“WHEN YOU ARE BLESSED ON THE JOURNEY”
Psalm 126
July 20, 2008
SERIES: “SONGS FOR THE JOURNEY”
It is agreed by pretty much all scholars that this Psalm was written to commemorate the return of Israel from their captivity in Babylon in 537 B.C. Although an edict from Cyrus the Persian announced the release of the Jewish people after 70 years, the Scripture says here clearly in verse 1 that it was the Lord who brought it about, not Cyrus. In fact, Isaiah tells us that Cyrus was merely an instrument in God’s hands. Yes, God can use even pagans for his purposes and often does. The God of history rules history. Never forget that. But the Psalm then goes on to reflect the reality that set in after the return. The first group that came back numbered only about 50,000 people, although more came in later treks, and some decided to stay in Babylon. This relatively small group looked at land that had lain fallow for 70 years and was now choked with weeds. They saw that other nations had moved in, as had wild animals. The walls of the city and the temple were in ruins. It was a daunting task that was before them, including the hard work of plowing and sowing. The text says that they would sow with tears. They had to trust that something would grow. This was bread for their families. But they did trust God for the first crop and more left over to keep for future sowing. That’s the background. But this Psalm is also a picture of our lives, and of our church. This is the aspect I want to look at this morning. And I have three questions for you.
HAVE WE BEEN BLESSED BY GOD’S DELIVERANCE? (v.1-3)
Verse 1 starts out, literally, “When the Lord turned a turning for Zion.” Things had been turning one way for the Jewish captives, and suddenly, the Lord turned them a different way. And they could hardly believe it. “We must be dreaming!” Joy filled their entire being, according to verse 2. They had to express it, with laughter and a testimony to God’s faithfulness. Something wonderful had happened, and everything had changed.
Charles Dickens had the right idea. You see that old miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, hopping and skipping around his bedroom on Christmas morning, and you know that something has happened in him. You see him flinging open his window and whooping like a schoolboy to a passing youngster, ordering the biggest turkey in town to be sent to poor Bob Cratchit. He went to bed miserable, he woke up with joy bells ringing in his soul. That is the evidence of conversion. That is what the world is waiting to see.
Not only had they been released, but their release was the proof that God had forgiven them! Remember the classic words from Isaiah 40, used in Handel’s Messiah?
“Comfort my people,” says our God, “Comfort them! Encourage the people of Jerusalem. Tell them they have suffered long enough, and their sins are now forgiven. I have punished them in full for all their sins.” (Isaiah 40:1-2, Good News Translation)
They had lost their song in Babylon.
Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem. We put away our lyres, hanging them on the branches of the willow trees. For there our captors demanded a song of us. Our tormentors requested a joyful hymn: “Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!” But how can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? (Psalm 137:1-4, New Living Translation)
But now their mouths were filled with laughter, their tongues with songs of joy. Is this how we respond to our own deliverance from sin? Is this how we sing about our own salvation and forgiveness? We should. What a witness! Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great 1i9th century British preacher, wrote:
We need not review the history of literal Israel to illustrate instances of this verse, but it is good to remember how often it has been true of us. Let us remember the prisons from which we have been set free. Ah, me, what captives we have been! At our conversion, we experienced a great release from captivity. Never will we forget that hour. Joy! Joy! Joy! And since then, we have been emancipated from multiplied troubles, depressions, miserable backslidings, and grave doubts. We are unable to describe the bliss following such emancipation.
And the people of other nations who witnessed this had to admit it. “The Lord has done great things for them.” Isn’t it great when we can get sinners to talk about the Lord’s faithfulness and mercy? We ought to be living such dramatically different lives that they see it and respond. The problem is, so often, Christians don’t look or act or speak or think a whole lot differently than anyone else in the world. So we do not often enough see the Lord’s hand mightily at work. Bob Cook used to say, “If you can explain what is going on, God didn’t do it.” We need to see some works of God again for his people for which there is no explanation and no doubt. Then God’s people an reply, as did Israel in verse 3: “The Lord HAS done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” This should be the confession of every Christian and of every local church. Let us praise God constantly for the great things he has done. Let’s show it in our songs, in our prayers, in our devoted hearts, in our gifts, and in the sheer joy of the life we have in Christ. But there’s a second question we need to ask.
ARE WE SEEKING GOD’S FURTHER BLESSING? (v.4)
Our deliverance is just the beginning. God wants to do so much more in our lives. Now that they were back in their land, there was work to be done, and growing, and harvesting. So they prayed for the early and latter rains – each drop of rain bringing a promise of new life. Ezekiel promised that God would send, in the words of the great revival hymn, “showers of blessing.” (Ezekiel 34:26). How important it is to pray for, and to prepare to receive God’s further blessings. I’m not talking about a second work of grace or speaking in tongues or things like that. I’m talking about not being content in our walk. Too many Christians have one testimony – about the night they went forward at church or talked to another Christian and gave their hearts to Christ. But I want to ask, “Yes, but what did he do in your life last week?” What has Christ done for our churches this past year? Too many churches talk about the “glory days” when the place was full, but they are not seeking days like that to come again now. Don’t disconnect verse 4 from verse 3. “The Lord has done great things for us … Restore our fortunes (or “turn another turning”). See, recalling past answers strengthens our faith to pray for more blessings now. I’m talking about, in a word, revival – a fresh infusion of spiritual life. And to use the imagery here, we are not to pray for a trickle, for a brief display of blessing, but rather, for a ”flash flood” of blessing, sudden, with depth and power. This needs to be our prayer today for ourselves and for our churches: “Bring an awakening, Lord, to revive our church, to reach our wayward children, to convert thousands, to cleanse our land of its sins and impurities.” But it starts with the people of God. There will be no awakening in the United States until there is an awakening in the church. Judgment begins at the house of God. And so it is when WE humble ourselves, and seek his face, and pray, and turn from our wicked ways that a new movement of God can sweep across our land. It has happened before. It can happen again. How badly do we want it?
So praise God joyfully for the blessing of deliverance from sin and death. Then seek the ongoing infusion of life and blessing that God wants to give us, so that we can be “surrendered, transformed, and empowered.” Then there is a final question to deal with.
ARE WE WORKING TO SHARE THE BLESSING? (v.5-6)
After praise and prayer – we get to work. Did you ever notice that in the Bible, God usually calls BUSY people (Moses and David guarding their sheep, Gideon threshing wheat, Nehemiah serving the king, the disciples fishing and mending their nets, Matthew sitting at his tax collector booth, even Paul chasing down Christians!) God does not call idle people. Therefore, we sow the seed, the seed of the gospel. And it pleases God when we water that seed with tears. Jesus shed his blood for people, surely, we can shed some tears for those who are lost. Again, I quote Spurgeon.
Not every sower is insured against danger and guaranteed a harvest. The promise belongs to those who sow in tears. When your heart is so stirred that you weep over the sins of others, you are elected to usefulness. Winners of souls are first weepers for souls. As there is no birth without labor, there is no spiritual harvest without painful plowing. When our hearts are broken with grief over the transgressions of others, we will break the hearts of sinners. Tears of earnestness will bring tears of repentance.
Years ago a young minister visited Dundee, Scotland, deeply concerned that his ministry was producing such meager results. He decided to visit the scene where, years before, the saintly Robert Murray McCheyne had ministered in such evident power of the Spirit of God. McCheyne died at age 30 from an illness, but not before he had moved Scotland to the depths. The visitor asked the old custodian at St. Peter’s if he could tell him the secret of the amazing influence of Robert McCheyne. The old man led the young minister into the study. “Sit down there,” he said. “Now put your elbows on the table.” He did so. “Yes, that was the way McCheyne used to do it,” said the old man. “Now put your face in your hands.” The visitor obeyed. “Now let the tears flow! That was the way McCheyne used to do it!” said the custodian.
I am not a naturally emotional person, but I need to pray to God for a softer heart toward the lost, however it expresses itself. And I know this - when there are few tears, there will be little fruit.
Jesus wept three times, at least those that were recorded. The first time, he wept for a man, for Lazarus, his friend, who lay dead in a tomb. And even though he knew that in a matter of moments, he would raise him back to life, he still wept at the devastation death brings to the human race. The second time, he wept for a nation – as he approached Jerusalem and knew the punishment they would bear for their rejection of the Messiah – the destruction of Jerusalem, the scattering of its people through out the earth. Then the third time, he wept for the whole world, in the Garden of Gethsemane, as he offered himself to be our substitute, our sacrifice.
Only Jesus can die and live again for the sins of others, but can’t we weep for what sin and death is doing to people and to our world, and can’t we weep for the fate that awaits those who ignore or reject their only Savior?
When we are revived, the souls of others will be blessed by our labor. When we, who were captives, come home and become tearful sowers, the promise is that God will transform us into glad-hearted reapers.
God sends some blessings suddenly, as in verses 1-3. Some blessings he sends over time, as we pray and wait, as in verse 4. And some blessings he sends as we patiently sow and weep. The Apostle James tells us: Brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord comes again. A farmer patiently waits or his valuable crop to grow from the earth and for it to receive the autumn and spring rains. (James 5:7, New Century Version) But this promise is secure. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9, English Standard Version)
Do you express your joy to others over the salvation you’ve received in and through Christ? Are you seeking to grow in Christ and to renew your first love for him on a regular basis? Are you working to see that others receive the blessings you’ve received, even with tears? We are blessed to be a blessing. Praise him, pray, and get out into the fields. Again, I close with Isaac Watts’ hymn version of this Psalm.
When God revealed his gracious Name and changed my mournful state,
My rapture seemed a pleasing dream, the grace appeared so great.
The world beheld the glorious change, and did thy hand confess;
My tongue broke out in unknown strains and sang surprising grace.
Great is the work, my neighbors cried, and owned the power divine;
Great is the work, my heart replied, and be the glory thine.
The Lord can clear the darkest skies, can give us day or night,
Make drops of sacred sorrow rise to rivers of delight.
Let those that sow in sadness wait till the fair harvest come,
They shall confess their sheaves are great, and shout the blessings home.
Let’s close in prayer.