VALLEYS

VALLEYS

Psalm 84: 5-7; Hosea 2: 14-23; Zechariah 1: 7-11

The object in reading these three scriptures is to speak of the reference to a valley contained in each. The first scripture refers to the valley of Baca, which means “weeping”; the second refers to the valley of Achor, which means “trouble”; the third, as in the New Translation, speaks of the “low valley”, or “the bottom”, as in the Authorised Version. The “low valley” is where the myrtle trees are, and where the horses and the rider are seen.

It is clear that God uses figures drawn from creation for our instruction; indeed, we must have such figures to understand what He would convey to us, because our thoughts are necessarily limited to what is intelligible to us in the creation. God frequently uses the thought of valleys to bring spiritual things before us, as, indeed, He does mountains. The mountains suggest what is elevated and strong, and where reserves are found. What great mountains are referred to in Scripture, such as mount Zion: “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion,” Psalm 48: 2. There is the mount of Olives, too, what a mountain! Many others also, indicating great spiritual elevations to which God would bring us, where we can view what is in the mind of God. On the other hand, the thought of the valley implies necessity to go down. I may say that fertility is generally in the valleys, and that is where the springs run and the rivers flow. What valleys there are, and all call for humility on our side to get the gain of what they represent.

I would refer to one or two we have to do with. There is “the valley of the shadow of death,” how important that we should recognise and have to do with that valley. To overlook that the shadow of death is on everything here, is not the way to spiritual progress, for we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Everything that is earthly in character is in the valley of the shadow of death. Scripture also speaks of “the valley of salt,” where we may find in abundance what is necessary to preserve. Great victories have been won in that valley by the people of God.

I would say a word about the valley of weeping, the valley of Baca, because God has allowed a great period of sorrow to come upon man, in which we have part. There are probably more tears being shed on earth today than ever before in the history of mankind, and God’s people, in common with all men, are in the valley of weeping. This valley will become a fertile place as we go down into it; it says, “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.” One cannot but feel intensely for those who are in that valley who do not know God, who do not have to do with God. The Psalmist speaks of the blessedness of those who trust in God, and “in whose heart are the highways.” This is a remarkable expression. The divine highways are in their heart. If we go down to the valley of weeping without the divine highways in our hearts, we will not be blessed. God would help us to have the divine highways our hearts, meaning that we love God’s highways.

I trust all here are prepared to make room in their heart for the divine highways. This is a day when highways, of great importance, for nations are competing for the highways. God has His highways, and He would have them in our hearts, that is, He would have us love them. What highways God has: The first, dear brethren, is the way of righteousness; it says, “he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness.” Psalm 23: 3. Righteousness is, I believe, the first of the divine highways, and we want that highway in our hearts — to love righteousness.

Another highway is “the way of holiness.” Holiness is more than righteousness, holiness is that evil is hated and good is loved. God wants us to have that highway in our hearts. There is also “the way of peace,” what a magnificent road! the way of peace, the people of God are to be sons of peace, indeed peace is the effect of righteousness. An offshoot of the way of righteousness is the way of peace. Then there is “the way of truth” in contrast to what is false. The way of truth is to be in the heart, truth in the inward parts. All these highways converge into the “more excellent way,” the way of love.

Satan has his highways, too, dreadful paths they are, and all lead downward to “beneath”. The divine highways all lead upward to God, “the way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.” Proverbs 15: 24. The devil has highways all converging upon hell, but God has His highways all converging towards Christ and leading above. Passing into the valley of weeping, the valley of Baca, as loving the divine highways, will result in that valley becoming a well. This means that the Spirit of God is there to support them in their tears; whether the tears are in relation to human suffering; whether they be tears in relation to household sorrow; or whether they be tears in relation to assembly sorrows; if the divine highways are in our hearts, that valley becomes a well, the Spirit of God being there to support us.

We can think of our Lord Jesus Christ going into such a valley. How He frequented the valley of Baca in the days of His flesh. He offered up strong, crying and tears in the days of His flesh; He was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,” Isaiah 53: 3. But the divine highways stand out in remarkable clarity in His heart: He loved righteousness, He loved truth, He loved peace, for He was the Prince of it, He loved holiness, He loved good. The Spirit of God was there to support Him, as Man, in the wilderness; it says. He “was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,” Luke 4: 1. He was supported by the well in that valley. Thus shall we be if the divine highways are in our hearts when called to go down to the valley of weeping. Then it says, “the rain also filleth the pools.” That is to say, blessings from above fill our souls so that conditions suitable for the harvest should be brought about.

I think most of us can say humbly that the periods of sorrow have been the periods when the support of the Spirit and the influence of heaven have been most realised, so that the soul becomes fertile for God. I refer to that because tears and sorrow are features of this day. God has allowed this valley to extend throughout the earth today as never before, and I would commend to everyone that as having the divine highways in our hearts we shall gain from the valley of Baca.

In regard to the dear young men placed in camps, I have no doubt that some of them will shed tears as they have to do with conditions so different from anything they have known, but if the divine highways are in their hearts: righteousness, holiness, peace, truth and love, I am sure that the Holy Spirit will be there to support them; the rain will fill the pools, and there will be a harvest for God.

I pass on from that to “the valley of Achor,” the valley of trouble. This valley is said to be “a door of hope.” In that valley sin is judged. To fail to judge sin is to be without hope. I know to do so means trouble. I refer first of all to what actually happened in that valley. God had ceased to support His people and they had turned their back to their enemies. When Joshua asked God what it meant, God said that Israel had sinned, they had stolen, they had dissembled, and He would not go on with them. Joshua sees that the matter must be faced, because to be without God is to be without hope; so every tribe is brought forward, then every family, then every household, and then every man, to locate who had stolen and dissembled. I have often thought of this as we come together to judge evil before God. This represents an exercise that God calls upon us to go through, when man by man we submit ourselves to the scrutiny of God. What must have been in the minds of many as they came up: will God disclose that I am the guilty one? There is no escaping the eye of God, for everything is naked and open before Him with whom we have to do. Every man came before God to be scrutinised. When the matter came to a head in Achan, he acknowledged that he had taken the splendid Babylonish garment and the wedge of gold and the silver, and had buried them in his tent. Joshua faces this matter out; Achan is taken down to the valley of Achor, the valley of trouble, is stoned, and they raise a heap of stones over him which it says is there to this day.

Hundreds of years afterwards the Spirit of God, through the prophet Hosea, says that valley is a door of hope. We are to humbly go down and look at that heap of stones, underneath which lie the bones of a man who stole and dissembled. How often we have to locate these principles in our own hearts. What would he want with that garment? He intended one day to be seen in it, to parade himself in it. He intended to take the silver and the gold that was devoted to God to use it for himself. Dear brethren, it is great trouble to face these evil motives in our own souls. As judging ourselves, we do not want to appear in a garment that is not our own, and we do not want to steal what belongs to God. The Lord is calling on all of us to judge ourselves, and to go down into this valley with all the trouble and heart searching it causes. But the Lord says, “I will give her... the valley of Achor for a door of hope.” The consequence of going into that valley is that she shall sing as in the days of her youth. What flows out of facing this matter in self-judgment is that we begin to sing; when we are going on with evil we never really sing, we may make a noise, but we never really sing. What marked her in her youth was that she sang, “I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously,” Exodus 15: 1. She sang of the way the Lord had delivered her from Egypt, and she sang again in her youth, “Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it.” Numbers 21: 17. The joy of being set free from the world and making room for the blessed Spirit is what marks the youth of the believer. What joy to be done with the world’s system, and what joy to have a well springing up in our hearts to God.

If we go into the valley of Achor, and judge sin as God judges it, we sing again as in our youth, and what follows is that we call Christ “Ishi”, not “Baali”; Baalim or Baali involves idolatry. We call Him Ishi, that is “my husband”. This word is true for the individual, and it is true for the assembly. The seventh of Romans speaks of the believer being married to another — Christ as the object of the believer’s heart. The allowance of sin robs us of the enjoyment of this, but the going into the valley of Achor restores it, so that we say to Christ “Ishi”, my Husband. The allowance of sin in the assembly would rob the assembly of the present joy of Christ as Head of the assembly, but judgment of sin by the assembly restores the enjoyment of Christ’s place as Head of the assembly.

I do desire to make self-judgment attractive to us, for it restores singing; it restores the joy of the relationship that exists between Christ and the individual believer, between Christ and the assembly; then, in addition, it says, “And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things.” God would put restrictions on powers that would destroy us, represented by the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, or the creeping things.

Finally it says, “I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the new wine, and the oil.” The issue is that God is in touch with His people, and they are in the enjoyment of the corn and the wine and the oil. The joy of spiritual things abounds, where there is self-judgment. If we are short of spiritual food, or spiritual joy and dignity, it is because we have not been frequenting “the valley of Achor.”

I trust that it is clear to us that the door of hope, found in the valley of Achor where evil is judged according to God, leads to singing; leads to that blessed word Ishi; leads to protection from the beasts, the birds and the creeping things, that are destroying Christendom. It leads to a condition in which we secure the ear of God and also to abundance of corn, and wine, and oil. What possibilities there are available if we judge ourselves. The valley of Achor was the door of hope for the Corinthians, and also for the wicked person that was put away. Later, he, too, judged himself and was restored to the holy privileges available in the assembly. Do I speak to a brother or a sister who has stopped singing? Consider this “the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth.” The Lord is willing to resume intimate relations with every believer and every assembly, based on self-judgment. He wants us to say to Him “my husband”, the most intimate relationship is available to persons who go down into the valley of Achor.

A few words now as to the last remarkable scripture. In the low valley, or bottom, there are myrtle trees. If the trees have become faded, if the leaves have withered, it is because they are not in the low valley. Every tree in the low valley is like myrtle, is green, fresh and living. It is when we get out of the position of humility and lowliness that the leaf withers away. Our blessed Lord always lived in the low valley when here. How He descended: He went down to Nazareth; He went down to Capernaum; He went down to the cross. He descended into the lower parts of the earth. He says, “I am meek and lowly in heart.” Matthew 11: 29. He was always green, the greenest tree that ever lived. If we are to be green, and remain green, we need to learn from Him.

The prophet sees this vision at night, there are horses, there are myrtle trees, there is the low valley. What is learned in this low valley is that the horses are under control. God controls the movements of the nations and will not allow them to injure His people if in accord with the myrtle trees in the low valley. We learn more of these horses in chapter 6. Two of them go into the north country, with the result that God says they have quieted His spirit. He was disturbed by what had taken place in the north country, and the black and the white horses are used governmentally deal with the north country. Others go to the south country, and others go through the earth wherever they will. In all movements the myrtle trees in the low valley are preserved. There is no suggestion that they are destroyed.

The horses represent the nations held under control by God. God will protect His people providentially, as suggested by the presence of the angel in the low valley. The Lord Jesus said to Pilate, “Thou hadst no authority whatever against me if it were not given to thee from above,” John 19: 11. No Roman emperor or his governor could touch Him unless permitted by God. Our exercise is to be marked by life and humility. The low valley is where the prophet learns that the horses are under control; in the north country or the south country they may appear to do what they like, but in the low valley they are seen to be under control. The movements of the nations will not destroy God’s people if they have these features.

These are the thoughts I wish to present. The importance of the highways being in our hearts as entering the valley of weeping; thus we will have the support of the well and the rain. The valley of Achor, the valley of trouble, is where we judge evil, but it secures the greatest possible blessing from God. Finally, the low valley, the place of myrtle trees, is where no horse, however strong, will ever harm us. May the Lord help us to be steady as these great movements of the nations proceed, that we may be like the myrtle trees in the low valley and realise that God is controlling these horses.