“As they pass through the valley of Baca, they make it a spring; The rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength.” (Psalms 84:6-7)
I heard an elderly gentleman tell a young athlete. “I’ll bet that I can beat you in a 100 yard race. “The athlete scoffed and basically said, “let’s try and see old man.” He then said, there is one condition. “You have to give me a 70 yard head start.”
I believe a right attitude is how you get a head start in whatever task or challenge you are facing in life. Especially if that attitude is an attitude of God breathed hope. We have said, hope is the certain confidence that the future is going to be better than the present and that your choices will make it that way. The choice to hope in God’s promises allows you to see solutions you wouldn’t see, be filled with strength you wouldn’t have, and open doors for God to move in ways you wouldn’t have seen God move. Because Paul and Silas choose an attitude of hope in jail they sang hymns and God moved with an earthquake that broke their chains. Because of hope you knock on one more door that you wouldn’t have knocked on and it is the door that opens to an opportunity of a life time.
There is actually a flight instrument in an airplane called an AI (attitude indicator). When it points up the airplane goes up. When it points down the plane goes down. I’ve observed that before a person rises to victory or sinks to defeat something is registered in their spirit that you might call an attitude indicator. Sometimes you can see it in their face or hear it in their voice that they are on their way up or on their way down by the attitude being indicated.
I love this verse in Psalms 84:6-7. There was a very common pilgrimage that Jews took 3 times of year to Jerusalem for the feasts. On their way to Zion they had to go through a valley called Baca. It actually means “the valley of tears.” The Psalmist noted that people who passed through that valley with praise, trusting God to protect and strength them, didn’t wear out and give up in discouragement. The valley didn’t crush them they “crushed it in the valley.” The strain of the valley didn’t lead them to exhaustion it led them to gain more strength. He describes it as them digging a well that gets filled with rain.
The picture is for example that when someone treats you rudely you can become angry and bitter or you can dig a well in your heart for God to fill with more love by choosing an attitude of hope, love, and forgiveness. During this virus I hear the Lord saying that even though it is hard, start praising me and you can dig a well of encouragement for your family. You can dig a place for wisdom and creativity to come to solve problems that seem overwhelming. Your attitude will determine your altitude in this situation!
To watch a short video on the subject, please go to: https://www.facebook.com/HeartfortheWorldChurch/videos/1162258284116903/