Emboldened

This morning, I want to start by asking your to consider this question,

“When is a moment in time where you saw the Lord provide?” It may be in your life, or maybe you have witnessed the Lord’s provision in someone else’s life.

It could be something as simple as healthy relationships, an answered prayer, or a new opportunity that has presented itself.

Go ahead and take the next minute or so to share with someone near you how you have seen the Lord’s provision.

Can we all pause for a moment to recognize God’s faithfulness and just say “Thank you Lord for your provision!” Lets try this one together, say it with me, “Thank you Lord for your provision!”

If you think of someone today, would you go and share it with them. Would you be willing to encourage their souls by simply saying, “Look how the Lord has provided for you when...” and share that story that comes to mind.

The Lord is good, He provides, and it would be fitting for us to always recognize that He has blessed us to be a blessing. The blessings of our lives may appear to come from our own hand, but in reality it is God who has provided everything to fall into place. Because we know that God is generous in His blessing toward us, we can be generous in how we aim to bless both Him and others around us.

Today, we are practicing this heart of gratitude because we sometimes get a little self focused. Sometimes, we take credit for good in our lives. Taking a self sufficient attitude that claims the development of my own blessing by my work ethic and discipline. We need to remind ourselves that ALL BLESSINGS come from God. That He is the great provider.

We are going to see a measure of God’s provision today as we jump into Psalm 126. This is a great Psalm. It identifies God’s faithfulness while being honest about the eb and flow of life. That God has provided and we celebrate it. We turn and purposely give Him the glory and the credit. And at the same time, there are other areas of our life where we are asking God to provide further.

Lets pray before we read this passage together.

Psalm 126 (ESV)

A Song of Ascents.

1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.

2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”

3 The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.

4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negeb!

5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!

6 He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

For the second Psalm in a row we find that it is Post Exilic, again meaning post exile from Babylon. We learn from Jeremiah, Eziekiel, and Isaiah that God told the people what was going to happen. That they had become so unholy of a people that they began to tarnish the promised land. They knew that if they didn’t turn from their wickedness that the Lord would bring them into captivity.

But they also knew God’s promise. That He would bring them out of captivity and back to the promised land once again.

Now, back in the promised land, this Psalm is reflecting on the Lord’s provision. That even though He allowed captivity to come, He kept His promise. He was restoring His people to the inheritance He gave them.

In this return, the rebuilding of the temple, the city, and the walls, it was like a dream. There were unexplained elements that didn’t add up. There were still relational tensions, there was active opposition, they still identified with being a beaten down people of slavery and yet, everything was slowly being restored.

In 2019, Laura and I were able to buy a home on the bluff edge. In full transparency, we bought it for the view. The house was dated and had some up keep pieces that needed to happen quickly. We knew that we were taking on a project. When we first sat down to draft our plan of attack, we put together a 15 year renovation plan.

For me, it felt daunting. Though I was excited to get started, I felt the weight of stress and anxiety. As I have worked on the house, I have found myself in the middle of a project that just needs to be done. Because as I get into the project and uncover what is behind the walls, in the floor, I find one problem after another. I’ve already made 15 trips to the hardware store looking for one more piece. The project has lasted longer than expected and I am so tired and frustrated that I am not even sure I know what I am doing anymore.

But suddenly, its done. All thats left to do is clean up. And whenever I get to that moment, its like there is a sense of relief. Like a burden has been lifted off.

Isn't it true? There are times in life where we simply struggle to explain how everything came together. So many times when life is like a chaotic dream, where there are sudden challenges and hardships that rise, nothing feels like it working, and then suddenly, its like you have broken through the tension, concerns and anxiety is left behind as everything that needed to happen falls into place.

Deep sigh of relief

Its like a load of heavy weight just slides right off. What is even greater of a blessing is the recognition that this is a gift from God.

“When the Lord restored the fortunes to Zion.”

You better bet that the Israelites had much blood sweat and tears into the rebuilding of the city, but they recognize that even their ability to contribute is a blessing from the Lord. He is deserving of all the credit and glory. It is a sweet, sweet, joy when we become intimately familiar with the reality that God has provided every gift, and every blessing. Apart from Him, I can do nothing. It’s when I dwell on this reality, considering all I have received in my life that I can then enter into the joy of verse 2:

Psalm 126:2-3 “Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them. 3 The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.”

They are so filled with joy from the recognition of God’s hand on their life that it would appear they are full of laughter, joy, dancing, and singing. It would appear to be a utopian feeling of satisfaction in the Lord. And they should celebrate the Lord. They should give themselves to expressive joy as a worshipful response to the Lord.

He is the only one who could have done this, the only one who could have provided and He did. In fact, it is so clear that God is at work in the people of Israel that the surrounding nations pointed to Israel’s God and said, “Look what He has done for them!”

Let me paint the picture for you. Last week, I mentioned that Israel was living in exile in Babylon for 70 years. Babylon was known for having a well trained, professional army that was vast in number. They were known for their Superior chariots and cavalry but were masters of siege warfare. Using battering rams, siege towers, and many other engineering techniques to breach fortified cities.

Their defenses were legendary, particularly their walls, which were some of the most impressive in all of the world. Not only were their walls massive, but they were doubled. Once you got past the first wall, there was another.

Herodotus, a Greek historian who lived shortly after the fall of Babylon, wrote that the outer wall was 80 feet thick, and as high as 320 feet. These walls were some of the most impressive structures of the ancient world. Even if the 56 mile wall was totally surrounded by an army, they could still live safely within the city as the Euphrates river flowed right through it.

Babylon in every was was considered impenetrable. You would have been thought of as crazy to believe that they could fall. Which left the Israelites feeling hopeless.

Do you know how Babylon fell to Persia?

From a great distance upstream, without the knowledge of the Babylonians, the Persian army diverted the Euphrates river.

As the water levels lowered and the speed slowed, the Persian army was able to enter the city under the wall without ever being noticed.

Without bloodshed of the Israelites in Babylon, the city fell before it ever had opportunity to be defended.

The unimaginable happened.....

But the Israelites didn’t know what this mean’t for them. They simply moved from being Babylonian exiles to Persian Exiles. But perhaps some recalled what the Lord said through the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 44:28 “28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’; saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’ ””

Isaiah 45:13 “13 I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward,” says the Lord of hosts.”

You see Babylon fell, not because of clever men, but because 200 years before it fell, God made a promise to the people of Israel. Using Isaiah to reveal the very name of a king of Persia who would be known throughout history as being one who maintained policies of tolerance and restoration of displaced peoples.

At some point, we have to just stop and “Wow! How amazing is our God!”

This is the consistent power and presence of our God. We know from history that we can trust every promise!

We also see from examples like this one and others, that the Lord is always at work. Often in ways we cannot see until we look back. But we can trust that just as He was at work then, He is now. Just as He provided for Israel, He provides for us!

I want to encourage you to consider how this should inspire us today.

Knowing that God is faithful to His promise, knowing that He provides every blessing and every provision for our lives, “How should that embolden us for His names sake?”

I believe that a great challenge for the American church is that we are forgetting how to praise and exult the Lord. The reason that we see less and less people who are willing to take bold steps of faith for the Lord is because as a society, we have learned to trust ourselves. And we know that we fail from time to time. I believe it’s that very failure that keeps us from being bold, because even in matters of the faith we have learned to rely on our own ability instead of God’s.

Can we agree together that we need to repent before the Lord of our self sufficiency? Can we agree together to claim the promises of God, trusting His character and pray for Him to lead us into taking bold steps of faith.

If we truly believe He is faithful, what is holding us back from being emboldened and inspired by His unchanging character and ever present Holy Spirit in our lives?

What we learn from these verses, is that A habit of reflecting God's generosity towards us, free’s us to embrace a lifestyle of generosity, gratitude, and bold faith.

Before we continue into the second half of the Psalm, can we agree together in prayer before the Lord, right now. Would you join me?

Pray

Psalm 126:4–6 (ESV)

4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negeb!

5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!

6 He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

This Psalm suddenly shifts its focus. From celebration, joy, laughter, dancing because of all that God has done, the author turns to prayer. It’s a shift from looking back on the Lord’s previous provisions, to asking Him for the needs that are still in front of the people.

It’s a consistent reality of life; that there is an eb and flow. We move from abundance to need, from Gratefulness to pleading. More than that, it is true of our spiritual condition.

We have been restored to God, and yet we are still needing to be restored.

We have been justified by the blood of Christ, but we are still being sanctified.

We have been forgiven for our sin, yet we still need to be forgiven.

We ought to look back at the Lord’s provision and we out to be emboldened by it. Because we need to take bold steps of faith today in order to be built up for whatever tomorrow holds.

In verse four, the author prays for the Lord to bring abundant restoration to needs of the people. They had returned to a land that barren of seed and crops. They needed the Lord to make a flush Oasis of vegetation in the desert so that they would have food to eat. But it’s not just food for today, its food for tomorrow.

Verse five shows us that though there was much to celebrate there was still much need. There was deep concern for adequate food. To the point that people are sowing seed in tears. Knowing that they need food today but the crop will not bring a yield until much later. As the Psalmist looks to the future promise of the joy that will come with the harvest, between now and then we are in some real trouble.

Tim Keller talks about these verses as a great metaphor and it helped me to think about this more. But I think its more than a metaphor, I think its actually a great biblical principle.

The principle is: Sowing seeds in sorrow before the throne of God produces a harvest of joy (Repeat).

It’s not just that joy follows sorrow. Its that when we sow our sorrow appropriately before God, the Lord uses it to bring about sanctification which is His process of making us holy.

There are two ways that we need to think about this principle,

the first is that verses 5 and 6 flow out of the prayer request starting in verse 4. Which turns to God to ask for His provision. Well, what happens if we don’t turn to God in our sorrow. It’s entirely possible to go through a time of sorrow that was determined by the Lord for your life and it is wasted. Because you never actually sowed seed in your sorrow by turning to the Lord. By crying out to Him. By actually grabbing hold of His promises and celebrating His character and provision.

Keller explains it this way, he says - “It would be like a farmer who goes out to plant seed and simply dumps all of the seed in one pile.” Yes, you sowed seed but you did it ineffectively and your harvest will reflect it.

The second way we need to think about it is sowing good seed. If you learn to sow good seed in your sorrow, then it actually produces joy later in your life.

We see this in the person of Jesus.

Hebrews 12:2 “2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus went to the cross for the joy that laid on the other side.

Jesus suffered immeasurable pain in order to free us from our sin. He suffered more than any one of us ever will by having the sins of the world placed on Him. Scripture says He never cried out, never retorted with a smart comment, never complained, He just patiently endured the pain of the thorns, the rejection of the spit, the suffering of the cross, and the weight of guilt and shame from my sin and from yours.

Friends, if Jesus was modeling what it looks like to sow well in sorrow, we might want to stop and consider how differently we respond to suffering.

Rather than being tempted to suffer in guilt of having offended God, we can know that Jesus took care of my sin. I don't need to suffer in guilt.

Rather than falling into anger or self-pity, we can remind ourselves of how much more He suffered. If He can patiently endure that without a word, than perhaps I can patiently endure where I am suffering.

When we turn to Jesus in our suffering, it humbles us to a place of trusting God to provide what we need and being content with having nothing more.

In our self sufficiency we typically enter into a mode where God is there if we need Him. We take control and pursue everything we want in life, and where we are struggling to get the outcomes we want, we turn to the Lord.

Its because of this, we struggles to suffer well. Because we have learned independence, we cant stand when we have to rely on others. Sure, we might like being babied for a day or two. But when we are met with physical challenges that prohibit us from being able to do simple things - get dressed, go to the bathroom, bath, drive a car - when we suddenly lose our independence for months or years at a time we can slip into some dark places. When our physical health limits us to the strictest of diets or to the most reliance on other people, we struggle.

We struggle when there are unfulfilled Longings in our life.

Like the longing for companionship. When we have a deep desire for the intimacy of a spouse, someone who we could spend the rest of our lives with, but year after year, we find ourselves still waiting.

We have longings of purpose and reason. Wanting to know why the Lord put us here to begin with, struggling to find how we fit.

We long for things like having a family but have been met with the harsh realities of fertility issues.

Even in our retirement, we aim for strong finances that will make our later years easy and enjoyable. But what happens when you have tried to save, but have been hit hard by unforeseen financial disasters. Entering into a life of retirement where you will be counting each penny.

We never know why it is that each of face the challenges that the Lord gives us. But what we do know is that our challenges are not pointless. God often teaches us deeper measure of faith through our challenges. You see, our suffering, our unfulfilled longings have a way of coming back to the Lord again and again. They teach us how to find rest and peace in His presence. The tighter we hold on to what we desire, the longer it takes for us to learn - that whether I get what I want or not, God is still faithful and still more valuable than anything else in this life.

Perhaps one of the most practical ways that we can be humble and sow seeds in our sorrow is to find ways to serve others while we are suffering. By doing this, we will learn to care for people, to focus on encouraging them, and we might just find that in our ministry to others, our suffering is much easier to handle. And how encouraging might it be to them, to receive a phone call from you, when you are suffering, but you are just aiming to encourage and to pray over them.

The principles in this passage:

A habit of reflecting God's generosity towards us, free’s us to embrace a lifestyle of generosity, gratitude, and bold faith.

Sowing seeds in sorrow before the throne of God produces a harvest of joy

The Lord Jesus was the greatest servant to others in His suffering. Because His suffering was going to serve and provide for everyone who would receive it.