Psalms of Ascent_Psalm 126
Sermon Passage: Psalm 126
Sections, Scripture References, Quotes:
V/3 – Present Joy “The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad”
Joy is nurtured by anticipation. If the joy-producing acts of God are characteristic of our past as God’s people, they will also be characteristic of our future as his people. There is no reason to suppose that God will arbitrarily change his way of working with us. What we have known of him, we will know of him. Just as joy builds on the past, it borrows from the future. It expects certain things to happen. – Eugene Peterson
V/1-2 – Joy-filled Remembrance (joy in the present builds on the past)
Israel’s happy and hard history is filled with stories of redemption and restoration – Jamey Vizzini
V4-5 – Joyful Expectation (present joy “borrows from the future”)
“a flood of God’s Spirit comes down powerfully and suddenly, like the streams from distant mountain rainstorms, and the community is restored dramatically” – Tim Keller
As in actual farming, sowing does not show immediate fruit. But faithful prayer and service will eventually bear fruit. The desert will become a garden – Tim Keller
“Apathy-ism” vs. Atheism
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. — Galatians 6:9
Our joy is rooted in a past event
Our joy is sustained by a current power – “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:13-14)
Our joy is based on a future promise – -Behold, I am making all things new…to the thirsty, I will give from the spring of water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son (Revelation 21:5-7)