Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, -- they, in whose heart are the highways.
Psalm 84 is the song of someone far from God's house and longing for it. Verse 5 turns from the joy of arriving to the blessing of being on the road there. Two things mark the person called blessed: where he finds his strength, and what his heart loves.
The psalm pronounces happiness twice — first on those already in God's house, then on the traveller still making his way. One writer sets the two side by side and shows that they are not the same blessing:
In Psalm 84 we get the double blessing: "Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!" In the house — there where God is — is the first and proper blessing. There is nothing there but praise. Then comes, "Blessed is the man whose strength is in God" — the strength needed along the way — "in whose heart are the ways of [that is, the way to] God."
The verse places strength in God, not in the traveller. One writer draws out the contrast:
Happy is the man who finds his strength in God while he is on the way. Unhappy is the man whose strength is in himself. "Happy is the man whose strength is in you." That is a lesson we have to learn.
Another writer sets Peter's failure beside the strength of Jesus:
"Blessed are those whose strength is in you." If I have a difficulty, I am weak and need strength to hold me up in patient endurance. Peter without this strength denied Jesus. We may grow weary when we act in our own strength, for what is the strength of the flesh? When we act in the power of God, weariness is impossible… Jesus, always dependent, was the strongest, and overcame the world.
One writer traces this strength back to a settled certainty about God's love:
The great secret of strength in the ways of God is the full assurance of His love. We learn the love that gave Jesus to die for us, and that gave the Holy Spirit to give life and to teach us. Once we have learnt it, we shall be content to trust Him with the ordering of all things for our journey home to Him. This is the strength of God in the soul, and this alone will give good heart for the way in which He leads, rough or smooth. What else could make the weary pilgrim sing on his lonely way, or the martyr glorify God in the fire?
One writer describes the road to Zion, then draws a test from it:
The "highways" that lead to Zion pass through an enemy's land. At times the way may seem long, rough and dreary. So the very first need is strength for the journey, and it can only be found in God. If the dwelling place of God is an object to the heart, the way that leads there will have a place in the heart. If the pilgrim path attracts our hearts so little, does that not tell a tale? It tells of hearts that have hardly felt how blessed the home on high is — the home God has called us to.
Another writer notes the wording and the contrast it carries:
In our heart are the ways, or the highways — a better translation than "set on pilgrimage," as some versions have it. The highways are in contrast to the "byways," which may lead us away from the main track, though they may attract less opposition from the enemy. The highways lead straight on to the desired end, and a simple heart, not pulled away from that end, is most desirable.
Verse 7 says such travellers go from strength to strength. That is not a growing reserve inside them:
This does not mean that they will gain more strength in themselves. It means that at every step of their wilderness path they will learn their own utter weakness more fully, and with it, that their strength is in the Lord. A deeper sense of dependence must bring increased strength. But always remember: the strength is never in us. It is not a fund we can draw on. It is always in the Lord, and we receive it moment by moment, as the need arises.
- Two blessings. The first is for those in God's house, where there is nothing but praise. The second is for those still on the road, who need strength to walk it.
- Strength borrowed. The blessing is not for the strong man. It is for the man whose strength is in God. Unhappy is the one whose strength is in himself.
- Strength sourced. Full assurance of God's love makes strength real. It lets a weary traveller sing and a martyr glorify God in the fire.
- Highways loved. The heart holds the road to Zion as well as the home at the end of it. A heart with no draw to the path has barely felt how blessed that home is.
- Strength renewed. Nobody stores it up. Each step teaches deeper weakness. The supply comes moment by moment, as the need arises.
Passing through the valley of Baca, they make it a well-spring; yea, the early rain covereth it with blessings.
Psalm 84 follows pilgrims on their way up to God's house, and verse 6 drops them into a place whose name means tears. Where is this valley, and how do travellers turn it into a place of springs?
The name is tied to a shrub that weeps when it is cut:
So the ways of pilgrims leading up to the city of God are surely what is meant. The valley of Baca is no literal place. It is a picture, and so is everything said about it. The name may come from the baca-shrub, which gives out a tear-like liquid when it is cut. Even then, there is still a deliberate link with bacah, "weeping."
Some griefs cannot be pointed out on any map either:
Look up the best Bible map you can find. Against the valley of Baca you come to this entry — "situation unknown". Now move among God's people. Get a little nearer to the burdens they carry. You will find that, like the valley of Baca, there are many places of weeping, situation unknown.
The pilgrims do not fall into the valley by accident. It lies on the route:
This is God's way out of the world, and so it is a trial to nature. We have to face the great moral system in the world, and that is no easy matter. The strongest link that ties us to it has to break, and the cord nearest to the heart may have to be cut... Thus all have a valley of Baca to pass through; it is the way to Zion. Even the most spiritual and devoted of the Lord's people must have the exercises of the valley.
The same valley is not the same size for everyone, and the shallow-looking ones can be the hardest:
To some Christians it may only be a shallow dip in an even plain of easy circumstances. To others it may prove to be a deep dark ravine in an unbroken run of difficult circumstances... For one, the valley of Baca may be the death of someone who had become the idol of the heart. For another, it may be the breaking of a close friendship. For a third, the loss of health. For a fourth, the loss of a living. For a fifth, it may be only the thwarting of the will. That last one may look like a very shallow valley... But such people little realise how the human will enslaves us, and how painful the breaking of the will is.
Not everyone finds water in it. The difference lies in the heart. (These writers quote an older translation, which reads "make it a well" and "the rain also fills the pools.")
The unexercised soul may pass through the salty vale of tears but finds no well there. Another delights in the Lord and rests in the precious thought that He does everything right. That soul finds a well in the valley, hidden from the careless glance. And God blesses that soul so richly that rain fills the pools, the hollows on the surface, as well. Secret springs feed the well, but the rain shows blessing so plainly that even a sceptical mind cannot deny it.
The sorrow itself becomes the spring:
The very exercises and sorrows through which he is passing, when gone through with God, become to him a well-spring of life... That is not all, for "the rain also fills the pools." The exercised soul receives blessing through his trials and sorrows. And blessing also comes down from God, like gentle rain from heaven.
The rain in this verse points on to a harvest:
The two thoughts here have been well described as sorrow and sowing... In Canaan these refreshing showers came in two seasons: the early rain and the latter rain. The early rain came to make the seed sprout, and the latter rain to ripen the harvest. How well we know that the harvest results only from the sowing!
The blessing does not stop with the sufferer:
This man is exercised. Passing through the valley of Baca he finds a well; he finds refreshment in the God of the valleys. But that is not the end. "The rain also fills the pools." There is education, and something is set free for the whole church of God.
- Baca — the tears. The name means weeping, and the valley is a picture, not a location; its "situation unknown" matches griefs that others never see.
- The route — every pilgrim's road. It is the way to Zion, so even the most devoted of God's people must go through the exercises of the valley.
- The condition — a heart that delights in Him. One soul walks the valley and finds no well; the soul that delights in the Lord finds a well hidden from a careless glance.
- The well — sorrow itself. Trials gone through with God become the spring, so the weeping is not removed but turned into refreshment.
- The rain — the overflow. The early rain starts the seed and the harvest follows; the filled pools carry blessing past the sufferer to the whole people of God.