Psalm 126 is a perfect emotional map for the Christian life. As we experience the normal ups and downs of life, we are invited not to be overly suspicious nor dominated by our feelings, but to bring them before God through prayer.
Main Idea: The Christian life is full of joy and sorrow, appreciating God’s past faithfulness while anticipating his future grace.
I. Remembering Our Joy (126:1-3)
There is evidence that this song was composed after the Babylonian exile ended for the people of Israel by the Edict of Cyrus (cf. 2 Chron. 36:22-23). For Israelite pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem, this historical backdrop would take on a deep and rich meaning as they walked the same path as the exiles who had been set free.
This Psalm teaches us 3 things about joy:
1. Joy is received, not manufactured
“Joy is not a requirement of Christian discipleship, it is a consequence. It is not what we have to acquire in order to experience life in Christ; it is what comes to us when we are walking in the way of faith and obedience… we cannot make ourselves joyful. Joy cannot be commanded, purchased, or arranged... Joy is what God gives, not what we work up.” ~ Eugene Peterson
This is simultaneously freeing and hopeful, and a reminder that even though we can’t manufacture it ourselves, we are commanded to fight for joy (cf. Phil. 4:4).
2. Joy is rooted in God’s faithfulness in the past
The people of Israel are reminding themselves of God’s redemptive activity toward his people. On this side of the work of Christ, we have even more reason to look back and be reminded of the source of our joy. Remembering God’s past redemptive work reminds us that this is not mere wishful thinking, but a sure foundation to stand upon.
“We nurture these memories of laughter, these shouts of joy. We fill our minds with the stories of God’s acts. Joy has a history. Joy is the verified, repeated experience of those involved in what God is doing. It is as real as a date in history, as solid as a stratum of rock in Palestine. Joy is nurtured by living in such a history, building on such a foundation.” ~ Eugene Peterson
Israel had a way (cf. ‘Ebenezer’) to tangibly remember the faithfulness of God toward them in the past, and we ought to find ways to do the very same thing today, being quick to bring to remembrance all that God has done.
3. Joy affects a whole community
Joy like this becomes infectious, as everything in these verses is corporate in nature. As the Israelites remember the redemptive act of God toward them, the tense suddenly switches to the present: “The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.” This is how we are called to fight for joy.
II. Sowing Our Sorrows (126:4-6)
The tone of the passage shifts in v. 4 to a “lament.” A lament is an honest prayer to the Lord that stands in the gap between God’s promises and our pain. The Christian life is a simultaneous increase of both joy and sorrow. We often feel sorrow after turning to Christ because of an increasing awareness of our own sin, the sin in others, or when we feel the effects of living in a broken world.
126:4 is an honest confession of spiritual nostalgia. “The people could not live on yesterday’s joy any more than their ancestors could live on yesterday’s food.” ~ Daniel Estes
The imagery of asking God to send streams in the “Negeb” invokes the idea of being in the desert spiritually, in a dry and barren place. A few times a year, water would rush into the ditches of the Negeb as it rained in the distance and ran down the hills, providing a flash flood of nutrients. The Israelites are crying out for the Lord to move in this way, bringing a revival, just as he has in the past (cf. 126:1)
While waiting for the Lord to move in this way, 126:5-6 provides the roadmap for continuing to walk forward on the road of discipleship. Until the flood waters come, we are called to keep tilling the ground and sowing seeds, one day at a time. This is the heart behind our core values of fighting to show up & finding beauty in the ordinary.
Until the Lord brings a stream into the desert, we are to water the ground with our own tears. The idea of “sowing our sorrows” means:
We do not avoid our tears, acknowledging pain, sorrow, and hardships in our lives
We do not waste our tears, knowing that we will one day reap bundles of “shouts of joy.” We invest them in God and the things of God.
Sowing seeds in the desert often feels futile and foolish, but we can have confidence that the Lord brings life from death and that our sorrows and hardships are never pointless or wasted in God’s Kingdom.
Romans 5:3–5: Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
“Our momentary weeping, while we let fall the precious seed, is scarcely to be thought of in comparison with the mighty sheaves of the exceeding glory in the land where tears are divinely and finally wiped from every eye… There is not a single drop of gall which will not turn to honey. There is not this day one drop of sweat upon your aching brow but shall crystallize into a pearl for your everlasting crown; not one pang of anguish or disappointment but shall be transmuted into celestial glory, to increase your joy, world without end” ~ Charles Spurgeon
1 Corinthians 15:58: Therefore… be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
