When people who have been in bondage to others are finally freed, there is an exhilaration that is hard to explain. It is like a person who could not see suddenly being able to see. Captivity and disappointment are often linked. Hope can sustain a person for quite some time as long as it is based on a promise given by someone who has the authority to set another at liberty and can be trusted to do what they say. However, captivity and disillusionment often go hand in hand when false hopes are dangled before a captive.
The psalmist could hardly believe what had happened when sudden freedom was granted. It seems like it was a dream that was too good to be true for the pilgrim. Many things must have gone through his mind when he was singing this psalm, along with others who had been set free and could now go to Jerusalem to the feast.
Such hopes we believers have may seem far-fetched to those who are jaded by the world system that promises much and delivers little. Without faith, people are inclined to become cynics after hearing the promises of politicians, world leaders, and even religious leaders. An optimistic, cheerful believer can see the “great things He hath done for them” and “the great things He hath done for us.” When things happen to us that we have only dreamed about, but they come true, we want to give testimony to the goodness of the Lord. “Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done; and great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son.”
Whatever the reason for this release from captivity, as the psalm sings, it brought joy to the Lord’s people and honor to the Lord Himself. It is a privilege, an honor, and a responsibility to testify to God’s saving grace and keeping power whenever we have the opportunity. Christian experience is one of the best ways to further interest in the kingdom of God on the part of skeptical people who live and will die without Christ unless they repent and believe in the Gospel.
The last three verses of this psalm begin with a short, to-the-point prayer and then a testimony to the fulfillment of restoration. We may not realize much of what is ahead of us in the near and distant future, but what we know and experience of God’s grace and mercy now is enough to raise a song in our hearts as it did in the hearts of those pilgrims in the ancient past. Their God is our God. “He is just the same today.”
A farmer works his ground well before planting seed, but he sows his seed in faith. He tends to his growing crop in faith that a harvest will come. He will be weary often, and sometimes he may even shed tears of anxiety when no rain comes or when a word of hailstorms comes to his ears. Then, the wonderful day comes when he brings in the harvest, and his joy abounds. God has produced what was needed; he had a share in bringing in that blessed bounty. For those who preach the Gospel, these verses often motivate them to press on in their work despite difficult circumstances.
“Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.” The first year back in the land of promise after being held captive would have been hard until the first harvest. What a great festival of joy comes after the labor of years, and the weeping of sowing fallow land that has been broken up, finally is a reality.
PSALM 126. SOWING AND REAPING v.1-3. The Hope of Restoration. “We were like them that dream…” v.4-5. The Fulfillment of Restoration. “Turn again our captivity…”