This week’s psalm is a short one, and is one of the Songs of Ascent, which consist of Psalms 120 - 134. These psalms were recited by the Jewish people in Biblical days when they made their pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the religious festivals.
Although no author or date is given for this psalm, it appears to have been written following the return of the Israelites from the Babylonian captivity, sometime shortly after 520 BC. Our psalm begins with rejoicing in the people’s return from captivity (vs. 1 - 3). When something wonderful happens in our life, we can sing, laugh, and feel like we are in a good dream. That was how our psalmist describes the feelings of those who came out of decades of captivity. About seventy years prior, the people of Judah had been forcibly taken into captivity. A few of the folks now returning to their homeland might have remembered those days of terror. Certainly these people’s parents would have lived through it. Those were days of horror, with many being brutally killed, their homes torn down and burned, and the Temple destroyed. Then followed years of captivity in a foreign country. Now they were returning to their homeland, which was like a dream. These were days of joy, bringing both singing and laughter, something that had been in short supply during these last years.
Let’s look at our own lives, and recall the many great things that the Lord has done for us (vs. 3). Do we have a roof over our head, and food to eat? It is the Lord God who has provided these for us. Each of you reading this woke up alive today. For that we can thank the Lord. For some the Lord has provided healing from illnesses for themselves or loved ones, or deliverance from addictions. There is always something that we can be thankful to the Lord for, and we need to always keep His blessings in our mind.
In verses 5 and 6, our psalmist speaks about sowing and reaping, sowing in sadness but reaping with joy. The literal sowing of seed for crops in Biblical days was hard work, as it all had to be done by hand. However when the harvest came, there was joy and gladness. The people of Judah had sown years of sadness during their forced exile. Many tears had been shed during that time. Now they were rejoicing, as God was blessing them by bringing them back to their homeland. This life will never be free of hardship or pain. For those who love God, our tears are seeds which will one day reap a harvest of joy. God is able to bring good out of tragedy.
There is also another way of looking at these final two verses. Jesus told us of the parable of the sower, and said that the seed is the Word of God, specifically the Gospel (Mark 4:3-20). We all have friends, family, and loved ones who do not know the Lord Jesus as their Savior. We have witnessed to them, but they do not listen, are not interested, and sometimes are actually hostile to the message. We pray for them, often with tears. Yes, with tears because we know that if they pass from this life without accepting Jesus as their Savior, they will spend an eternity in hell, separated from God forever. As we continue to faithfully sow the seed and pray for the lost, God will see our tears, and the Holy Spirit will move in hearts. We may be sowing the Gospel message, grieving for the lost who do not listen, but when a person turns to Jesus, there is rejoicing. Another lost soul is brought into the fold, and there is rejoicing in heaven (Luke 15:4-7) !
Do you know someone who you can bring the seed of the Gospel to? Keep them in prayer, that the witness you give to them, the seeds you sow in their heart, will bring a harvest of salvation in their soul.
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