“Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.” (Psalms 84:6)
This Psalm is attributed to the sons of Korah. If the name sounds familiar that’s because Korah was the man who led a rebellion against Moses and the earth swallowed him, his family and his co-conspirators. (Numbers 16:3-50) But there were some of his family that separated themselves from him and survived his rebellion. His descendants join David in the temple worship. They wrote eleven psalms. One of them is Psalms is 84. The “Who” are the ones from the previous verse. “Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.” (Psalms 84:5) Them referring to the ways of God. In our verse they make wells in The Valley of Baca. This was a dry arid place without water where the mulberries grew. And these whose ways are the ways of God made wells to catch the rainwater for travelers. The symbolism is of those blessed ones obedient to God’s word who refresh and provide living water to the “travelers” in this world. The travelers are them that are traveling through the Valley of Baca a dry and unproductive place. The are traveling through it but need those pools of living water to refresh them while they go through this hard or difficult place. These blessed ones are not exempt from the hard and dry place. They are also travelers. They also have come to this difficult place. But they don’t dwell on their own thirst but the thirst of others. Their concern is that other travelers will be refreshed.
But it’s God Who sends the rain. He is the provider of what we need, rest for the weary and refreshing for the thirsty. He provides the living water which is the Holy Spirit. God knew we would need Him. So, He sent Him to be with us and in us. “Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby Thou didst confirm Thine inheritance, when it was weary.” (Psalms 68:9) When we are weary is when we lose it. But the Lord confirms His inheritance for us. And it not a quick shower or a temporary relief, but an eternal outpouring of His Holy Spirit.
When the kings of Israel, Judah and Edom united to fight the Moabites they came to a place with their armies and animals, horses and cattle, to a place that had no water. (2Kings 3:7-11) King Jehoshaphat knew that the answer was with God. “But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD, that we may enquire of the LORD by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah.” (2Kings 3:11) But when they went to Elisha, he rebukes them and tells them to seek advice from the sorcerers that the kings of Israel and Edom followed. (2Kings 3:12,13) “And Elisha said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee.” (2Kings 3:14) Elisha relents because of Jehoshaphat who followed the Lord. And Elisha hears from the Lord. “And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. And this is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand. And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones. And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat offering was offered, that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.” (2Kings3:16-20)
It encourages us that in the dry and places of death, Elisha told the kings, and he tells us also, “And this is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD...” God our Provider of all things spirit, soul and body provides. He provides the rain, the abundance, the rest and the life that we need to continue. But we have to dig the ditches, the pools or wells. We do this by believing His Word, speaking His Word and standing on His Word regardless of what we see, hear or feel. And what we need will come “by way of Edom.” God uses the enemy’s tools to destroy us to provide for us. No matter what that dry and arid difficult thing is that we are travelling through, God will use what the enemy thought to destroy us to provide what we need for life everlasting.
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