THE JOY OF RESTORATION!

READ PSALM 126 

SIN IS SERIOUS AND WE MUST TREAT IT THAT WAY

Psalm 126

When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,

we were like those who dream.

Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

and our tongue with shouts of joy;

then they said among the nations,

“The LORD has done great things for them.”

The LORD has done great things for us;

we are glad.

Restore our fortunes, O LORD,

like streams in the Negeb!

Those who sow in tears

shall reap with shouts of joy!

He who goes out weeping,

bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy,

bringing his sheaves with him.

In this Psalm of Ascent, the author is reminding the children of Israel of the LORD’s great goodness in providing for their returns from captivity – this one, likely from their hard lives in Babylon.

When they were released from captivity, they were joyous about the freedom they were receiving, but they returned to a destroyed city and a destroyed temple.

But at this point, we see the joy of their return and their request for a return to prosperity in their homeland. The Negeb was an area that, during the summer, became very hot and dry, but when the rain returned, the streams would quickly fill with water and cultivation could begin again.

The returning captives are extolling their God as the One who does great things, and go on to express their dependence on the work of the Lord. For these released people, it was almost like a dream! They had waited for this moment for a long time, and now was the time for rejoicing.

It is interesting that the emphasis in the last couple of verses is given to tears and their times of weeping. Those were their times of repentance. Every captivity that descended upon the children of Israel was the result of their sin. As the Israelites sinned against God and forgot to honor and worship Him, God brought foreign people who executed His judgment on a rebellious nation.

God’s loving intention by these repeated judgments was to bring His people to true repentance and a return to faithful submission and worship. God was always faithful in His cycles of rebuke and restoration after their repentance.

Looking at the history of the children of Israel, I am reminded of the seriousness of sin, the faithful work of God to make us aware of our sin, the need for true repentance, and the joy of a restored relationship with God.

1 John 1:5-10

         This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

John reminds us of this cycle, even in our own lives.

The first aspect that we need to remember is that God is holy. He has always been holy and will never change. Those who worship Him cannot walk in sin. We are easily tempted to think that God is willing to cohabit with our sin. We excuse our sin as something that is natural, in fact, almost acceptable.

We have a pattern of getting angry and we excuse it with the fact that we are made that way, in fact, if we are Italian, we excuse it with our heritage. If we are not forgiving or are bitter towards someone, we justify it with the hurt that we have received. We could go on with every sin we have learned to excuse and accept as “normal” in our lives.

John reminds us that there is no “acceptable” sin. Every sin breaks our fellowship with the God we say we love! Not only does our sin break our fellowship with God, but also with fellow believers. Every time we are tempted to remove ourselves from fellowship with true and faithful believers, it should be a warning sign to us about our lack of spiritual health.

But these hope-infused verses teach us that there is no need to remain in broken communion with God and with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Confession and true repentance restore us immediately with our Heavenly Father and with our fellow believers. What an amazing gift we receive through confession. The death of Jesus Christ provided the only way for us to begin a relationship with God, and it also provides for us the only means for ongoing fellowship with the Father.

The wonderful truth of this passage is that we have restoration available because we need it continually. Sin is a reality in our lives, and therefore regular confession and asking forgiveness from God should be a life-long spiritual exercise.

The Apostle Paul warned us that sin should not abound in our lives, so that grace would abound. In other words, true confession requires true sorrow for having offended God and a genuine decision to align our wills with God’s laws.

The Israelites, as they returned to Jerusalem and sang this psalm, were continuously reminded of the seriousness and the consequences of sin. They were encouraged by the awareness that true repentance was followed by restoration. They were also reminded of the cyclical reality of this pattern in their history and in their lives.

I would have no hope, and certainly would not be able to meditate upon this psalm, if God had not been faithful in exposing my own unfaithfulness and forgiving me for my sins. I have seen the difference between sorrowing for the consequences of my sins and true repentance for having offended the holiness of God. I see my tendency to justify my sin that is unjustifiable before God. And I know the joy that comes in being restored.

As I meditate on these verses, they are both a warning and a cause of great joy. May you experience the peace of God’s grace and forgiveness, as your recognize your own sin and confess it. May you be warned, if you are distancing yourself from God and from other believers by attempting to justify your sin.

Confessed sin always produces peace!