When God Turns It Around

“When God Turns It Around”

By

Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.

SCRIPTURE: Psalms 126

PRAYER

OPENING:- We have all had times in our life where we had good days and bad days, we have cried late in the midnight hours when we thought no one was listening, we struggled with our faith because even though we knew God can and God will the truth and the facts just didn’t line up so we struggled with our faith because it seems by now, by this time in my walk with God that this should be done with, I should be pass this by now, I shouldn’t still be dealing with this. I truly love the book of Psalms because it gives voice to the emotions that we often can’t speak out loud. The book of Psalms expresses the truth of how we feel by saying things like Psalms 130:1 “Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord”. Then there is Psalms 102:2 that expresses how people feel that are in total desperation when it says “In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My sore ran in the night and ceased not; my soul refused to be comforted”. Then there is Psalms 73:2 which describes how someone may feel when they are at the point of giving up when it says, “But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had almost slipped”.

When we are faced with tragedies that are now just commonplace, all kinds of diseases, people are slipping away, economies down, people can't get enough pay or find enough food to eat. Folks without homes living out in the streets, ice raids happening in every place, no one seems to be safe. Our political, economic, social, educational, and health situation is totally out of control. Diseases that were practically eliminated or at least highly manageable are making a ferocious comeback and we are being plagued with things that will set the health industry back 50 years. The educational system is being demolished and rewritten trying to change truth into a lie and erase cultures, heritage, and lineage from existence. The economic structure is collapsing the poor get poorer and the rich don’t care, the wealthiest people on earth are causing the suffering and deaths of the poorest people on the planet and we find ourselves in a situation that unless God turns it around what are we going to do?

Psalms 126 is 1 of 15 Psalms called the Songs of Ascent and one of the general understandings of that is these Psalms were sung by the people on the ascending march from the Babylon captivity back to Jerusalem. It is a song of Celebration and Hope for the two phases the Children of Israel would experience. First the celebration of joy for the liberation and restoration from captivity in Babylon back to Jerusalem. Second was a prayer of Hope for the future to overcome hardship and difficult times. It goes from the memory of the past of joy and happiness where the people felt their liberation was a dream to a cry for God to intervene in the current struggles and hardships yet encouraging perseverance with the promise that those that sow in tears will reap in joy.

Part #1

Psalms 126:1-3 “When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad”.

Vs#1: - Cyrus defeated Babylon 539 B.C. and he let the Children of Israel return to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. When they returned, restoration bought them an experience of remembrance of when it was only a dream. A time when they only dreamed that freedom would ring that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. It took them back to when they could only dream of a time when people were judged by the content of their character, free from racial and social discrimination. They remembered the beauty of Solomons Temple and no doubt quoted Psalms 27:4 “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple”. Although they would build a new temple it failed in comparison to what they remembered.

Vs#2: - The experience of remembering when it was just a dream produced a reaction “Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing”. These are not just expressed emotions of joy and happiness but express a deeper meaning. Laughter in Hebrew is (Schowq pronounced sekh-oke) it means to mock, in defiance, derision. This is when you can look back and say like Joseph in Genesis 50:20 “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day”. You tried to destroy us, you tried to erase us, you stole our heritage, beat our culture out of us, robbed us of our identity, language, family, but we survived, we are still here you meant it for bad, but God meant it unto our good. Singing in Hebrew is Rinnah pronounced rin-naw) meaning a shout of triumph, rejoicing – you tried to silience us but God turned it around now we shout with the voice of triumph VICTORY.