Psalm 126, "When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed"

 

Psalm 126

This is a book that can lead you to cry.  It is about Israel crying to God asking Him to comfort them and support them.  This chapter is the song of Zion which is a symbol where God dwells with His people.  It is not a specific place, it means when God dwells with us, we are in Zion.  On one side it talks about joy while also on the other side it talks about sorrow.

Verse 1, “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed.”

Have you decided what you will dream about?  No, you can’t do that.  A dream comes just like that and you don’t know what you will dream about.  You have no choice.  Last year has gone and the new year has now started and we had a lot of challenges last year and some made you cry and pushed you to think, “Oh God, it’s me again”.  Maybe you knelt down and felt disappointed with your life and those that live around you and maybe you were disappointed with your health, your abilities and it was tough, not only financially and psychologically but spiritually and you struggled a lot.

The people of Israel looked back after spending 70 years of captivity in Babylon and thought, “Is it true we can become free?” and it was like a dream for them.  Children were born in captivity, many passed away, and they lost hope.  One day Cyrus decided these people have to go back to Jerusalem.  They didn’t plan it or know what was supposed to happen. 

Maybe you have been in captivity for a long time.  Pressures of life, colleagues, family, from your own way of living and maybe sometimes you tell yourself, I wish I could live like that person.  We all wish we could become someone different to what we are sometimes because we are going through something really hard.

Remember, even in captivity, God has control of everything.  He told Cyrus to let his people go.  70 years is not a small amount of time.  Every morning maybe you wake up to tears and go to bed with tears.  In the morning, what am I going to do today, when is it going to change and then you go to bed crying because things don’t improve.

Psalm 126 is a remedy to heal you and remind you that no matter how hard your situation is, God is still in control and things will end. No matter how long the days are in summer, night comes and darkness will come.  No matter how long the darkness is in the winter, the morning will still come.  Be strong and courageous.

God is the only one who can change tears to joy.  Your joy is on its way because after crying, joy will come.  If we think of a joy, I can think about Job 42 and how he went through hardship and in verse 10, God visited Job and changed his life from east to west and suddenly everything changed.  He lost hope, children, friends but God gave back to him and more than what he had before.

Maybe last year your joy was small but God will give you back more than that this year.

Act 12, Peter was in jail and just like a dream an angel of the Lord came and opened the jail and said go out, you are not a prisoner anymore.  If this happened to you, you may wonder who is this person and may fear to leave the prison because you don’t know what will happen next.  You will be afraid if the guard sees you.  In your life you are afraid to take the next step and you hesitate and we very often think of the consequences even when God tells you to take the next step.

For Peter, he didn’t think twice and he stood up and then once outside it was like a dream but it was a reality.  Many things can come into your life like a dream but it is a reality. You sleep and suddenly you wake up and things are different.

Were you sure that you would wake up this morning?  Many around the world weren’t sure they would wake up today.  To see yourself alive in the morning is like a dream.  Is it true I am alive again or not?  What did I pay to God to deserve to be alive?  I am not special more than others and that encourages me to say thank you to God.

Psalm 137, by the river of Babylon song.  When they were in captivity, they were crying and suffering and the people of Babylon asked them to sing a song of joy.  Have you been in sorrow and then sung a song of joy?  It’s impossible.  When you are crossing a hard time, it is difficult to sing a song of joy.

Life can tease you and mock you (like the Babylonians did by asking the Israelites to sing) because you are in a corner and you are not strong enough to defend yourself.  People can tell you, be strong, have joy but in your heart but you are suffering and going through pain.  Some might tell you, don’t be a drama queen, don’t be a child.  You can rub my back, but my pain will continue.  You can encourage me but my circumstances will still be the same. 

Pray for others and tell God about their situation.  God is the only one who can change the situation.  Lord, please visit them, be their comfort, what they are going through is so hard.  When I look back, sometimes when I pray for someone I also look at what God has done in their lives.  e.g. “Robbie used to play the guitar for you and read the bible and do communion and come here without breakfast and come here to serve you”.  All that time he was with us, I can count great things God has done through him.  “Remember your beloved child.”  When I pray for others I count all the good things about them.

Shari read a verse to us, “remember this” meaning that we have to also ask God to remember something.  When was the last time you told God to remember about you?  The man on the cross said, “Remember me, don’t forget me when you enter the Kingdom of God”.  We need to remember what God has done for us and tell him so he can be glorfied.

Sarah, the wife of Abraham, was in pain for many years because she needed a child.  She was praying day after day as a young girl and she could reach the age where she lost hope but she couldn’t think that God can perform a miracle.  When she became pregnant, she was 90 years old.  She couldn’t believe it, it was like a dream.  She looked at her age, her body, no way, this is impossible.  Even doctors cannot explain.

Don’t be discouraged because time has passed.  God knows exactly the time when He is going to give it to you.  He knows when you will get sick and when you will be healed.  God knows when He will bring to you peace and when He will stop that peace.  Why shouldn’t I collaborate with someone who knows when things are going to happen?  He knows who and why.  As friends, we can ask for help.

Abraham received these people.  These people were God visiting Abraham.  God could have gone straight to Sodom and Gomorrah but preferred to pass by a human being (like you and me).   Abraham encouraged them to stay the night.  Would you make a stranger to sleep in your house because it is dark?  Maybe you will send them to a hotel.  Abraham told God, come in, “Sarah, cook for our visitors.  Feed them”.

Sarah prepared something and fed God! God!  imagine if she could know that it was God eating at her house from her table.  Maybe if she knew it was God, maybe she would freak out and not be able to cook.  While she gave food to them He revealed himself, you will become pregnant and around this time next year, you will have your baby.

How often does God talk to us without us realising it is God.  we may think it is a simple human being asking for water but it might be God.  We must be careful with people who are in need.  If you have something to feed someone who is hungry, give it to them.  When was the last time you visited someone?  When was the last time you visited a sick person?  We should make an effort, visit people and pray for them. 

I have decided before to pray for all the prisoners of Waikeria prison.  I can enter New World supermarket and pray for each person who will pass by me.  How often do you visit people, do you serve people, pray for them?

Sarah received a blessing for serving God.  The next morning God told Abraham, “I am going now to destroy those cities”.  If Abraham had not invited Him inside, he could not have known about this plan.  To be afraid of God, when you put Him on your side, it is a big advantage.

Many people would like a photo with Jacinda Ardern but no one wants a photo with Colleen but if she is with Jacinda, people may want a photo with Colleen and Jacinda together.  When you are with God, people will come next to you so they can get close to God.

Make God your friend so you can come close to Him and He can intervene for you.  Because He loves you, He can say, “Yes, Odon wait for 5 minutes and I can fix this for you”.  Better that than putting all your hope in tears, after crying I feel better but after crying your problem is still there.  Bring all your burdens to God because He is a God of joy.

2021 can be a year of joy just like a dream.  Life continues, no matter what you faced last year, life goes on and all together we are moving forward to meet with our King, very soon He is coming back to take us.  What will you take with you, your Bible your shoes, your make up? Only your soul.  What is in your soul?  Does your soul please God? Is your soul well prepared to welcome God, “God stay here with me forever”.

This year Rebekah will be 16 and she can’t go back to being 14 because it is the past.  Focus on the present and future not the past.  Turn the page and move forward.  This is a book, once you read page 237 you don’t stay there but turn the page.  If you want to understand what is in the book, you have to turn pages but if you say, “I’m not letting it go because someone did something wrong to me last week or last year”, you are not moving forward, you are staying still.

You will become like Lot’s wife who couldn’t move anymore.  Turn the page, forget the past and live a new life.  If you failed yesterday, don’t make it a burden for you, move on because He has washed away your sin and forgiven you.  Forget about what others have done against you and forgive and move ahead.