Psalm 126 is one of the Psalms of Ascent. The people would sing these songs as they would make their way into Jerusalem for the celebrations. It helped them to remember and to thank God for His blessings upon them. The first three verses of Psalm 126 are characterized with the words ‘laughter’ and ‘joy.’ They were remembering the time when they were in exile. They have been restored to their homeland. Sometimes you do not realize what you have until it is gone. We do not miss it until we no longer have it. They had been in exile and, as a result, they now knew just how special it was to live in the land of Canaan. Verse 2 and 3 said “Then they said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ America is the envy of the nations, too. Every day we hear about immigration reform. Have you ever wondered why we have some an immigration problem in America? It is because people want to come here. They are trying to figure out ways to get here. Out of almost 200 nations on planet earth, most of them do not have an immigration problem. We do because it is a blessing to live in America.
We are blessed to be able to move freely. If you want to go on vacation to the beach, go! If you don’t like the beach you can go to the mountains. This July 4th holiday will see almost 41 million Americans travel more than 50 miles from home. And it’s not just freedom around vacation. If you want to live somewhere else you can pack up your belongings and move. We have great freedom. If you want a better job, go for it. If you need more training or education there is a school just down the road and if that one doesn’t work there is another one just past it. Opportunities abound! Most of us have food to eat, clothes to wear, and a little extra spending money. While we might not consider ourselves rich the fact is that compared to most of the world we are, indeed, wealthy.
The last half of the Psalm changes tones. The mood goes from joyful to sad. Words like ‘tears’ and ‘weeping’ characterize the verses. The Psalmist realized that while the people have returned to the land physically, spiritually they are still far away from God. He is praying for them to be restored to the Lord. The fact that they are not makes him sad. I am sad today for what I see around us. I am sad about the materialism of our day. I am sad about the political correctness that tries to silence those that speak truth. I am sad about the lack of basic morality in our nation today. But there is a positive note to be sounded. There was a day when being a good person looked very similar to being a Christ follower. It was really hard to tell the difference. The result was a ‘cultural Christianity’ that may have used the right words and treated people with kindness but lacked the spiritual regeneration that comes thru a relationship with Jesus Christ. No more. Those days are gone. If we determine to be followers of Jesus Christ we will stand out and be different than the world around us. Perhaps now more than any time since the days of Peter, Paul, James and John do we have an opportunity to be salt for a decaying society and light for a dark world.
I am sad for the spiritual frauds that fill the landscape. Man is hopelessly religious and will continue to seek to fill that God-shaped vacuum with something that will bring meaning and purpose. The result is all of the ‘isms’ of the world and the new age movement and harmonic convergence and on and on it goes. The world needs to hear in a loving, kind, gracious and Christ-honoring way that there is only one way to God the Father and that is thru the Lord Jesus Christ. The Psalmist said “Going…weeping…sowing…reaping.” We must go where they are. The world is no longer coming to us. We must go. We must go weeping. We are weeping because they are lost. And lost people will spend eternity separated from God. We must go weeping and sowing the seeds of the Gospel. When we do that the result will be that we will reap a harvest.
Dr. Bruce Chesser
First Baptist Church Hendersonville TN