What Are You Thinking?
Several weeks ago, the cul-de-sac and incoming street where we live was getting resurfaced. The resurfacing project was preceded by a well-laid plan which requested every person who owned a car to move them by 7 am, and then they could be returned after 5 pm. This scenario was to take place for five days and began on Tuesday, due to rain on Monday. Tuesday, and Wednesday, I drove to my Camp Hill office and was out of the house before 7 am and returned at 6 pm, so, I was unaffected by the process.
Thursday morning was different. Typically, Steve and I walk together in the morning, except for the days he or I leave before 7 am, so on this Thursday, we were up and ready to walk at 6 am. Our regular path takes about forty minutes, so we would have enough time to move our cars once we returned from our walk. However, that is NOT what happened on that beautiful Thursday morning.
Steve, always ready first, walked out through the garage, which is normal. Grabbing my phone, I ran out to catch up with him when I saw my car driving away. Why would my vehicle be driving away without me in it? My sweet husband, thinking he was helping me, decided to move my car out of the cul-de-sac in preparation for the paving. To me, that made no sense! Let me tell you why.
I now had to walk to find him and my car, and I wasn’t happy. I was angry! Logically, his plan did not make sense to me. Couldn’t he have waited for me and then both of us would walk from the point we parked the car? Even better, shouldn’t we each have moved our cars and then began our walk at the destination of our vehicles? I met him with these words, “What were you thinking.” Surprised at my unappreciative response, he said he thought he was helpful. I thought he was not. I kept saying, “Can you explain your line of thought, so this makes sense to me?” Trust me, the morning was going downhill fast, and I needed to get a grip and see his heart, rather than the deed. I did, thank God.
In our lives right now, I have said these words to God, “What are you thinking!” At times, disappointment, confusion, sadness, and even anger at everything I am seeing in our world right now, can leave my logical mind spinning out of control. How about you? We wonder and question what God is thinking or even desires for this season. We long to get back to normal.
There is a Psalm that talks about longing for the court of the Lord. In Psalm 84, verses 1 –2, we read, “How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” When this was written, the Jewish people were longing to get back to Jerusalem, to the temple of God, or church as we call it today. I can hear their longing, can’t you? The journey required them to pass through the Valley of Baca. The Valley of Baca got its name from the Baka plant. The Baka plant could survive in very arid conditions. I would guess this portion of their journey was not that comfortable for those traveling. What was God thinking?
Here’s what it says in verses 5-7 in the NIV:
“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.”
Possibly, God wanted to build their strength!
What jumped out at me are these words, “whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.” Knowing their destination was what kept them going, not the circumstances they were facing! Wow!
They learned that mission trumps challenges! It indicates that as they passed through the Valley of Baka (or dryness) and they turned it into a place of springs!
Could it be that God needs us to go through the Valley of Baka in this season? Were the easy roads we have traveled, not producing the fruit we need to thrive for the long haul? As I ask my heavenly father, “What are you thinking,” maybe I need to be quiet, stop complaining and keep walking looking through Valley of Baka, and see it turn into a valley of springs! I can hear God saying, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9 (NIV)
At the close of Psalm 84, you find these words,“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.”
It’s been five months since the start of COVID-19, and all of our well-laid, logical plans have been, and continue to be displaced. It’s ok! Set your heart on a pilgrimage and keep walking through the Valley of Baka, looking for springs of living water!
Liz
