Valley of Baca

Valley of Baca

In order to operate in God’s strength we have to leave our strength behind.  The place where this occurs is called the Valley of Baca (i.e. the Valley of Weeping). 


LISTEN TO STEVEN ATHERTON PREACH

Service Notes For Wednesday Texas 2017-12-13


SPEAKERS:

  • Steven Atherton

SCRIPTURES USED:

Psalm 84:5-7, Genesis 16:3, Genesis 17:19, Genesis 22:2-18, Acts 7:22-25, Exodus 3:1-4:16, 2 Corinthians 12:1-11, James 4:6-10, Matthew 7:23


SUBJECT:

  • One of the things the Church of Philadelphia is known for, is it has little strength.  The reason is that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness.
  • To climb the mountain of God, we have to pass from our strength into God’s strength.  The passage is called the Valley of Baca (i.e. the valley of weeping).
  • All the men of God we read about in the Scripture had to pass through the Valley of Baca.
  • Moses began his walk with the Lord in his own strength.  He was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.  But he was useless to God.
  • Forty years later when Jesus appeared to Moses in the bush, Moses saw himself as “slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.”  Now God could use him mightily. 
  • The intervening 40 years was Moses’ time in the Valley of Baca.
  • When God first called Abraham.  Abraham began his journey in his own strength.  This was exemplified by Sarah giving him Hagar and Hagar bearing him Ishmael.
  • When God promised him that he would have a son by Sarah, neither Abraham nor Sarah had any strength to bring that to pass, but God accomplished it in them by His strength.
  • It is in the Valley of Baca that we get shed of pride.  We can glory in the new man that God has created, but if we glory in the flesh, which is the old man, it’s only pride and all about us.
  • The Apostle Paul spoke of his thorn in the flesh.  It was an area of sin in his life that he could not overcome.  It was visible to all and embarrassing to him.
  • Paul’s thorn in the flesh did not trouble the Lord.  Rather he told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee:  for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
  • Therefore Paul took “pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,” etc… because those situations required him to call upon the Lord whose strength then manifested.
  • Humbling ourselves is not pleasant.  It requires us to acknowledge and not hide unpleasant truth’s about ourselves.
  • It is in the Valley of Baca that we humble ourselves so that we can get shed of our strength that we can walk in God’s strength.
  • The tears we shed in the valley of Baca are far better than the weeping and gnashing of teeth that will be to those who operate in pride.
  • Blessed is the man whose strength is in the Lord.