The author of Psalm 126, the seventh of the Songs of Degrees is
not known. However, we can see that the Psalmist was reminiscing on the Jewish
remnant returning from the Babylonian exile. The theme of this Psalm is about
the deliverance of Zion. Because of their disobedience, God ordained King
Nebuchadnezzar to carry His people into exile in Babylon for 70 years. When the
time came, under the influence of God, King Cyrus gave the decree allowing the
exile to return home to their land. A remnant then took the opportunity and
returned back to their land. The occasion for this Psalm was probably when the
Feast of the Tabernacle was reinstated in the land. The account of the
reinstatement is recorded in Nehemiah 8:13-18.
Verses 1-3 recollect that moment the Jewish remnant returned to
Zion. Their unexpected return seemed to them more like a dream than a reality. It
was truly a wonderful dream came through. In place of their once dejected
countenance, now there was joy in every face. There was no way they could
contain their joy and elation. There was exuberant celebration and joyful
declaration of the greatness of God for the great things God had done. It’s a
thing that only God could do.
The Lord had done this great thing and there was a reversal of
their fortune in a grand way. The streams of the south in verse 4 refers to the
vicinity of Beersheba in the south. The Bible also calls this area, the Negev.
During summer, the streams here would dry up but they would be quickly filled
up with the rains during spring. The Psalmist saw the reversal of their
situation from captivity to release as the dried up streams in summer being
filled with the rains that spring brought. It was something that only God could
do, so it was a great cause for rejoicing. One moment they had nothing and next
they had everything. What a great privilege to be blessed by the Lord. They had
called on the Lord to restore them and He had answered. They recalled the
wonderful things God had done for them in the past and they were asking Him to
do it again.
Our experience of God’s great blessing in life has a correlation
with the prayer and waiting on Him that we engage in our life. How do we know?
Verses 5-6 tell us so. To sow in tears is about agonizing prayers. When we seek
the Lord in prayer even in our toughest trials, it does come with much tears at
times. But the exhilaration of joy when God intervenes can never be adequately put
in words. Verse 6 tells us that praying is only one part of the equation, the
other is “bearing the precious seeds,” that is to act as we pray. Bear in mind
that the Psalmist was living in an agricultural setting. He spoke in the
language of sowing and harvesting. For us people of God, called to share God’s
work of reaching the lost in the world, need to remember these two processes.
Sowing in tears is willing to agonize in prayer, and then bearing the precious
seeds is the process of sharing the Word. When we diligently engage God in
prayer and the people with the Word of God, we will surely experience the harvesting
of souls for God’s glory. The questions are: Are we praying seriously for
souls? Are we sharing the Word to win souls? Why don’t we start today and test
these principles out?
No comments:
Post a Comment