses the picture of this valley as representative of the journey of life which so often includes sorrow, suffering, and barrenness. But he insists that the pilgrim can turn that dark and difficult valley into a better place, even into a place of joy and fruitfulness.

No one needed to hear that message more than those to whom Peter wrote his letter. Suffering and sorrow were something they knew firsthand. Life was that Valley of Baca, that arid and difficult place through which they travelled as they anticipated that heavenly Zion that would come at the end of their journey.

Peter encouraged them to “keep on keeping on” despite the difficulties. But what would sustain them in this place of weeping? How could such a barren place flourish, a difficult journey be anything other than difficult? It would take more than simply internal resolve, more than the prodding of the apostle.

Peter touches on the key, writing with what I imagine as admiration with a sprinkling of chagrin:

"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:8. 9)

Peter had known Jesus personally, had walked through life with Him, had seen and heard all that Jesus did and said that revealed Him as God in the flesh. And yet the disciple’s faith had failed at the most critical times during that journey. He looks at these pilgrims, who have lost so much, and sees the faith in, and the love for, a Jesus they had never known personally. Yet their love and faith seems stronger than his often had been though he had walked in intimate communion with Christ.

That love and faith translated into deep joy in what looked like a joyless journey. That joy does not depend on the circumstances of the journey. It grows stronger as the roots of love and faith sink more deeply into the stream of salvation, that Living Water that Jesus had once introduced to a Samaritan woman.* It flourishes and bears fruit as a branch does attached to the living vine from which it draws its strength, that vine that is Jesus.** The conditions in the valley do not affect it: it affects the conditions in the valley.

He is the beginning, middle, and ultimate goal of the journey. There can be only weeping when we try to travel it without Him.

Next: Flourishing in a valley of weeping. What does that look like?

* John 4

** John 15