Hello and welcome to RayFowler.org. 1. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. I experienced a similar feeling when the Lord led us back here to Plantation Community Church. It is the seventh in the series of 15 songs for pilgrims coming to Jerusalem. It carries a powerful message of hope. 6 He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.” (Psalm 126:4-6). This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:9) Or we can sing like Mary did in the New Testament when God chose her to be the mother of Jesus: “For the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is his name.” (Luke 1:49). We now turn to the second image we have in this section of the psalm. Psalm 126 December 6, 2015 “Repentant Joy” Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In this psalm, the theological theme of restoration is knitted together with the theme of rejoicing. (Ezra 1:1-4). Whole Psalm. What God had done for Israel was so great that even their enemies praised God. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Are you sowing many tears? Psalm 126:3(NASB) Verse Thoughts Imagine your country being conquered, your homes destroyed, your possessions taken and you, along with every member of your family being led away captive, into a foreign land for 70 years. Psalm 126:5-6 can be tough scriptures to hold on to in hope, when faced with joblessness, or sickness, or unthinkable tragedies, or depression. God will change your tears to joy. A farmer may weep due to the drudgery of his labor, but after the ground has been tilled, the seed planted and the harvested brought in, the same farmer returns from the same field rejoicing in the fruit he has received. This psalm is titled A Song of Ascents. (Read Psalm 129:1-8 and pray.) Joy is all over this psalm, which is ironic when you consider it is one of the psalms of trouble. So she asked them to call her Mara, which means “bitter.”. Last week we looked at Psalm 125 which was the first song of Zion in the Psalms of Ascent, and we saw that Zion is a common theme throughout the remainder of these psalms. God had shut every door, and we had been out of the ministry for three years. The Passion Translation (TPT) The Passion Translation®. The second image points to God working through your efforts – working and waiting. Psalm 126 PSALMS OF ASCENTS Their vineyards and farmlands had been left largely untended for fifty years, so it took massive effort and a long time to restore them. © Ray Fowler. Now, my niece Lilly, who was 3 years old at the time, was unwilling to do any activity that seemed messy or dirty….such as shoving your face into a bucket of water filled with apples. Words in boxes are from the Bible. Having described that dream in the first half of the psalm, now in the second half the psalm begins to model the surprising contrast of being restored. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4), Times of sorrow are hard. PCC was in need of a pastor, and we were living a mile down the road. And in the same way revival is something only God can do. 126 The Lord Has Done Great Things for Us Revised Grail Psalter Text: R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy. Monique's phylactery contains verse 5 of Psalm 126 in Latin, for Monique long prayed for the conversion to Christianity of her son Augustine. Click here to return to the Sermons page. “Come to us, O Lord,” they pray, “and restore our land.”  Their fear is that the rain will wash away any seeds because the land is so dry and the seeds cannot take root. A turn that says, “Yes the Lord has done great things for us, but we are not out of the woods yet.”  All the psalmist’s verbs begin to shift from past to present. In prayer we remember what God has done. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Feel free to hit the comments button on any post and join the discussion. Psalm 56:8 says: “Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll – are they not in your record?” (Psalm 56:8) God keeps track of all your tears, and one day he will personally wipe the tears from your eyes. Psalm 126 - NIV: When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. And then trust God to do it again. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Psalm 126:6. And we read in Ruth 4: “Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. While she was getting her blindfold on, we slowly removed all of the apples from the pail. Restore our fortunes, LORD, like streams in the Negev. Psalm 126. Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming! Psalm 126:6 Sermons: He who goes out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, will certainly come again with joy, carrying his sheaves. It was like a dream come true. Psalm 126:6 "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves [with him]." If the pagans nations could give glory to God for what he had done, we better do our job too! Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” (Isaiah 51:11), When I read this psalm I think of Naomi in the book of Ruth who sowed many tears. I will continue to look for moments of divine restoration happening around us, though they are fleeting. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:1-4). You can also check out the Top Posts page to get a feel for the site.       – Isaiah 35:6; Joel 2:25. If you restore the roof of your house, it is because you have been leaked on. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming! Psalm 126 Commentary by Brad Boyles. There are moments in life that feel profoundly like divine restoration. The psalmist begins with a call to remember what the Lord God has done for His people in the past. Know that God will turn your sorrow into joy. RayFowler.org is a place to discuss various issues relating to God and life. Psalm 126:5-6 THE PASSION AND THE PROMISE. The harvest awaits. We live in a time and a place, when something like harvesting food rarely causes any of us to shout for joy. SermonAudio.com - Psalm 126 Sermons. The first stanza encourages you to marvel at how God has helped you in the past. We must remember what God has done in our lives and in our church. You begin to lose hope. The captives experienced great sorrow and mourning in exile.       – Ruth 1:20-21, 4:16-17; Psalm 30:5; Isaiah 51:11, 61:1-3. This is but a repetition and confirmation of what is before expressed in different words; and may be applied, as to a praying saint, so to a faithful preacher of the word. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Do you ever feel like your life is a desert? This song likely was composed after the exile, in wondrous gratitude for God’s restoration, and in prayer for a furtherance of that work. Abiding is not enough, fruitfulness is added. There mouths were overflowing with laughter and their tongues were shouting for joy. The Paperback Bible presents the Bible by the Book and is designed to be portable, readable, and truly personal with ample margins for notations. In Psalm 129 we see God withholding his blessing from those who hate his people. Now they needed to trust him to do it again. This was a normally dry and arid land. WHEN YAHWEH BROUGHT BACK THOSE WHO RETURNED. It’s the difference between God’s miracles and God’s providence. In fact some of the most heartbreaking passages in the Bible have to do with the exile of the Jews to Babylon passages in the book of Lamentations or like Psalm 137. The text that I have chosen for this morning’s sermon is Psalm 126, our Introit for this morning. The psalm basically has two stanzas with two main ideas. Now, please, let us read again the text of today’s sermon, Psalm 126.5-6: 5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Verse 1:-. One of our traditions is bobbing for apples. We read these beautiful words in Revelation 21:4: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. For tourists, the … They had suffered so much, and now they suddenly found themselves back in their homeland, back in Jerusalem, back in the beloved city of God. These are people who have cried out, “Come to us, O Lord, and restore our freedom.”  The problem with restoration is having to go through the desperation that calls it forth. But even those moments are fleeting. Restore us today. Psalm 126:1-6 The Greatest Future Is Yet to Come is a sermon about letting go of the past, taking inventory of the present and looking to the future. The Israelites were restored out of Babylon and back to their homeland, but now they were in need of restoration yet again. In other words, it’s not all, all, all the way up all the time. God will turn your sorrow to joy and your tears to laughter. and we are glad” (Psalm 126:2-3). Let me tell you right up front, whatever you’re going through, it will get better. Do you feel the tension in this psalm between verses 1-3 and 4-6? Psalm 129 is all about persevering through pain, and it is one of the more striking of the psalms of trouble. A Harvest of Joy. Come to us as you have before so that we might be filled with laughter and joy yet again. The Context of this Psalm. ), We all go through hard times, and sometimes when you are in the thick of sorrow, it feels like it will never end. Psalms 126:6. As Charles Spurgeon once said: “God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. I know it seems hard to believe, but it was hard to believe for the Jews returning to Jerusalem, too. 126:1 {A Song of degrees.} Psalm 125. The problem with restoration is having to go through the desperation that calls it forth. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. The psalmist begins by remembering the past, “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion.”  And right there, immediately we should say to ourselves, “Oh, these are people who know desperation.”  Their fortune has been restored, because it once was missing. The Psalms of Ascent | Stepping Stones to God’s Heart, “The LORD has done great things for us!” (Psalm 126:3). Lilly had found her own sense of humor and none of us stopped laughing until our stomachs were good and sore. They had established homes in the new land. Psalm 126 – Amazed at God’s Work. The return from captivity for Israel was something only God could do. B. II. There is a time for sowing and a time for reaping. This is a picture of sacrificing what little we have for the harvest to come. And then notice that after the nations give glory to God, so also does Israel. Psalm 30:5 says: “Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5) There has never been a sunset yet that was not followed by a sunrise! The testimony of Isaiah 25:9 should be our testimony: “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. 2) Know that God will turn your sorrow into joy. 1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, * we were like those who dream. When the people of Israel were carried off to Babylon they sowed many tears. Now you need to trust him to do it again. Psalm 126 is one of a collection of poems (Psalms 120-14) known as the “Songs of Ascents.” These poems most likely did not all originate from a single source or for … Continue reading "Commentary on Psalm 126" God says in Joel 2:25: “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten.” (Joel 2:25) Pray for God’s full restoration and blessing. The product is one of the grandest, most eloquent lyrical prayers in the Psalter. Second, the dream come true: Psalms 126:4-6 develop a model of praying for the dream to come true and a contrast of what it is like when that dream does come true. This psalm is titled A Song of Ascents. Verses 1-2 are in the past tense. Download sheet music, Responsorial Psalm 126: Download Ps. The Jews had been exiled to Babylon seventy years earlier. A. We have this beautiful promise from God in verse 5: “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” (Psalm 126:5) Know that God will turn your sorrow into joy. Website: http://www.rayfowler.org. Psalm 126 is a song that looks back to when the captives returned to Jerusalem following their long exile in Babylon. 6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. If you restore a painting, it is because layers of grim have collected upon its surface for decades, muddying the bright colors and the intricate details. Psalm 126:2 R. Tuck Polybius, in describing the joy of the Greeks when unexpectedly rescued from the Macedonians, says, "Most of the men could scarcely believe the news, but imagined themselves in a dream as they listened to what was said, so extraordinary and miraculous it seemed to them." 2. 5 Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. (4-6) 2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ 3 The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced. ( Log Out /  Note: This sermon is the third in a series you can continue through Advent. Psalm 126. The first 3 minutes of this sermon were erased in 1979, so it was recorded sometime before that. You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this message provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and that you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. It so often feels fleeting. Will I ever be happy again?”. An EasyEnglish Translation with Notes (about 1200 word vocabulary) on Psalm 126. www.easyenglish.bible. When I read this psalm I also think of Jesus and his sermon at Nazareth where he took these beautiful words from Isaiah 61 and made them his own: “The Lord has anointed me … to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” (Isaiah 61:1–3), Are you going through a time of sorrow? Grass and flowers would spring forth suddenly almost overnight. We wish it were, but it’s not. Your time of reaping will come. And then secondly, trust God to do it again. And you can feel the air gush out, deflating you. If you are new here, be sure to subscribe by email or feed reader so that you don't miss any future posts. Verses 4-6 are in the future. 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