Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19990228.htm

PSALMS: DIARIES OF GODLY OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Psalm One Hundred And Twenty-Six - Encouragement To TRY Rebuilding A Godly Institution After The Sin Of Others Has Crippled It
(Psalm 126:1-6)
  1. Introduction
    1. Sin in God's people can cripple the institutions of marriage, family, government and church that God has established. Thus, when sin by others in such an institution causes the whole institution to be crippled, it seems doubly HARD for the innocent party(s) to be motivated to try rebuilding such that institution.
    2. Psalm 126 is God's encouragement for the innocent party along with the guilty party in God's institution, whether it be a marriage, family, government or church, to be motivated to TRY rebuilding the institution.
  2. Encouragement To TRY Rebuilding A Godly Institution After The Sin Of Others Has Crippled It.
    1. Psalm 126 is set when Israel returned from captivity, Ps. 126:1a. As Israel was then under the Mosaic Covenant, this captivity signaled punishment for sin, cf. Deut. 28:47-49, 64-65; 2 Chron. 36:15-17, 20-21.
    2. Well, some of the returning exiles had been in Israel before it fell while others had been born in captivity as notified in the Haggai 2:1-3 observation that some had recalled the Solomonic temple where other exiles had never seen it. Thus, those who returned to Israel had been part of the guilty parties deserving the demise of the nation and others were innocent descendants of these sinful parents!
    3. In the process of returning, there were really mixed feelings as described in Psalm 126:1b-5a:
      1. On the one hand, the exiles were overjoyed to be returning to their homeland, Ps. 126:1b-3.
        1. When they first came back to Palestine, the people were so happy that they felt they must be in a dream of joy, Ps. 126:1b.
        2. They were laughing, rejoicing and enjoying the testimony of Gentiles who consented with Israel that "Jahweh has done great things for them", Ps. 126:2.
        3. Indeed, the people of Israel stated this as their own testimony as witnessed in Ps. 126:3.
      2. On the OTHER hand, the effort to rebuild the destroyed countryside left a sad aftertaste that pressured people to want to "give up" in the reconstruction effort of the institution of the nation, Ps. 126:4-6:
        1. We know from 2 Chronicles 36:20-21 that Israel's land had lain fallow for 70 years to fulfill God's requirements of discipline . That left a harsh rebuilding task ahead for the returning exiles. As the Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament puts it (p. 885), " . . . after the land had been neglected for so long, it was almost impossible to work it. The planting would be difficult . . . "
        2. Since the land was so unworkable, much like a wilderness, the psalmist besought the Lord to restore Israel's agricultural fortunes by supplyi ng abundant rains that would seasonally fill wilderness gullies (wadis) in the southern Palestine Negev, Ps. 126:4. That would make the land easier to work and encourage the farm laborers in their h uge land-breaking and sowing tasks.
        3. The sowing would be discouraging as compounded by the fact that some of the returning exiles would be trying to rebuild what had come from the sins of others, their ancestors. Yet, he promised that though they sowed in tears of compounded frustration, they would reap with songs of joy, v. 5
        4. Indeed, he concluded that those who went forth in faith that there would be a harvest, sowing his seed with weeping in the hardship of working the ground and compounded frustration of working to undo what had been caused by the sins of other would return with joy their produce, Ps. 126:6.
Lesson: It may be hard even to WANT to pick up the pieces of a crippled God-ordained institution like a torn marriage, a shredded family, a deteriorated government or a divided church that has been decimated by sin, and ESPECIALLY so if OTHERS had caused the failures in the first place! However, God promises great JOY and PRODUCTION for those who TRY to serve Him in that effort, for they do what is His WILL in the process, cf. Haggai 2:1-3 with 2:6-9.

Application: To quote Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." No matter how tryi ng, it is ALWAYS worthwhile to serve GOD -- always!!