In Psalm 3:3, David said,"But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head." One of the signs of being in Baca is when the head drops. "O God, what are we going to do? My car payment is due, my house payment is due, and my kids need clothes." That's one of the signs of Baca.
But the Bible says, "But thou, O Lord, are a lifter of my head. I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. I laid me down and slept; I awaked, for the Lord sustained me."
In the Bible, David says, "Return, O Lord, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake. For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" I want you to see what David is thinking. His Baca doesn't look too good. He's thinking, "I may die here. And Lord, if You don't deliver me, how am I going to praise You? The dead can't do it." In other words, "O Lord, quickly please, I'm dying." This man has got so many tears his bed is swimming in them. Have you ever cried that much? This is a serious Baca!
But I want you to notice that David never gives up, even in his misery. He tells us that he's in terrible pain. But he finally comes to his senses and says, "God hears my prayer. God hears my supplication." That is when you start passing through Baca. If you keep talking your misery, you'll give up and quit right there. You'll begin to drive stakes in the ground and set up residence there. Don't stay in Baca - begin talking your covenant!
Facing The Problem
Psalm 55: 4-6 says, "My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me. And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away, and be at rest." That's what some of us have said. "O God, I'd just like to go away and never come back. If I could just leave this place. If I could just get out of here." Your mind begins to think, "Just get in the car and leave."
There is a spirit that's driving people to do that today. Just get in the car and go. Never be heard of again. Run from the problem - that's society's mentality. We live in a society that is not teaching endurance and perseverance. And if the church doesn't teach our young people how to endure, if Jesus tarries, the next generation will be a bunch of quitters. When we're in misery and we're troubled, we can't continue looking for the easy way out.
Let's look at a very vivid illustration of an attack designed by the enemy to destroy David, and yet I want you to see how God turned it around. In 1 Samuel 30, we read of a time when David and his men were away from their homes. They lived in a place called Ziklag. As they were returning, they saw smoke begin to rise from what looked like their village. And as they got closer they began to realize it was their home. Their entire village had been burned to the ground. Not only that, but the Amalekites had taken captive their wives and their children.
The distress and discouragement that came on them was overwhelming. They cried and cried until they couldn't cry anymore. You can't blame them. If you came home and your house had been burned to the ground and your family had been taken captive, you'd cry too.
God didn't say, "Now, son, you're pretty torn up about this. Just sit there and lick your wounds. Some through the valley, some through the flood, but son, you're in the mud." No. David said, "God, shall I take this sitting down, shall I just sit here and die? Do I just sit here when the enemy has invaded my home and let him carry off what he doesn't have authority to carry off? Do I let him take my family?" That's what you ought to be asking yourself when the devil comes into your home and tries to destroy your marriage, your family, your kids, your finances, your life. You ought to enquire of the Lord. Does Satan have a right to do this? Every time the Lord will say, "Pursue, Overtake, and Recover All!"
No More Tears!
Whatever it is that may have caused misery in your home does not entitle you to sit there and just give up. You can't give up. You've got to encourage yourself. Don't wait for somebody to come along with a special anointing for encouragement. Encourage yourself. Sometimes there are tears, there's weeping, there's discomfort, distress, hopelessness, and feeling as though there is absolutely no way out of Baca. You've got to become your own best cheerleader.
I challenge you. Get an index card and just type one word on it, "PURSUE!" Put it in front of your mirror or where you can see it every morning when you get up. Christians can't be passive. We've got to be aggressive. We can't just sit back and take what the devil dishes out.
No, you've got to take charge. You've got to strengthen yourself in the Lord. Reach down on the inside of your spirit and begin to draw from all the spiritual resources that are available to you. When you're in the valley of Baca, don't run from God - run to Him. A lot of people quit going to church when they're in Baca. They put their tapes aside, they put their Bible aside. They're not as diligent in the Word anymore. That's the plan of the devil. He wants to cut you off from your source of strength. When you're facing impossible situations, you need to be in an atmosphere of faith, not unbelief.
Don't ask yourself questions that will pull you down deeper. Don't ask yourself, "Why is this happening to me?" Ask yourself, "How long am I going to put up with it?" In every Baca there is a door that will open to victory. It's time to wake up, shake yourself, get yourself out of the dirt, quit treating yourself like you're a worm and a dog. You don't belong in the dirt. You belong in heavenly places.
Just like David, you'll not only pursue, but you will also overtake your enemy and recover all! It's time for you to leave the tears behind. God is on your side, and He wants to bless your life. So get up and march into the enemy's camp and take back everything he has stolen from you!
Excerpt permission granted by Jerry Savelle Publications
Dr. Jerry Savelle was an average, blue-collar man who was struggling and needed God's help. While he considered himself a "nobody," when he became a believer God told him not to worry about it because He was a master at making champions out of nobodies. God has since taken Dr. Savelle from being a constant quitter to a man who knows how to stand on the Word of God until victory is experienced. Because of the life-changing combination of God's faithfulness and Dr. Savelle's "no quit" attitude, his life is totally different than it was thirty-eight years ago.
