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The Pilgrim’s Journey

Before looking deeply at Psalm 84, we need to slow down and understand that this psalm is not merely a beautiful piece of Hebrew poetry. It is the song of a pilgrim. It is the song of someone on a journey. It is the song of someone who knows what it means to travel through difficult places, sorrowful places, discouraging places, and still keep moving toward the house of God. When I try to place Psalm 84 in its historical setting, the place it seems to fit best is during the time of the return from Babylonian captivity, especially around the events recorded in the Book of Ezra. There are also prophetic truths in this psalm, truths that belong in The Last Days series, and God willing, I will preach those at another time. But for now, I want us to take this psalm personally. I want you to individualize it. I have had to do that for myself. This psalm is not just about Israel returning from captivity. It is also about every believer who is walking through this world as a pilgrim, heading toward a better country, while passing through valleys that test the heart.

I find myself in a situation that could easily discourage anyone. They tested my patience. They tested my endurance. They tested my ability to keep marching when my flesh wanted relief, my mind wanted answers, and my heart wanted peace. And that is where Psalm 84 speaks so clearly. It speaks to those who are walking through what the psalm calls the Valley of Baca, or the Valley of Weeping. But Psalm 84 is not only about being in the valley. It is about the attitude we are to have while we are in that valley. Anyone can say they are going through sorrow. Anyone can say they are discouraged. Anyone can describe tears, disappointment, pressure, confusion, and weakness. But Psalm 84 teaches us how the man or woman of God passes through that valley with faith still alive in the heart.

The Book of Ezra tells us about the exiles returning from Babylon after seventy years of captivity. Just as God had declared through His Word, the people were given the opportunity to return to their homeland, to return to Israel, to return to Jerusalem, and to begin rebuilding what had been broken down. Under the leadership of Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the governor, worship was restored in Jerusalem. Years later, Ezra arrived with another group of exiles. Ezra was a knowledgeable and faithful scribe, commissioned by King Artaxerxes to teach the statutes of the Mosaic Law to the people of Israel. Scripture speaks of three major returns from exile: the first in 536 B.C. under Zerubbabel, the second in 457 B.C. under Ezra, and the third in 444 B.C. under Nehemiah. These people were not returning to comfort. They were returning to ruins. They were returning to rebuilding. They were returning to opposition, labor, and spiritual recovery.

That matters because more people stayed in Babylon than returned to Jerusalem. Many had become comfortable in captivity. They had become used to Babylon. They were used to the city life, the familiarity, the business, the routines, and the security they had built there. Some had been born in Babylon and had never even seen Jerusalem. They did not know what it was like to worship Jehovah in the land God had promised to their fathers. They had a Jewish name, but many lacked the longing of a true worshiper. Just as we have Christians in name only today, there were Jews in name only then. But there were also those whose hearts were stirred by God. There were those who knew Babylon was not home. There were those who knew the journey would be hard, but the destination was worth it.

That is the heart of a pilgrim. Psalm 84 is a pilgrim psalm. A pilgrim is a traveler, a wanderer, one who undertakes a journey. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary describes a pilgrim as one who has only a temporary residence on earth. That is a powerful Bible thought. A pilgrim is not someone who has settled permanently into this present world. A pilgrim is passing through. Abraham understood this in Hebrews 11. He did not believe this present world was his forever home. He looked for a city whose builder and maker is God. He lived with the conviction that life on this earth is a journey toward something greater than what can be seen with the natural eye.

That is also the Christian life. When you are saved by the grace of God and begin following Jesus Christ as His disciple, you become a pilgrim. You undertake a journey. And whether we like it or not, that journey will take us through valleys. Psalm 84 calls one of those valleys the Valley of Baca. Baca means weeping. It carries the idea of lamenting, mourning, and crying under the weight of sorrow. This is not a valley anyone volunteers for. Nobody wakes up and says, “Lord, please take me through the Valley of Weeping today.” Nobody enjoys tears. Nobody enjoys heartache. Nobody enjoys confusion, pressure, suffering, or emotional exhaustion. But every pilgrim knows this valley sooner or later.

Charles Spurgeon called Psalm 84 “the Pearl of the Psalms.” He said that if Psalm 23 is the most popular, Psalm 103 the most joyful, Psalm 119 the most deeply experimental, and Psalm 51 the most plaintive, then Psalm 84 is one of the sweetest of the Psalms of peace. That statement almost seems strange when you remember that Psalm 84 speaks about the Valley of Weeping. How can a psalm about sorrow be called a psalm of peace? How can a valley of tears become a place of sweetness? The answer is found in the presence of God. The valley itself is not sweet. The sorrow itself is not sweet. The tears themselves are not sweet. But when God meets His pilgrim in the valley, when God provides strength in weakness, when God turns the dry place into a spring, even the Valley of Baca becomes a place where sorrow is transformed by grace.

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