Psalm Steps>> “Restoration Realized”, Psalm 126 Pastor Bob Leroe, Cliftondale Congregational Church, Saugus, Massachusetts
We can detect in the words of Psalm 126 a sigh of relief. The release from captivity in Babylon was like a dream come true. The people knew about the promises of return to Israel, but when the actual moment came, it was an overwhelming experience. I think of returning home following lengthy military deployments. I was finally going to see my family again, and life would begin to return to normal. Taken from the Hebrew songbook of the “Psalms of Ascent”, we see:
1) Reflection> looking back on release, verses 1-3; and
2) Anticipation> looking forward to the harvest and restoration, verses 4-6
Have you ever known a sour Christian? We think of the much-maligned Puritans, who have been wrongly labeled as stern, serious and grim; people think they never cracked a smile. One particularly sober-minded person was eulogized as a saint who “never committed a pleasure.” Verse 2 shows us how saints should look: “our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.” Rejoicing is the theme of this psalm. Joy characterizes the Christian journey.
Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof describes life as “One season following another, laden with happiness and tears.” Life includes sadness; just as being a Christian doesn’t mean we should look serious all the time, it also doesn’t mean we’re always smiling. “There is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). Joy is not the absence of sorrow; it is the ability to have faith and be thankful in the midst of all conditions. Joy is as unpredictable as the One who gives it, so much so that C.S. Lewis titled his autobiography Surprised By Joy.
Joy is the outcome of the Christian life; we don’t generate it—God does. None of us have joy within ourselves. People seek to attain joy through entertainment, which offers temporary, artificial joy. The vast entertainment industry in our nation is a sign of the depletion of joy in our culture. Many people act like bored kings in need of a court jester. I’m not saying it’s wrong to be entertained, but it’s foolish to think we will find joy from entertainment. Joy is not a commodity; it can’t be purchased. We don’t need a distraction from our stressful lives; we need a cure. The only cure comes from a living relationship with Christ. Our need for joy is legitimate, but how we get that need met often isn’t.
The joy of Psalm 126 is past, present, and future: “We were filled with laughter” and “songs of joy”, vs 2; “we are filled with joy”, vs 3; and we “will return with songs of joy” vs 6.
This joy is lavished on Israel, giving the nation a reputation for blessedness, vs 2: “Then it was said among the nations, ‘the Lord has done great things for them’.” The “nations” refers to the heathen gentiles, who became convinced that Israel had something special that set them apart—a God who took care of them. He allowed them to be taken captive to preserve their ethnic and spiritual identity, then returned them to the land of promise. So great was this act of restoration that the nations heard about it—even without CNN or the internet! God’s deliverance makes unbelievers stand back and take notice. The psalmist deliberately says it was “the Lord” who “brought back the captives to Zion” (vs 1)—not king Cyrus of Persia, who is credited with the release of the Jewish captives. In 538 BC he signed an edict releasing the Jews, allowing them to return to their homeland. In Proverbs we’re told, “The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord”. Humanly speaking, the Persian king allowed Israel to return; but it was all part of God’s plan. The psalmist gives credit where credit’s due. The Lord declares in Psalm 46, “I will be exalted among the nations” (vs 10).
The gentile nations were impressed; they admitted that God had accomplished “great things” for Israel. What great things? The release from Babylon, but so much more. We discover these “great things” on nearly every page of Scripture. Every divine act was a miraculous intervention. Eugene Peterson writes that “Joy has a history. Joy is the verified, repeated experience of those involved in what God is doing…Joy is nurtured by living in such a history, building on such a foundation.”
Release was a dream realized. What else seems too good to be true? Being released from the bondage and penalty of sin. Other world religions give rules, but none offer a means of forgiveness when the rules are broken. We can look back on our sins knowing that they are nullified by Christ. The Jewish Temple sacrifices atoned for sin, and pointed toward the perfect sacrifice of Christ.
We’ve discovered joy in reflecting on the past; now we turn to anticipated joy, verses 4-6. One reason for rejoicing is that we know God isn’t going to change His way of working with us. God’s system isn’t going to change, and He isn’t going to stop loving us.
Verse 4 asks God to “restore” the nation’s “fortunes”. Some restoration has occurred, but a fuller measure is desired. An analogy is made: The singer asks that the nation be restored “like streams in the Negev.” The Negev is a desert land; its name means “dry”. The waterways, called wadis, are bone-dry most of the year, but in the rainy season this barren land is transformed. The wadis fill with rain and the desert blooms with vegetation and flowers. I remember seeing the west Texas desert one year carpeted with yellow flowers. I’ve seen vegetation in the vast desert of Saudi Arabia. I passed a patch of gorgeous flowers in the midst of barren sand and rock; I tried to ask a passing Bedoin what the flowers were called, but I couldn’t understand his friendly answer. We take all this for granted in New England. Just as rain restores the Negev, God will restore us. He will bring rain to our drought-stricken lives.
When the Jews returned to Israel from Babylon, they were allowed to renew the pattern of their former way of life, which included rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem and constructing a defensive wall surrounding the city. It is likely that verses 4-6 may be anticipating the future Messianic restoration, how things will be set right when Jesus returns to “rule from sea to sea…to the ends of the earth” (Psalm 72:8).
We’re given comforting assurance in verse 5: “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” To “sow in tears” is a reference to death. It was a common way of referring to burial; even Jesus uses the imagery when He describes death as a seed buried in the ground which will sprout into new life (Jn 12:24). The grave is not the final word. We can rejoice, even in the face of death, because we have hope for restoration, the promise of eternal life. Sorrow is our sowing, and rejoicing will be our reaping. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). The release from Babylon was like being raised from death to life.
Verse 6 assures us that, though we weep, we will rejoice. In Gethsemene, Jesus sowed tears for a world lost in sin. In another garden, He destroyed the power of sin by conquering death. Homecoming and harvest are God’s promises to His people. God weeps with us, so that we may someday rejoice with Him. Because of Jesus, death is not the end of life. “Because I live, you shall live also”, Jesus said. “I am the resurrection and the life; they who believe in Me shall never die.” God took the worst deed of history—the Cross—and turned it into the greatest victory. There will be an end to mourning. God will wipe the tears from our eyes. “We will come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.”
The image here is of harvest time. Sheaves were bundles of grain, usually wheat or barley, cut and gathered together. The joy in harvest was a highlight of the year, a time of great blessing.
Joy is essential to our lives; it is the experience of knowing that we are loved, and that nothing in this world can take that love away. We often discover joy in the midst of sorrow. During the most painful times we become aware of a spiritual reality larger than ourselves, that enables us to hope. Henri Nouwen writes, “My grief was the place where I found my joy.” We may undergo hardship, but God will have the last word. This means we can rejoice even when our wishes are not realized.
Joy is not an escape from sorrow. We foolishly think we can achieve joy by eliminating the things in life that hurt us. We’re experts in constructing futile strategies for achieving joy. When we come to the end of our resources we realize that joy is what God gives, not what we work up. True joy enables us to face reality, because we do so with the assurance that God is working in our lives, even the things that cause us pain, to bring about His perfect will.
