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GETTING YOUR FLOW WITH PSALM 126 by Joseph Jagde
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GETTING YOUR FLOW WITH PSALM 126 |
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Christianity,Spiritual
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Psalm 126 reads as follows: When the Lord rescued the fortunes of Zion, we were like those that dream, 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" The Lord has done great things for us, And we rejoiced, Restore our fortunes, O Lord, Like the watercourses in the Negeb, May those who sow in tears, Reap with shouts of joy, Those who go weeping, Bearing the seed for sowing, Shall come home with shouts of joy, Carrying their sheaves. Restoration is a matter of seeking in prayer and this psalm contains that specific request, for the restoration of fortunes. Here the Lord has done great things isolated to where it could be seen that they were done for specific people. Granted it could have been all the earth and this is very possible, but in this case, it was great things that came upon specific individuals to where it could be seen by those outside of a circle individuals who nevertheless were observers who were able to see what had happened. We don’t know what is going on with people for sure, but it can be seen that some people seem to at least on the surface and at least for now really do have good fortune that can be seen and observed by others. These great things, or good fortunes were both visible to those who received them and also to those who were onlookers. To both the ones under the blessings and the onlookers, the actions of the Lord were visible. Neither group was in the dark as to what happened both as those within the underlay of what had happened and the outside observers looking on could also keenly surmise what had happened. The fortunes of these individuals came under the purview of the Lord. In those times ,when this psalm was written, things like harvests were very dependent on what happened in nature and that was considered well beyond the control of the farmers expertise. All he could do would be to sow, and whatever happened from there, depended on fortune. The farmer did have his part, he did sow, but the reaping if it was to happen, was not under his control enough to where he could say yes, this is what can and will happen. Today, with scientific advancements, there is a lot more that can interject into a crop and what happens to a seeded field than what would be involved back then. But even with current advancements, there are still lots of deference to fortune even into today's advanced environment as weather patterns are still beyond the control of the modern farmer. Symbolically then, you could personally advance your education, your position in your field, your expertise and way of doing things, and still you would be at a point of depending on fortune and whether the hand of the Lord is having favor upon you and new science has not been able to factor out fortune or the lack thereof. Those mentioned here in this psalm, were able to discern great things and discern that these great things were of the Lord’s doing. Today, with lot’s of overlays, possibly obscuring just what is great things from the Lord and what is just part of a seeming common advancement in science and the accumlated common knowledge makes this discernment process perhaps more difficult but the information explosion can indeed camouflage that a situation may and does break down as to the whether the Lord will restore fortunes. Here in this psalm, those who were weeping, went out with basically nothing, except for having a plan to sow something new. They did go out there, despite their troubles and their distresses. They did not have what they needed or wanted when they went out on a seeming search. They had their dreams, but little more than a sowers chance against large and looming uncertainties. The first verse of this psalm is important. It says, “ When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream." Basically, what this verse is saying, as the Lord’s restoration took place, their personal dreams came true. This verse is important as often in literature and the arts there is the idea of the dream come true, and it says it right here in the very first verse of this psalm. It had been seen that some people did live their dream but it might have be so far reaching to them and their personal circumstances that it was not practical to dream or it was best to let their dreams submerge and be hidden from view. This verse shows that deep down people do have dreams, even if they don’t admit of them, even to themselves. Their dreams could be buried under the surface of resentments on and over what has gone wrong and what has seemingly been lost. Verse 2 says, “Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy." These dreams, which have now resurfaced as a reality, did in fact have a lot to do with happiness, joyfulness and outright laughter or being on the light side of things as when the dreams did come true, the result was a state of joy and happiness. People do become so guarded, that they might lose sight of what they really do dream of and for. In any event, these verses show that the Lord is cognizant of our dreams and restoration itself is on the side of dreams coming true on an individual basis. As the shadows of troubles have come by, one thing to ask the Lord for in prayer is to help you to revisit what your dreams really are and how to fill into their invitation. The ultimate turnaround was accomplished by the Lord and this turnaround involved fulfillment and realization of dreams. Verse 4 is very interesting as it says, " Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the watercourses in the Negeb." Here the Negeb, which was considered the south from Judah, was an area that had great abundance of land and crops, a period of difficulties and was promised restoration in the prophetic book of Jeremiah. These waterways must have dried up to an extent and then were restored by the Lord. Whatever the Lord did for the waterways of Negeb, was the example in this psalm of great things the Lord has done, that were widely seen and observed by the outer world. It is interesting that this example of a “great thing" done by the Lord and involving restoration deals with flow and restoration of flow of the waterways. Symbolically, a lot of what we might ask for in prayer could constitute flow. I could for example ask for wealth, or rephrase and ask for a steady flow of wealth or a great and consistently great flow of wealth. I could ask for healing or rephrase and ask for healing to flow. Anything I could possibly ask for could be put into the context of having it restored into a flow. Here in Negeb, which according to historians at one point contained 29 cities, the Lord restored the watercourses. It wasn’t just one stream or river, but a series of streams that were involved. Within restoration, we are relying on the Lord to overlook any number of channels or rivulets and flows that are needed. Indeed, we might lack visibility as to what these channels and flows even are as we can't necessarily see all that might be involved in an issue. Even for example, if you were to swim in the ocean, there might be several undercurrents right below the surface all of which can not necessarily be seen. It is true that we have low visibility when it comes to a lot of things and to obtain views we need to be graced towards these views and part of the grace of an answered prayer might be a view we could obtain. But indeed any number of things may need to be flowing properly for us. The Lord’s restorative actions were parceled to Negeb. The restoration was specific in nature, kind and locale. The Lord's answer for wanted restoration was focused and contained flow in this psalm. The individuals at the end of this psalm went out weeping. They were on the other side of their dreams, and the possibilities of their dreams ever coming true was way in the distance and truly out of reach. Not only did their dreams come true, they were able to come home with their dream, meaning they could settle into their dream and live it out on the home front. They stepped into their dream and actually lived it. It wasn’t just illusory or fleeting, as the dream took hold and the reality of it could be called home. The Lord came to an in between place for them and took them to the other side of their dreams and we can see how great Biblical figures were often in that place where things were in between. They were in between in that they had their hopes and dreams and that place was only seeable and visible in their imaginings. The Lord came into that in between place and got them through to the wanted place with his restorative powers to the fruition of their dreams. The Lord came into whatever was between them and their dreams and got them past the obstacles that might have otherwise been insurmountable to the place of their dreams.
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