Psalms 84:1-12: in context

This psalm of longing for God's house holds a line about the journey there. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, it says, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. And then: passing through the Valley of Weeping, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rain also covers it with blessings. They go from strength to strength; everyone appears before God in Zion. The pilgrims, whose strength is in God, pass through a valley of weeping on their way, and rather than being drained by it, they make it a place of springs, and grow stronger as they go.

The picture of pilgrims passing through the Valley of Weeping is worth dwelling on. The way to God's presence, the psalm acknowledges, leads through a valley of weeping, a place of sorrow and hardship on the journey. The pilgrims do not bypass it; they pass through it. But something remarkable happens: they make it a place of springs. Rather than being emptied and drained by the valley of sorrow, they find water there, refreshment, blessing; the place of weeping becomes a place of springs. And they emerge not weaker but stronger: they go from strength to strength. The valley that might have drained them becomes, for those whose strength is in God, a place of refreshment on the way. This holds deep encouragement for the valleys of weeping in our own pilgrimage. The way of faith leads, at times, through valleys of sorrow, hardship, and tears; we do not escape them. But for those whose strength is in God, these valleys need not merely drain us. They can become places of springs, where we find unexpected refreshment, where God's grace waters us in the very place of weeping, where blessing is found even in sorrow. And rather than emerging weaker, exhausted by the valley, those whose strength is in God go from strength to strength, growing stronger through the journey, even through its valleys. This does not deny the reality of the valley of weeping; the psalm names it as a real place of tears. But it promises that for those whose strength is in God, the valley of weeping can become a place of springs, and the journey through it can leave us stronger rather than weaker. Though our outward person is decaying, Paul says, our inward person is renewed day by day. The strength that carries us through the valley is not our own but God's; those whose strength is in him find springs in the place of weeping and go from strength to strength. This calls us to pass through our own valleys of weeping not merely enduring them but trusting that, with our strength in God, they can become places of springs, where we are refreshed and even strengthened, on the pilgrimage toward his presence.

When the way of faith leads me through a valley of weeping, a place of sorrow and tears, do I expect only to be drained and exhausted by it, or can this psalm's promise that those whose strength is in God make the Valley of Weeping a place of springs and go from strength to strength assure me that, with my strength in God, even the valley of sorrow can become a place of refreshment where I am strengthened rather than emptied on the pilgrimage toward his presence?