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Psalm 84 and Trusting God

Some things in life are amazing: springtime, baby laughter, celebrations, a rain drop on a flower, the purr of my cat in my lap, the hummingbird that comes to the feeder out back. It is so important to reflect upon our blessings and focus on all the good that God brings into our lives and this precious world.

Also, sometimes things are really, really hard. There is chaos and trauma and pain and loss in this life, too. It is sometimes tempting to sit in those places, to ruminate over loss, to hold on to pain, to let trauma form the entire rest of our existence. Sometimes we get comfortable with our pain, we let it become resentment or anger or unforgiveness, and we stay in that dark valley of pain for far longer than we should.

Psalm 84 calls us as Christians to do an impossible thing. We are called to not just pass through these tough places, but as we pass through them to transform them, these traumas and hardships and losses in our lives, into springs of refreshing water for others. 

Verses 5-6: Blessed are those whose strength is in You, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; even the autumn rain covers it with pools. The word Baca means "weeping" or "lament". We are blessed when we put our strength in God and journey through our hard places, without setting up camp there. With hearts set on pilgrimage, we not only pass through the difficult seasons, but we also turn them into live-giving places of refreshing, cool water. We breathe life into them. This is a high calling.

How do we do this? Throughout Psalm 84, there are many clues. We spend time in His courts (v10), we give Him continual praise (v4), we dwell in His house (v4), we receive His anointing (v9). We trust Him (v12). These are all good things! These are doable things!

All of this seemed pretty reasonable to me until my children became adults. I thought I was doing pretty well with trusting God and letting Him transform my hard and difficult places into life-springs. I was worshipping, and dwelling, and praising all the day long (kind of. some days. mostly if I had enough sleep and coffee.) If you had asked me if I trusted God, I would have told you, "Yes!" At least 80% of the time.

And then my beautiful, wonderful, loving, amazing children left home to start their own lives, and I realized I had no idea how to trust God. When they went through their own hard seasons, when they made choices that were not my choices for their lives, when they traveled to countries at war, or battled illness, or struggled with their own pain or failure or sadness... I discovered I didn't know how to trust God for that. I was full of anxiety and worry and endless concern for them. Sometimes, it was throat-closing anxiety that threatened to keep me in bed all day. I not only didn't trust God in those difficult times, I certainly didn't know how to turn those hard times into places of refreshing for other people.

But Psalm 84:3 gives us a glimpse into what trusting God looks like when it comes to our children or our loved ones. It states, "Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she places her young near Your altars, O LORD of Hosts, my King and my God."

The idea here is that God cares for the things that are dear to us, like our children. He makes a home for the sparrow, and a nest for the swallow; He will take care of you and your children, too. AND, this is a big AND, He asks us to place our young near His altars.

I pictured Hannah, in 1 Samuel 1, who gives her only son Samuel over to Eli to be raised as a very young child. I thought of Mary, who had to give Jesus over to His calling from the first first moment in that manger. God is asking mothers to "place our young near His altars". We are to trust God with our children, with our loved ones, because He cares for them. He makes a home for them. He has a safe nest for them. He loves them even more than we do.

I let the words of verse 3 sink into my heart this week, and I found myself, again and again, taking my anxious thoughts regarding my children, and visualizing placing them near the altar. Not sacrificing them ON the altar, but placing them into God's loving, tender care. I pictured the birds in their nests, the swallow and her chicks, and I knew that God could be trusted with my children.

I will need reminded of that again in the future, as more difficult times occur in my childrens' lives, but today I can tell you that placing your children at the altar of the Lord of Hosts, your King and your God, is possible. That it eliminates anxiety. That it allows you to soujourn through the hard season and not live in that worry or fear. And as a result, I hope to be able to breathe some life into whatever hard time you are having with your own children. I hope that today this encouragement to trust God with your children makes your Valley of Baca a little more refreshing, with a little more life.

And I know you'll do the same for me, sisters.

Meet    
    Cory

Psalm 84 and Trusting God
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