After the solemn warnings in Psalm 125, you couldn’t find a more hopeful song than Psalm 126.
Psalm 126 is divided in two by a short prayer in verse 4. Before this prayer, the first half (vv 1-3) looks back to a glorious deliverance and remembers the “great things” the Lord has done (vv 2-3). The second half (vv 4-6) looks forward to a bountiful harvest and shows the link between weeping and reaping. The “captivity” in verse 1 really means “restoration” and may speak of their surprise rescue from Sennacherib’s army. But it can be applied to every situation where we feel trapped. Suddenly the Lord swoops in and then everything changes. How wonderful when even our unbelieving neighbors join us in acknowledging that it was God who did it (v 2). Then we have the prayer: “Bring back our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the South” (v 4). The word translated “South” is Negev, from a root meaning “to be parched.” What is the link between the two subjects before and after the prayer? The Negev, south of Beersheba, is desert land. The long, hot summer leaves it dry. But when the rains come in the fall, the wadis, or dry riverbeds, are filled with sparkling water, turning the desert green. It was this region that Caleb gave to his daughter Achsah, where she asked him for water to make it fruitful (Jdg 1:15). So it is with us. Our lives are deserts without the Lord. But when we yield to the Spirit, like a living fountain He turns our wilderness into a garden. How vital to take advantage of the situation and sow the good seed of God’s Word to all around. Perhaps those neighbors who saw God work in our lives will soon see Him work in theirs! Adoniram Judson wrote, “We cannot hope to be mowers, and gather the ripe, golden ears, Unless we have first been sowers, and watered the furrows with tears.”