Psalm 126 - Chambers, Oswald

1. The emotion of deliveranc

when the lord turned again the captivity of zion, we were like them that dream. (psalm 126:1)

religion is never intellectual, it is always passionate and emotional; but the curious thing is that it is religion that leads to emotion, not emotion to religion. If religion does not make for passion and emotion, it is not the true kind. When you realise that you are saved, that god has forgiven your sins, given you the holy spirit, i defy you not to be carried away with emotion. Religion which makes for logic and reason is not religion, but to try to make religion out of emotion is to take a false step. Our lord bases everything on life as it is, and life is implicit. For instance, you cannot explicitly state what love is, but love is the implicit thing that makes life worth living. You can- not explicitly state what sin is, but sin is the implicit thing that curses life. You cannot explicitly state what death is, all the scientific jargon in the world can- not define death; death is the implicit thing which destroys life as we know it. A child is a good illus- tration of the implicit, you cannot imagine a child without emotion, always logical, reasonable and well- balanced, he would not be a child but a prig. Emotion is not simply an overplus of feeling, it is life lived at white-heat, a state of wonder. To lose wonder is to lose the true element of religion. Has the sense of wonder been dying down in your religious life? If so, you need to get back to the source. If you have lost the fervour of delight in god, tell him so. The old divines used to ask god for the grace of trembling, i. E. , the sense of wonder. When wonder goes out of natural love, something or someone is to be severely blamed; wonder ought never to go. With a child the element of wonder is always there, a freshness and spontaneity, and the same is true of those who follow Jesus christs teaching and become as little children. People have the idea that christianity and stoicism are alike; the writings of the stoics sound so like the teaching of Jesus christ, but just at the point where they seem most alike, they are most divergent. A stoic overcomes the world by making himself indifferent, by passionlessness; the saint overcomes the world by passionateness, by the passion of his love for Jesus christ.

2. The excitement of delight

then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, the lord hath done great things for them. (psalm 126:2)

They were carried completely off their feet with amazement and delight over what god had done (cf. Genesis 17:17; Isaiah 60:5). A man will say, i do not doubt that god can forgive sin, that he can give the holy spirit and make men holy, but it cannot possibly mean me! When i come before god i remember all my blunders and sins. When he realises that it does mean him, then comes this moral hysteria it is too good to be true! With god a thing is never too good to be true; it is too good not to be true. Ruskin says that early in life he could never see a hedgerow without emotion, then later on when problems of heart and life were busy with him he saw nothing in nature; but as soon as the inner turmoil was settled, not only did he get the old joy back, but a redoubled joy. If we have no delight in god it is because we are too far away from the childlike relationship to him. If there is an internal struggle on, get it put right and you will experience delight in him.

3. The ecstasy of his doings

the lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, o lord , as the streams in the south. (psalm 126:34)

Whenever god brings his deliverances they are so supernatural that we are staggered with amazement. It is one of the most helpful spiritual exercises to reckon what god has done for us already. When god wanted to make his ancient people realise what manner of god he was, he said, remember the crossing of the red sea, and in the new testament paul says, remember, it is the god who raised Jesus from the dead. . . . These two things are the unit of measurement of gods power. If i want to know what god can do, he is the god who made a way through the sea; if it is a question of power for my life, the measurement of that is the resurrection of jesus. Turn again our captivity, o lord. . . . I call upon my soul to remember what god has done and it makes me bold to entreat him to do it again. It is a crime to give way to self-pity, to be weak in gods strength when all this god is ours. We have to build ourselves up on our most holy faith. Robert louis stevenson asked god to forgive him if he had shown no morning face; and dante places in the lowest circles of hell those who have been gloomy in the summer air.

4. The enlightenment of drudgery

they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubt- less come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. (psalm 126:56)

We make the blunder of wanting to sow and plough and reap all at the same time. We forget what our lord said, that one soweth, and another reapeth. They that sow in tears . . . It looks as if the seed were drowned. You can see the seed when it is in the basket, but when it falls into the ground, it disappears (see john 12:24). The same thing is true with regard to Sunday school work or meetings, it looks as if everything were flung away, you cannot see anything happening; but the seed is there. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. The seed is the word of god, and no word of god is ever fruitless. If i know that the sowing is going to bring forth fruit, i am blessed in the drudgery. Drudgery is never blessed, but drudgery can be enlightened. The psalmist says, thou hast enlarged me . . . In dis- tress; the enlargement comes through knowing that god is looking after everything. Before, when i came to a difficult bit of the way i was staggered, but now through the affliction and suffering i can put my foot down more firmly (see Romans 8:3539).