Look inside this book.Where the Bush is Burning: A Daily Devotional by [Thomas Tice]

Tag: Psalm 84
‘A Well’

‘A Well’

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‘A Well’

Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.

Psalm 84:6

Because many of us are urban dwellers, the concept of a well is somewhat foreign to us.  For the dweller of the ancient Middle East, a well was an immeasurable blessing.  Living, as they did in the arid and semi-arid part of the world, water meant life.  The Psalmist who wrote the text upon which we have been meditating for the past days spoke of those ‘who passing through the valley of Baca, make it a well.’  The meaning for us is that by teaching us through hard crushing experiences, Christ enables us to dig ‘wells’ from which others can benefit.  It takes labor to dig a well.  It takes time to remove all the dirt and rocks that cover the water.  A well, as it would have been dug in the days of the writing of our text, would have been the result of blood, sweat, and perhaps even tears.  Having said that, succeeding generations would reap the benefits of that labor.  It is even so with us.  Christ has led us by His Own example, and taught us the value of the hard experiences of the valley of weeping.  As He has walked through the valley with us, and shown us where and how to dig the well, so also He has already determined who will receive the benefit of our experience.  He will not waste our tears.  He will not squander the crushing experiences.  Generations to come will drink of the wells in the valley.

Our Gracious Master and Our Loving Lord,
we rejoice that You will make use of all of our experiences.
We praise You that You will lead us through the darkest valleys,
and enable us to dig wells from which others can drink.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
Christ’s People in the Valley

Christ’s People in the Valley

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Christ’s People in the Valley

Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.

Psalm 84:6

Christ does more than sympathize and empathize with us in the ‘valley of weeping.’  The verse which precedes the text upon which we are dwelling refers to those whom we may describe as our fellow believers.  It says of them, ‘Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.’ While we appreciate beyond measure the fact that Christ sympathizes and empathizes with us, there are moments when the understanding of another human being is important.  We need to know that someone else, who is altogether as we are, has passed through this same ‘valley of weeping.’  To that end, Christ enables the person described in verse 5 to ‘make it a well.’  Herein lies the benefit of one person’s experience to another person who is enduring ‘the valley of weeping.’  By giving us certain experiences in life, Christ prepares us and uses us to benefit those who come behind us.  Of many experiences in life, Christ may say to us, ‘What I do, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.’  Very often, it is only much later in life, that we come to understand that our most devastating experiences serve the purpose of enabling us to ‘dig a well’ for the benefit of those who come behind us.  We become like Christ and are able to sympathize and empathize with others, based upon our own experience.

Our All-Sufficient God,
we rejoice that You provide for us those who have been where we are.
We praise You that by their experience,
we can benefit as we continue to follow You.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
The Christ of the Valley

The Christ of the Valley

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The Christ of the Valley

Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.

Psalm 84:6

We want to take a few moments to continue to contemplate a subject we raised yesterday.  As we came to consider ‘the valley of weeping,’ we thought briefly upon the fact that Christ has passed through the valley of weeping and is therefore the utterly sympathetic and empathetic Savior.  Today, let us consider how He came to be so.  In order for Christ to accomplish our redemption, and to meet us at our point of need in every way, He had to become truly human.  Hence, we see Him as very God of very God but also truly man.  The life of Christ was a life of humility and of humiliation.  He knew the pain and weariness of hard labor as a construction worker.  He knew the rejection of His family because they did not believe in Him.  He knew the fickleness of people from the way in which all His disciples forsook Him and fled in His darkest hour.  He knew what it was to bleed and die in the midst of the cruel and the heartless, who added insult to injury.  Wherever you are today, Christ has been there before you.  He is as vitally connected to you in your suffering as He is in all the other ways you experience Him.  Therefore, He is a Christ for our suffering.  He is not just the Christ of the mountaintop, but He is also the Christ of the valley.

Our Loving and Gracious Savior,
we rejoice that You understand us in every way.
We praise You that in our darkest hours,
You are the light for us.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
‘The Valley of Weeping’

‘The Valley of Weeping’

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‘The Valley of Weeping’

Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.

Psalm 84:6

Life can be very hard.  We like the sunny days with cloudless skies, when the path before us is smooth and level.  We know, however, from personal experience, that life has many days full of clouds, wind, hail, rain and turbulence which disrupts us physically, mentally, spiritually, and socially.  The writer of the Psalm from which our text derives today was no stranger to hardship.  He speaks in a picturesque way of ‘the valley of Baca.’  ‘The valley of Baca’ is the ‘valley of weeping.’  Over the next several days, we want to dwell upon this text for our comfort and edification.  The fact is, at times, we all pass through ‘the valley of Baca.’  We suffer our losses and we bear our crosses.  We know the bitter disappointment of dashed dreams and ruined hopes.  We mourn the loss of love and of loved ones.  Friends disappoint and we, in turn, disappoint others.  No life is without these passages through ‘the valley of weeping.’  If that has been, or even today is your experience, understand that you are not alone.  Others have passed this way before you, and there is One, Who above all others understands how you feel.  He is the utterly sympathetic and empathetic Savior.  Look at the path and behold the footprints of the Christ Who feels Your pain.

Our Good and Kind Savior,
we rejoice that You are ever mindful of the dark valleys through which Your people are passing.
We praise You that You do not leave us alone in those valleys,
but, meet us at our point of deepest need.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
Preparing for Worship

Preparing for Worship

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9:30 am Worship Service

10900 Huron Street

Northglenn, CO

Scripture:  Psalm 84

How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of host!  My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.  Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.  Blessed are they that swell in thy house: they will be still praising thee.  Selah.  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.  They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.  O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob.  Selah. Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.  For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to swell in the tents of wickedness.  For the LORD God is a sun ad shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold form them that walk uprightly.  O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

Sermon:  Wells in the Valley – Tomm Tice

  1.  We all pass through the Valley of Weeping.
  2. We are not alone in the valley.
  3. Christ will make use of our valley experiences.

Catechism:  Westminster Shorter Catechism question #37

What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?

The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united in Christ, do rest in their graves, till the resurrection.

1 Hebrews 12:23. To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect
2 Luke 23:43. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. 2 Corinthians 5:6, 8. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord…. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Philippians 1:23. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.
3 1 Thessalonians 4:14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
4 Daniel 12:2. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. John 5:28-29. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. Acts 24:15. And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.

Worship:

Jesus I am Resting, Resting

He is King

Seek Ye First

 

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