It is so easy, and for many it is a habit, for a person to walk though a dry time in life and lose hope. When you look around and it’s obstacle after struggle. When you find that your paycheck vanishes right after you receive it, when you lose your job and no prospects are in sight, when you have a diagnosis from your doctor that upends your plans— these are just a few examples of things that happen in life. Remember, life is hard. Yet in the dry periods of life, we have the option to walk through the valley of weeping, and to join in the weeping. We have the option to settle in the dry areas and sit and mourn.
Yes, there are times to mourn. Yes, there are times to weep. However, we notice that the Psalmist speaks of something different. There is another response when we walk through the dark valley of tears. We can dig deep. We can seek for that which brings us joy where others find pain. This is hard. How can you find joy when you lose your child? How can you find joy when you cannot even pay rent? How can you find joy when nothing ever seems to go right?
The Psalmist speaks of the need to “dig deep to find a pleasant pool.” This is seeking out Jesus in the midst of the pain, in the midst of barrenness, in the midst of the storms of life. God alone provides us a joy that overflows and a peace that surpasses anything we can understand or imagine. I would never tell you to stop feeling, to stop crying, to stop mourning. Each of us have emotions and it’s okay to feel. It’s important to feel. Just know that there is a God who loves you and who has been through it all. He knows your pain. He has suffered. He has lost. He has been through the dark valley of tears. Even still, there is a pleasant pool. There is a brook of blessing. There is hope. His name is Jesus.
“Even when their paths wind through the dark valley of tears, they dig deep to find a pleasant pool where others find only pain. He gives to them a brook of blessing filled from the rain of an outpouring.” – Psalm 84:6 [TPT]
Tania Gutekunst 