In 1521 Luther had been called to face trial for excommunication by the pope and had refused, appealing his case to Charles V. Frederick the Wise was therefore aiding Luther when he planned on intervening and trying to convince Charles to hear Luther’s case. But before he proceeded, he wanted to check once more and make sure that Luther was still willing to meet with Charles. Luther responded, “You ask me what I shall do if I am called by the emperor. I will go even if I am too sick to stand on my feet. If Caesar calls me, God calls me. If violence is used, as well it may be, I commend my cause to God. He lives and reigns who saved the three youths from the fiery furnace of the king of Babylon, and if He will not save me, my head is worth nothing compared with Christ. This is no time to think of safety. I must take care that the gospel is not brought into contempt by our fear to confess and seal our teaching with blood.”1
It’s always fun to hear those kinds of statements and to celebrate such costly obedience. And we know that we could multiply these kinds of quotes and these kinds of stories. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs alone could provide us with numerous examples of believers giving their lives to honor Christ. Yet, I know of no one in this congregation who is facing martyrdom. I don’t even know of anyone who is risking being called before a legal official because of his or her faith. So, we might hear a quote like Luther’s or stories like those in books of martyrs and think there is no relationship between their lives and ours or between their sacrifice and ours. However, just as it has been said that no one commits adultery without first giving in to lust, I would dare say that no one makes the decision to give up his life for Christ without first making the decisions again and again to trust and obey Christ through numerous difficult and trying situations. And I do believe that there are numbers of you here today who are being faced with the call to obey in difficult and trying situations. But the good news is that Psalm 126 is very helpful in aiding us in living obediently in trying times. I think it can serve somewhat as instruction for us in obeying through difficult circumstances. Therefore, this morning I want to walk us through these points of instruction that I think are present in the psalm.
Before noting each of these elements of instruction, let’s first look at the psalm as a whole. The psalm was probably written at a point after the Israelites had returned from exile but at some later point where they found themselves in a time of great difficulty. Therefore, the psalmist is looking back at what God had done in the past and then praying to that same God in his present circumstances. The first three verses, then, reflect the psalmist fondly remembering the Lord’s past deliverance, probably his deliverance of them from Babylonian captivity so that they were able to return to their land. Verse 4 then transitions from remembering the past to praying in the present. As the psalm begins speaking of what the Lord “restored the fortunes of Zion,” (v. 1), verse 4 is a plea, asking of the Lord, “Restore our fortunes.” Verses 5-6 then serve as words of encouragement to those laboring through great difficulty, reminding them that one day there will be great blessing for their labors. That is pretty much the layout of the psalm, covering six verses. So, what elements do we see here that provide helpful instruction for obeying in difficult times? Let’s look at the first three verses and then note the first of these.
As has been mentioned, the first three verses are the psalmist telling of a situation that had occurred in the past – most likely the restoration of the Israelites from exile. He says in verse 1 that when God did this, the people were like those who dream. It was like something that you could only dream about, and yet it had come true (v. 1). Their joy was so great that they were laughing and shouting with joy. It was also so obvious that God had done something great and blessed his people that the nations around them took notice, saying, “The Lord has done great things for them” (v. 2). And the people agreed, declaring, “The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad” (v. 3).
It is a great and glorious scene, but there is something basic that I don’t want us to miss in this memory the psalmist is reflecting on. It is this: the psalmist and those who witnessed this blessing of deliverance recognized clearly that their deliverance was a work of the Lord. Thus, let these first three verses remind us that we need to recognize the Lord as the source of our blessings?
Now this is fairly simple and basic, and is obvious from these first three verses. Perhaps we might ask, “Who else would they think produced this blessing of deliverance?” And those are fair questions when the Lord had promised that he would deliver his people from exile and bless them. However, we also know that James tells us that every good and perfect gift is from above (James 1:17), and yet numerous times we seem to fail to recognize the Lord as the one who has given us great blessings.
Somehow I think it’s easier to read narratives in the Scripture and see that every good thing comes to those in the text from the Lord’s hand, but somehow that isn’t as easily carried over into our lives. For some reason it’s not as difficult to recognize that we have need of the Lord. We find ourselves in trouble, we pray, and ask God to help us. But it’s not as natural to note that the Lord is the one who answered our prayers.
So, one of the things that we need to be conscious of is that we clearly recognize the Lord as the source of our blessings. And I would encourage you to do this with your family. One of the ways that you build the faith of your children is by your consistent recognition of the Lord’s provision. And I want to encourage the same thing as we gather as a church. One of the benefits of our Sunday night service is that we get to recognize the Lord’s blessings. Just as we hear requests and lift those to the Lord in prayer, so we need to hear of God’s blessings and take time to thank him. The psalms are full of such thanksgiving and rejoicing, and we need to be conscious to do it as well. One of the blessings of this is that it will encourage others to trust and rely on the Lord.
I don’t know how many times when I’ve found myself in need that I’ve reminded myself of how the Lord has blessed Nathan and Susan at the Care Center over seventeen years. And I wouldn’t even be aware of those blessings if they weren’t faithful to recognize the Lord as the source of those blessings. I’ve actually told Nate before that I think ministering to homeless women and children may be the second most important thing they do at the Care Center; the first being that they show people that you can trust God.
Similarly, I shared last week about a couple who adopted a little boy from Guatemala after having to spend five months there, spending over a hundred thousand dollars, and having their lives threatened. And I also shared with you how they came back speaking of the Lord’s blessings in providing for them every step of the way. Now, I would dare say, like those in the text, even your unbelieving neighbor will take note when you come back and begin to recount that story and show that you clearly recognize the Lord’s blessing.
So, as a congregation, let’s become a people who are training ourselves to recognize the Lord as the source of blessing in our lives, so that it might become to us as natural as recognizing that the Lord is our only hope in times of trouble.
But this first point is really only a foundation for this second element of instruction for obedience. One of the main reasons we want to recognize the Lord as the source of blessing in our lives is so that we might look at his past blessings and trust him to meet our needs in the present.
This is the relationship of the first four verses. The psalmist remembers when the Lord restored the fortunes of his people because he is about to ask God to do it again. Thus, he prays in verse 4, “Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negeb.”
Just so we get the imagery, the Negeb is a desert. It is dry and barren. However, if there did come an occasional heavy rain, the water would begin to run down and form streams in the desert. Thus, the picture is representative of a place of little hope all of the sudden being the beneficiary of the Lord’s rich blessing. And that situation mirrors the psalmist’s lot. He is in a situation of great need and seemingly little hope. But he remembers when at a similar point in a similar setting the Lord had provided richly, and now he was asking God to do it again. After all, he knows that God has chosen to do it before and might indeed be willing to do it again.
And I think this is a key for strengthening yourself to walk in obedience during difficult times. If you’ve made a habit of recognizing the Lord as the source of blessing in your life, then when you find yourself needing to obey during a time of great difficulty, you look to those times, remind yourself of what God has done, how he has been faithful, how he has provided, and then you pray and ask him to provide in the present even as you ready yourself to walk out in obedience.
Over the last number of years I’ve had many conversations with William Marhsall whom we were privileged to ordain and send out to pastor Trinity Baptist Church in Sikeston, Missouri. Throughout the time that he has been there, we’ve had conversations about his struggles and joys, defeats and victories. It’s been a blessing to get to walk with him a bit through his labors to pastor faithfully the congregation there. But I remember in one conversation recently as he was recounting how the Lord had blessed them so richly as of late, he said that if he had not seen what the Lord did at Cornerstone after some initial deep struggles, he probably would have walked away from the pastorate at Trinity not too long after arriving. He mentioned that when it would be difficult, he’d remember what God has done at CCC, and then he’d pray that God would do something similar at Trinity. He didn’t look and try to figure out all our methods. He simply turned to the same God who had shown himself able and willing to work mightily here and prayed that he would show himself mighty there. That is the picture that Psalm 126 is giving us.
But this is also a reminder that these first two elements necessarily go together. If we don’t recognize the Lord as the source of our blessings, then we won’t trust him in the present, and if we simply recognize God’s blessings in our past but don’t act in prayer and trust toward him in the present, then we’ve missed much of the purpose for those past blessings. So, we recognize the Lord’s blessings in our lives and then meditate on his past blessings so that we might prayerfully trust him in the present.
But is that the point of this psalm? Is it a call to prayer? In part, but only in part, for verses 5-6 remind us that after meditating on the Lord’s blessings and praying for similar provision in the present, we then need to obey the Lord, even when obedience is costly.
After praying in verse 4, the psalmist gives somewhat of a proverb or a word of encouragement. He writes, “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him” (5-6).
When I was growing up, we always had friends who farmed, and many summers were spent helping them plant and harvest crops. Typically I was the youngest of the crew working, and so I got stuck with less skilled and more annoying jobs. Yet, sowing seed was never so painful that I wanted to cry. So, this imagery might seem a bit odd to us at first. Why is it that people are sowing in tears or are weeping when they go out bearing the seed for sowing?
Well, the reason sowing wasn’t painful for me when I was helping local farmers growing up is because it really didn’t cost much. To put seed in the ground is not painful. However, if you can imagine seed being rare, then as the farmer gets some, he is holding onto his hope for livelihood. Yet, there’s no guarantee that it’s going to bring forth a harvest. So, when you put it in the ground, you’re releasing what little value you have in hope for something of greater value.
It’s something like if I told you that you had to let go of something that you know represents provision and protection in your life, but I also told you that you stand a chance of gaining much more. Now, I would also add, there’s no guarantee. You could give up what you have and get nothing in return. But there’s also a chance you could get something of much more value that what you’re having to give up. If that were presented to you, I don’t know what you would decide. Perhaps you would say, “A bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush.” Perhaps you would be willing to give it up. However, if it were something that was of great value, you probably wouldn’t give it up easily but maybe with pain and tears. That is the imagery of the farmer in the context of this psalm. He had to let go of what little value he had, knowing that he was making the decision to lose it. It was costly. It was painful, but it would be senseless to hold on to your seed and never sow it.
So, the imagery given to us in this psalm is not a people looking back at God’s blessings in the past, praying and trusting him to act in the present, and then sitting idly by in hopes that God will do something so that they might start to obey. It is rather a picture of a people looking at God’s past provision, praying and trusting him in the future, and then getting up and obeying despite the cost. Yes, maybe they’re obeying with tears, but they’re obeying in trust.
And so it provides for us further instruction for obeying in difficult settings. Don’t just think of what God has done and then pray and trust him to provide in the present; obey. Praying and claiming we trust without stepping out and obeying is silly and perhaps shows that we do not trust. We must obey.
When I first started preaching, I was scared to death. I wanted to do it and was terrified by it. When someone would call to ask if I could fill in on a Sunday I’d look to see if there was any way I could avoid it. If there was a legitimate excuse, I tried to bring it up. And finally I just decided that if this is what God was calling me to do, then it didn’t mean that it would be easy or that I wouldn’t have tears, but it did mean that I’d have to obey. Therefore, I made a decision that I’d say yes every time I was asked to preach. And every time it was a challenge to say yes. But each time I would remember how God had provided before, would pray and ask him to provide again, and then I’d agree to do it. And sometimes I felt like it went poorly, and even then, God was providing times of growth, comfort, maturity, and a reminder that I must continue to obey.
But here we might say, “Whoa, hold on a minute.” What if things don’t turn out well? It’s a legitimate question. William Carey went to India and lived through the death of his child and eventually two wives. And on top of that he left much behind in England. As Carey left England, he feared that his father would challenge his decision, so he wrote to him, “I have many sacrifices to make, I must part with a beloved family and a number of most affectionate friends. But I have set my hand to the plough.” God’s faithful provision does not mean that you will not suffer much nor that you will see blessings quickly. Carey didn’t see the first convert in India for seven years. But it does mean that you can always trust that one is working for your good even as you’ve seen him work in the past and pray that he will do in the present.
So, we remember God’s past blessings, pray and trust him in the present, and then walk forward in costly obedience. But, we might ask, how do you continue to obey if you do not begin to see blessings around you for your obedience? That brings us to the last element I want to note in this sermon. It is this, we must continually remind ourselves that eternal blessings are ours in Christ.
The psalmist says that those who sow in tears will reap in joy and that those who sow in weeping with reap with shouts of joy. Now, I don’t know if the psalmist means simply that those who labor will eventually see blessings in this life because we know that many seem to see very little. So, I think he rather means that eventually you will see the benefit of your obedience in eternal blessings.
That is, I think this psalm reminds us that our obedience will never leave us with nothing. Or to say it positively, our obedience will always bring with it great blessing. We will never sow in tears without one day rejoicing in the great harvest. It simply may be that we will not know that blessing in this life. But if that’s the case, it’s okay. After all, would you rather have temporary or permanent blessing. The answer is so obvious that a child could answer it. Yet we struggle to remember that.
So, one final element to aiding ourselves in obeying through difficult circumstances is to remember that eternal blessing awaits us in Christ. If you only look to this life alone, then you will grow weary in doing good. You will look for blessings that might never arrive. But you can know that the God that has faithfully provided for every good work in the past will provide for every good work he longs for you to do in the present and the future. Therefore, you walk in obedience, and you trust him to use you as he wills. If you do that, you’ll know blessings that outweigh anything we’ve witnessed in this world.
So, from Psalm 126, let us remember to acknowledge God as the source of our blessings, pray and trust him to provide in the present, walk in obedience (even when costly), and remind yourself that you will know eternal blessings through Christ. Amen.