Hello. My name is Frank Johnson, and I am speaking to you today from my video blog, ProdigalGod.com.

Today’s message will be the second in a four-part series entitled, “The Valley of Weeping.”

I’m basing my comments on the suffering we experience in life on Psalm 84, so if you’d like to open your Bibles to that passage, you will be ready to follow along.

Let’s get started.

A Threefold Secret
We have seen that the valley of weeping is a necessity and a certainty for God’s child. That being understood, how are we to respond to this valley of weeping when we encounter it?

Psalm 84:5-7 reveals to us a threefold secret of traversing the valley of weeping victoriously. When I write “victoriously,” I am not referring to some sort of superficial happiness or glee which often seems to be the meaning of the word in some Christian circles; instead, I am referring to the fact that we will know our God more deeply as we travel through the valley of weeping; we will draw near to Him and live in greater intimacy with Him.

Allow me to requote verses 5-7 of Psalm 84:

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, 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.

Again, according to Psalm 84:5-7, the secret of traversing the valley of weeping is threefold.

First, we must begin our journey or pilgrimage with a firm resolve.

Secondly, we must allow the goal of our journey to be the motivating force which calls us on through the valley of weeping.

And thirdly, by beginning our journey with a firm resolve and by allowing our goal to be a motivating force, we will transform apparent obstacles into blessings.

The Firm Resolve
One writer has said, “To be a Christian is to be a traveler.” [Quoted in Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Way (Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1980), pg. 7. ]

Verse 5 of Psalm 84 says, “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.”

In order to traverse the valley of weeping victoriously, we will need to begin our journey in the Christian life with a firm resolve. In order to be sure of reaching Zion, the writer of Psalm 84 had to set his heart on pilgrimage.

If we are to grow in maturity and in intimacy with God as a result of our encounter with the valley of weeping, we will need to be obstinate, stubborn and unyielding in our decision to follow Christ. Full commitment of ourselves to Christ will be required.

Those who traverse the valley of weeping victoriously are those who are determined to follow Jesus no matter how difficult their circumstances might be. We must set our hearts on pilgrimage.

Experience-Oriented Christianity
This determination to be a pilgrim is in contrast to the experience-oriented Christianity which seems to be so prevalent in today’s evangelical church.

Experience-oriented Christianity is a Christianity which suggests that if I don’t have a glorious experience every time I come to church or if I don’t experience some glorious revelation every time I open my Bible, then something is wrong.

This is not the attitude of one who has set his heart on pilgrimage. This is surface slush; this is superficial drivel; this is Christianity without substance.

We should not conclude that experiences are wrong in themselves, but we cannot allow our lives to revolve around experiences. We must seek the God who gives experiences and set our hearts on pilgrimage. If we are to benefit from our encounter with the valley of weeping, we will need to be determined to follow God even if He does not grant us glorious experiences.

We need to also realize that there is a difference between experience with God (intimacy with Him) and experiences from God (warm fuzzies, wonderful emotions, outstanding miracles).

If we have no experience with God, no intimacy with Him, then we are a miserable people. God help us if we are content only with sound doctrine and are not seeking an ongoing encounter with God.

But experience from Him - warm fuzzies and wonderful emotions and outstanding miracles - are given to us by His grace. Our lives must revolve primarily around the God of grace, not around the experiences He grants us in His grace.

This is why when the seventy disciples returned from their missionary journey and were excited because the demons were subject to them, Jesus told them, “Don’t rejoice because the demons are subject to you (don’t rejoice because you have had glorious experiences). Rejoice because your names are written in heaven (rejoice because you know the Father and have relationship with Him).” [Cf. Luke 10:17-20]

Tourist or Pilgrim?
Experience-oriented Christianity (a faith which revolves around and is dependent upon warm fuzzies, wonderful emotions, and outstanding miracles, but does not seek the God who gives these things) is a Christianity for tourists rather than for pilgrims.

What is the difference between a tourist and a pilgrim?

A tourist enters a country, has some wonderful experiences, but returns to the place from which he began largely unchanged. A “Christian” tourist returns from his experiences unchanged.

A pilgrim, on the other hand, enters the same country and has the same wonderful experiences. But because he has a goal in life, the pilgrim does not return to his own country unchanged. Instead, the pilgrim allows his experiences to propel him on towards his goal. A “Christian” pilgrim allows his experiences to propel him on towards Zion, on towards maturity in the faith and intimacy with God.

The difference is in their goals. The tourist’s goal is experience. The pilgrim’s goal is maturity and intimacy with God, and he allows his experiences to push him on towards that goal.

Are you a tourist, or are you a pilgrim? What is your goal, experience or maturity and intimacy with God? Are you just along for the ride to see some of the sights, or have you set your heart on pilgrimage?

An Example from the Life of Jesus
I’m reminded at this point of Jesus’ experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus is on the mountain with three of His disciples. The cloud of glory descends upon Him, and the Father speaks out of the cloud. Peter is so infatuated with this glorious experience that he wants to stay on the mountain.

And too often, like Peter, we are infatuated with experiences rather than in love with the God who gives experiences. But Jesus comes down off the mountain. The disciples must have thought that Jesus was going to now deliver Israel from the oppression of the Romans, for this was the Jewish conception of the Messiah. And when Jesus delivered a young boy at the bottom of the mountain from demonic possession, this must have only confirmed the expectations of the disciples.

And there was great joy and celebration among the people, because they would soon be free from the tyranny of the Roman empire. Their Messiah had come, and soon Israel would rule the world. Or so they thought.

But in the midst of this glorious celebration, Jesus turned to His disciples and said, “Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; and they will kill Him;” [Luke 9:44; Mark 9:31]

And Luke records that the disciples did not understand this statement. Small wonder. The disciples were hungry for glorious experiences, but Jesus was intent on His upcoming death. A few verses later, Luke writes that when the days for Jesus’ ascension were approaching, He resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem, the place of His death. His heart was set on pilgrimage.

If we are to traverse the valley of weeping victoriously, we too will need to resolutely set our faces to go to our Jerusalem, to the place of our death, death to self. We must set our hearts on pilgrimage.

You see, beloved, the call of God is never to the glory, but always to the cross; never to glorious experiences, but always to death to self. And many are those who will follow Jesus to the Mount of Transfiguration, to the mountain of His glory; but there are only few who will follow Him to the hill called Calvary, to the mountain of His death.

An Example from Church History
We must set our hearts on pilgrimage. This is the testimony of the lives of millions of saints throughout the history of the church.

This is the testimony of the life of Girolamo Savonarola, one of my favorite personalities from church history.

Girolamo Savonarola was a 15th-century Italian monk who preached against the ungodliness of the church in his day. When the Catholic church offered him the position of cardinal (which is the position in the Catholic church signified by the wearing of a small red hat), they were attempting to appease his wrath and save the church from embarrassment.

Savonarola responded to their offer by declaring, “No hat will I have but that of a martyr, reddened with my own blood.”

He had set his heart on pilgrimage, and he would not bow nor succumb to the pressures of those who would have him turn aside from pilgrimage. He had set his heart on pilgrimage, and he did not turn back at the valley of weeping.

If you have not set your heart on pilgrimage, the valley of weeping will not result in greater maturity and greater intimacy with God for you. You may pass through the valley of weeping because God is faithful even when we are faithless [2 Timothy 2:13], but you will pass through unchanged.

This concludes the second part of our series. I hope you will join me next time as we look at the second of three secrets to traversing the Valley of Weeping victoriously - The Motivating Force.

Thank you for joining me today.