“Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, —they, in whose heart are the highways. Passing through the valley of Baca, they make it a well-spring; yea, the early rain covers it with blessings”. Psalms 84
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me”. 23 Psalm
Ebenezer: Stone of Help, monument to how far he has brought me! Once again, I descended into the valley and found that the gloom was only the shadow of death, not death itself. When He is with us death is a mere shadow. “oh death where is they sting, oh grave where is thy victory?” the sting, the dread is gone. I am confident that if I do die physically I will also come out on the other side because he will say “ come forth, come up”!
But as the lyrics of the song says "if we’ve never been in the valley we would never know, how high the mountain is, above the valley below”. However the depths were plumbed before by the one who experienced them to the extreme: Psalms 42:7 “Deep calls unto deep at the noise of thy cataracts; all thy breakers and thy billows are gone over me”.
Psalms 69:1 “Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I am come into the depths of waters, and the flood overflow me”. The blessed Lord was “cut off from the land of the living, for the transgression of my people was he stricken”; “Messiah was cut of and had nothing”. But he came out on the other side of death, out from the depths of the valley of the grave. He had been crucified in weakness but was declared, ratified, confirmed to be Son of God with power, by resurrection out from among the dead! And so we can be confident when we dip into the valley of the shadow of death, the valley of tears, whether mentally, spiritually or actual death. He has been lower and now he is now higher than all: the Living one , who became dead, and is alive forever more!
Of the vast universe of bliss,
The Centre Thou and Sun;
The eternal theme of praise is this,
That God's beloved Son
Fills all that scene, where God alone
In His own rest is fully known.
Makiliwè Colin Younge
January 5, 2018