Psalm 126 - Past and Future Joy

Below is a talk I gave today at an aged care place. It was only small, and I did leave my notes a bit to be more casual, but below is more or less what I said.

---

Psalm 126

A song of ascents. 

      1 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, 

         we were like those who dreamed. 

      2 Our mouths were filled with laughter, 

         our tongues with songs 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 are filled with joy. 

      4 Restore our fortunes, LORD, 

         like streams in the Negev. 

      5 Those who sow with tears 

         will reap with songs of joy. 

      6 Those who go out weeping, 

         carrying seed to sow, 

         will return with songs of joy, 

         carrying sheaves with them.

We find ourselves in an age care facility, which means we have lived out most of our lives. What has come before us now are memories, and we can look back with nostalgia. Did you ever ride on the back of a ute, with no seatbelt? Did you ever play in the sprinkler on a summer's day? When it was cold, did your pipes ever freeze? Remember how you lived your whole childhood with the need for the internet.

But now, in this age care place, what is there left to look forward to? Most of the sand in the timer has nearly run its course. What is there now?

In this Psalm, there is a looking back and a looking forward that remains very relevant for us today.

This Psalm, people think, comes from a period after the return from Babylonian exile (Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year C, Volume 2 Exegetical Perspective)

Israel has come back to the Promised Land, and the temple is restored, and so they remember what the Lord has done for their nation. Not only are the locals pleased, but the nations can look at Israel and see that the Lord had done great things for them.

Joy is mentioned twice in the first three verses. The people of Israel are looking back at the good old days, when it seemed that their dreams had finally come true (Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year C, Volume 2 Pastoral Perspective)

And now they are living proof that God has not forgotten them, for the restoration of things has begun.

The Psalm will pivot to looking forward, but not before going through the present. There is some white space between verses 3 and 4, and in that blank space, in the present, there is silence.

The Psalm will call to God to use that same transforming power for the future, because in the present, while they have a restored history, there is still a drought and tears and weeping.


There are shifts from remembered happiness to expressed sorrow in the present crisis. (Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year C, Volume 2 Pastoral Perspective)

In verse 4, by requesting that God “restore our fortunes,” they acknowledge that restoration has not come fully. The community leans into a ... sense of restoration—it is already here, but not yet. (Psalms, Volume 2 Bridging Contexts)


They would like their streams to flow and their seeds to grow. They want God to continue to look after them, as He has done in the past. And they are trusting in the character of God, they are not pessimistic about what will happen. They have great trust that God will come through, because He has before.

Although they will go out weeping, sowing with tears, they know that come harvest time they will return with songs of joy. The seeds of this joy have been planted in sadness and watered with tears. (Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year B, Volume 1 Pastoral Perspective)

"What began in weeping will end in rejoicing. God will come and restore the fortunes of his people such that a present moment defined by barrenness and sorrow will be transformed into a future filled with shouts of joy and arms full with the harvest." (Psalms, Volume 2 Petition for God’s Work of Restoration (126:4–6))

Australian farmers know drought. It can be devastating to see the barren land that should have produced a crop that would feed many mouths. The trouble is they don’t know when the drought will break and the rain will come. The farmer will still plant, in the hope that it will grow. The rain will come, but they don’t know when. Joy allows them to smile in hope for the future outcome.

[Cut this bit: G.K. Chesterton said joy was the gigantic secret of the Christian.

"Gigantic joy is not impervious to pain or inattentive to heartbreak. Gigantic joy doesn’t laugh in the middle of tsunami sorrow, broken promises or the irrevocable consequences of sinful rebellion. What gigantic joy does, is give the Christian a bottomless pool of hope that allows the Christian the energy and steadfastness to not grow weary in well doing. This kind of joy is the secret of being able to face sin and sorrow honestly and still end the day singing the doxology" (Themelios: Volume 30, No. 3, Summer 2005 The Last Word: Joy, the Gigantic Secret (Robbie Castleman))]

It’s like coming home to the kitchen, and it is a mess, and just that morning you cleaned the whole thing. The youngest daughter has been “cooking” in the kitchen, and the flour and dirty bowls and utensils are all scattered around. That feeling of annoyance can come over you, how frustrating, but as you investigate the mess and the damage, you can see a note with dirty fingerprints on it saying “I’m making something for you” with a love heart drawn at the bottom.

In the midst of that mess and chaos, despite your annoyance, joy can spring up. Your attention is redirected to the daughter who is demonstrating her love for you. You can experience some joy among that mess.

The same is true of our joy in the Lord. Many times, life looks rather messy; I can’t find much to be happy about in my circumstances. Nevertheless, we can take comfort in knowing that God is behind all of it and is working through it all, making something for you. (750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers 342: Joy)

We can look back on what God has done for us through the ups and downs of our lives. The hardships and the blessings. The laughter and the crying. God has carried us till now. And in the present, there may be more tears. God doesn’t deny our weeping, but instead He will redeem it and transform it. That is what He does.

And we do not simply hope for a restoration but a resurrection. (Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year C, Volume 2 Pastoral Perspective)

We have this hope that God will restore us, because we can see in Jesus that He took on sin and death, and conquered all of that, so that we can be righteous and have eternal life. In Jesus, we see that death has been defeated, and we will be resurrected to be with Him forever.


As one person put it "we are a people of hope because our tears will give way to an empty tomb. We remember that story so that we might hope, so that we too might return with songs of joy." (Psalms, Volume 2 Contemporary Significance)

Remember God’s care for us in the past, and His presence is still with us in the present, and He will receive us in the future in the place that He has prepared in advance for us.

God is doing something now, and between the resurrection and His second coming, we can have joy, even in tears, because we know God restores, renews and resurrects.

I pray,
O God, to know you, to love you, so that I may rejoice in you. And if I cannot attain to full joy in this life, may I at least advance from day to day, until that joy shall come to the full. 

Let the knowledge of you advance in me here, and there be made full. 

Let the love of you increase, and there let it be full, that here my joy may be great in hope, and there full in truth. 

Lord, through your Son you command, no, you counsel us to ask; and you promise that we shall receive, that our joy may be full. 

I ask, O Lord, as you counsel through our wonderful Counsellor. 

I will receive what you promise by virtue of your truth, that my joy may be full. 

Faithful God, I ask. I will receive, that my joy may be full. 

Meanwhile, let my mind meditate upon it; let my tongue speak of it. 

Let my heart love it; let my mouth talk of it. 

Let my soul hunger for it; let my flesh thirst for it; let my whole being desire it, until I enter into your joy, 

O Lord, who are the Three and the One God, blessed forever and ever. Amen. 

ANSELM OF CANTERBURY (400 Prayers for Preachers A Prayer for Rejoicing in God)