The Valley of Tears is the vessel that holds the sour truth in which we are baptized . The sour truth plays rough. As we make our escape through the Valley of Tears, the crosses that besiege us have both teeth and tongues. Their teeth bite. They chews us up into bits and pieces and spit us out. Furthermore, their tongues are as sharp as their teeth.
Our baptism in the sour truth of the Valley of Tears is effective medicine. The medicine, however, is not without a deleterious side effect. It causes the tongues of our crosses to broadcast powerful anti-god propaganda into every nook and cranny of the Valley of Tears.
“Where is your savior now?”, they taunt us as their teeth mercilessly masticate us into bits and pieces. “Despair! Abandon hope! You are alone and forsaken. Nobody is coming to rescue you”
The prodigal son will never go back to the pig sty. Neither will we. We are disobedient not irrational
To neutralize the the serpent’s anti-God propaganda, Jesus commandeered a cross - the instrument of our woe - and repurposed it to offer us a contradiction.
Why does God let us stew in the evils of the Valley of Tears like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine?
Having experienced the pig sty for himself, the prodigal son will never go back there. Neither will we. Having put our fingers into the flames, we know that the fire is hot. Our faculty of obedience is broken but not our faculty of rationality. The truth is the fuel of our rationality. When fueled by the truth, our rationality steers is in the right direction. When the fuel is contaminated by illusions, our rationality leads us astray. Our intimate contact with the sour truth of the Valley of Tears educates us about many things including our need for God. In the Valley of Tears, we undergo a baptism by fire. Our baptism in the evils of the Valley of Tears like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine transforms us. The experience puts iron in our grip. When the gift of paradise is delivered to us - and delivery is ineluctable - we will keep it. We will not fumble the ball as Lucifer did, as the gaggle of angels who follow Lucifer did, as Eve did, as Adam did and as the prodigal son did. All of them were given the gift of life and the gift of paradise simultaneously. Simultaneous delivery of the gift of life and the gift of paradise does not work. Therefore, God inserted a delay between the gift of life and the gift of paradise. The delay is harsh but effective medicine.
Armageddon is here and now. We are not fighting for something in the hereafter. The battle is now. Now is the time to join Jesus in the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the Valley of Tears facing off against Evil toe to toe, cheek to jowl. Christianity is not a sport for spectators. Christians partake in the fray.
From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love. The transfusion of love is invigorating. It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3).
The Valley of Tears is the vessel in which we are baptized. It is the context of our existence. It is best to understand the circumstances in which we are situated and the reasons why God lets us stew in the evils of the Valley of Tears for a lifetime like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine.
God wants us to pour the sweet syrup of love into the bitterness of the Valley of Tears. Our perception of the solution to our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears is different than God’s. We want him to remove the bitterness. He wants us to dilute it. There is a difference in opinions. His prevails.