Guided Bible Study 3

The Lord Has Done Great Things

As you prepare to hear from God:

Aim for consistency in the place you go. A new place allows new distractions.

Express your love for the Lord and His bride, the Church.

Ask Him to reveal the wonders of His word to you today.

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.

Living by faith is built on the foundation of remembering what God has done in the past. Some of what we know of Him comes from living as His child. Some comes from other people we know doing the same and sharing their stories. Some comes from the Word.

In our last Guided Bible Study we listed five blessings. That was one way of remembering what God has done. This song we receive as Psalm 126 is a remembrance of God’s great blessings.

Sometimes we need the Lord to guard us from our memories. They can be painful and even trigger times of depression. I’d imagine if mothers remembered every pain of childbirth there would be a lot of only children in the world. But sometimes our memories need to be brought back to the surface. They can force us to recognize God’s mighty hand of favor at work in our lives.

Undoubtedly there are times of sorrow and hardship in this life. But those are so often followed by times of rejoicing. Sorrow may last for the night but joy comes in the morning!

For those of us who grew up in church when the song was still sung, the song ‘Bringing in the Sheaves’ is probably stuck in our head. We usually sang that one when there was a special offering. There is such joy in this Psalm, and there will be great joy when we bring our offering on the day we regather at the church!