Daily Devotion – December 7, 2020 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Psalm 126
126:1 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
126:2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
126:3 The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.
126:4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb.
126:5 May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
126:6 Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.
Psalm 126 is very short, but look at its power and joy.
The psalmist is recalling when the world called Israel a blessed nation. And the people of Israel rejoiced in that moment. At the time of the writing of the psalm, Israel must once again be in a darker time, because the psalmist asks once again for Israel’s restoration.
I wonder how much we present day Americans believe God is active and doing anything in our midst. In my experience, such an attitude is rare today. But surely God is up to something here in our lives and in our time. Are we rejoicing at the miracles God is providing in our midst?
Psalm 126 makes me wonder about this because, in verses 4-6, the psalmist is looking back to a time when God helped Israel and Israel rejoiced because of God’s help. When the time comes for America to emerge from the Covid Crisis, will we be rejoicing not just because we have our freedom restored, but because of what God did for us during these darker times? Will we be able to look back at that time of re-emergence as a time we were praising God for God’s faithfulness in blessing us, in walking with us through the darkness and sacrifice? How is God even now, in these dark days of contagion and death, pouring out blessings upon us?
Let us start counting how we are being blessed even now, and we will be able to praise our faithful God even more.
Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for being our faithful God, companion through the best and worst of life, and for blessing us always.Help us to see those blessings and hang on to their memory no matter what befalls us. Amen.
