MPC
20th December 2020.December 20 - Psalm 126 - "Please Sir, I Want Some More"
MPC
20th December 2020.
Pete Kutuzov
Psalm 126
A song of ascents.
1 When the Lord restored the fortunes
of Zion,
we were like those who dreamed.
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
"The Lord has done great things for them."
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
4 Restore our fortunes, Lord,
like streams in the Negev.
5 Those who sow with tears
will reap with songs of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with them.
Good morning everyone.
Are there any readers in the room? Who are our readers of classical literature? The cultured ones... Dickens? Any Dickens fans?
As I was trying to let this Psalm work me over this week, I was deeply struck by the iconic moment from Oliver Twist.
Now, I'm not cultured, but as I understand it, Oliver was orphaned and was raised in a poor house.
A work house. And despite that institution having provided him with his needs for his entire life, Oliver has the gall... the temerity... to ask for more.
And in that iconic scene, he leaves his table, at the egging on of the other boys, and says, "Please sir. I want some more."
You can tell what Dickens thinks of the institutionalised welfare of his day.
Now you may laugh at this, but I was in tears last night as I watched that scene. He's so vulnerable in that scene. So alone. But he really does owe everything to the poor house. And yet. He has the courage. To ask for more.
The Psalms that we've been looking at are the ones that would have been on rotation at that very first Christmas time. Book V of the Psalms.
But last week and for the next two weeks we're looking at some special ones. Travelling songs, that you'd sing over and over again on the way from your family lands to the temple in Jerusalem - The Psalms of ascents.
Maybe sung by the boy Jesus on his famous trip up to the temple at Passover when he manages to give his parents the slip for a few days to chin wag with the priests in the temple.
And that very first Christmas happened at a very particular point in history. Things had happened, and things were happening.
As you read the psalm, did you wonder?
When is he writing about "When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion"?
What does he mean? What did the Lord DO, that made them feel like they were in a dream? What moment could that be?
What was so beautiful, so ... unbelievable... that the people were delirious with laughter? Confused by their own joy?
Maybe dismissing a strong Babylonian batting lineup for only 36 runs in just over 20 overs.
For those who missed it, that was a reference to a major event in world cricket yesterday where Australia had an amazing victory... But after it, the commentators were struggling to put that into context. And one of them just said, "I'm not sure if I'm dreaming." What could that be here?
Well, Israel has lost her Northern half. They've been exiled, and destroyed by the Assyrians, as punishment for generations of despicable evil. Never to be heard from as a nation again. So only Judah was left.
But she followed her Northern sister's example, and she too ended up in exile in Babylon. Not obliterated, but she might as well be. And with no reasonable hope that anything would change. Why would an empire undo itself?
And yet... When Cyrus the Persian conquers Babylon in 539 BC... for some strange reason... 2 Chronicles 36:23:
23 This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: 'The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the Lord their God be with them.'
This can't be happening. How could this be true? They're going ... home??? After 70 years? To rebuild the temple? Under the instructions of a foreign king?
And it's not just the Jews who are rubbing their eyes as they read this edict. The peoples around are amazed. The LORD has done great things for them.
This is... well... they're in dreamland. They were just laughing... who'd have thought it possible? Our tongues called out shouts of joy. To have not only their land restored to them, but the temple.
And the Persians were going to give them the money and the materials to do it! And return the gold objects that the Babylonians plundered from there!
Then it was said among the nations,
"The Lord has done great things for them."
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
What a moment. Experientially.
Some of you may have experienced a time like this... An emotionally powerful moment of re-connection to God. Maybe when you became a Christian... Or when the reality of what Jesus did for you on the cross hit home for the first time as an adult.
Sweet days. Did you have those? Where everything was so clear. So uncomplicated. Drinking in the joy of the gospel.
As time went on, it ... got complicated.
They start re-construction work on the temple. And when they get the foundation laid, they call everyone together to have a massive feast to celebrate the laying of the foundation.
And there are cheers, and songs and laughter... but they're all from the young ones. There are some older people there. The ones who had lived in the land before the exile even happened.
And when they were younger, just children, they had walked in Solomon's Temple. They had a child's memory of that wonder of the ancient world.
They'd seen the gold. The lavish artwork. The incredible craftsmanship. The sheer size.
And they look at the foundation that's laid there. And it's just not the same kind of thing.
And so at the same time as the cheers are going up from the young ones... The sounds of the weeping of the old ones starts to compete with it. So that... no-one can really tell the sound of the cheering, from the sound of the weeping.
It's still an incredible thing. It's still an unbelievable thing that this is actually happening. Nothing's changed there.
But there are just realities to life back in the land. And that's what's starting to become real. That's their everyday. And that's really how things are in this period of Israel's history.
Life is not glamorous, when book 5 of the psalms is being written, collated and sung.
Despite the financial aid and hugely positive political ties with the Persian government, they're not very prosperous.
There's a bloke named Malachi, who's a prophet to Judah in this time. And according to him, everyone's taking 1 step forward, 2 steps back, financially speaking. Just can't get ahead. The crops just aren't producing. And when they are, it's the grasshoppers. And then the Greek empire conquers their world. And the Roman Empire after that.
And so it gets to the point where when you're chatting over lunch with your boss he's talking about how apart from:
the roads,
the sanitation,
medicine,
education,
wine,
and public health,
what have the Romans ever done for us? Things aren't bad. There's lots to be thankful for. But ... it feels dry.
You might have been feeling that a bit lately too. Faith isn't quite as exciting as it once was. Not because you're any less saved by Jesus than you were in those moments.
That still happened. You're still forgiven. And loved. And connected with God.
But it doesn't feel like that. Did you notice that in verse 4 of the Psalm?Where it starts to turn?
God, if you were to do that again... That thing that you did. When you restored our fortunes... Oh man. It would feel like streams of water in the Negev desert. Oh to be refreshed like that again!
And this is where the second half of the Psalm takes the Jews as they walk up to meet their God at the temple. The temple's become a little more impressive by the first Christmas...
But despite all its beauty, do you remember Simeon? Waiting at the temple until he met Jesus. And Anna? Both waiting... praying... hanging at the temple... begging for God to do it again... God... Could you do that? Please?
This is one of the songs Israel were singing, at the first Christmas.
On the way up to Jerusalem. To the temple on Mount Zion, the little hill above Jerusalem town... Over and over, as they travelled. The Psalm. What would that do to them, do you think? What is this song meant to do to you?
OK, to want more. They wanted to have fruit for their labours. Not to plant but never reap. To put in the hard yards only to have it all fall apart. And here is God saying, "Yes! Ask for that!"
Sure, don't forget that I've already brought you back out of slavery. Don't be ungrateful. Don't forget me saving you in the past, but also don't stop asking me to do it again. To bring about the next phase of my plan to save the world through you.
The first half - don't be ungrateful. Don't forget what has happened for you. Don't forget what I've done to redeem you back to myself.
But the second half says, that doesn't mean you have to accept how things are!
You don't need to stoically say, "Well, you've been given so much, how could I ask for more. Ask!" There's more to come! For us. See, For us, to look back is to see the cross.
We're on the other side of what this Psalm was waiting for. God did it again.
He stepped into history and did what people could only have dreamed of. He guaranteed relationship between God and man. He fixed the problem of humanity's rebellion against him forever. The promise that he would take his people's sins away from them, as afar as East is from the West? Done!
He did it! He defeated the devil. He secured eternal life for any who would trust him! Not just life in the land for Israelites, but eternal life in a new land has been secured!
Israel weren't even really expecting that at all. They just wanted their descendants to live blessed in the land in their inheritance. To live through them.
This is like a dream! They themselves will live again as well! And yet, the thing is... even after that. We're still waiting too. Where we're at; groaning, waiting, 2020. Rough 2020? Or, actually, realised that you're really blessed!
Not been so bad for you. It's still ok for you to ask for more. Because God's blessings are generous.
Either way... This is the rhythm of the Christian life. - This side of heaven.
Remember what has been done... don't forget its heady heights. The giddy joy of being right with God. Those days when you were so gung ho. When faith was simple and powerful.
Or maybe for you it was just moments when knowing that your relationship with God had been restored, and the emotion was overwhelming.
But don't live as though this is it. As though that's all you ever get. Pray for God to act again. Pray for him to wrap up history. Pray for him to make all things new.
Come, Lord Jesus. God will give good things. Materially.
Don't confuse the gospel with the fruits of the gospel. Sure. Not preaching health, wealth and happiness. We're preaching Christ. The good news is that the good one is king.
But the reality is that in the new age we will have our health. We will have our needs met. Do it again, please God?
But God is not like the master of the poorhouse where Oliver was raised. His regular allotment, what he's already received, sent him to dreamland. And don't you forget it!
Don't forget to praise God for what he's done for you in Christ. Don't look down on it, as if he's not really been there for you.
But despite the power, the generosity of what's already been done, God doesn't baulk when his people dare ask him for more. He writes Psalms that encourage them to.
When we see Jesus face to face it will be like finding a crystal clear stream of water in the desert.
Now, I don't know where you're at with God. But do you have the courage to ask for more? How optimistic is your prayer life?
Last time this Psalm was in high rotation among God's people, God sent Jesus to earth, at Christmas time, to forgive our sins. To change our fortunes.