Comprehension and Interpretation--When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion" is sometimes translated as "when the Lord restored the captives to Zion". It's saying the same thing, it's just giving a fuller translation. Either way...the Lord has restored and it was like a dream come true to the Israelites. They were full of joy and celebration. All other nations looked at their wonderful story of deliverance, and saw that it was God who had accomplished it all. Israel sang along in agreement! God restored them, but they are asking for continual renovation, that they would never forget what He has done for them. They never want to lose the joy that deliverance brought to the children of God. They are reminding themselves that sad times will no doubt come again, but joy always comes when you trust in God. Sorrows will grow a harvest of joy if you bring along seeds to plant on the way.
*Christ Connection*--Jesus is using a gardening illustration, similar to the second part of our Psalm. The Pilgrims compared their interaction with God as an "annual" plant, sowing and reaping and bundling the harvest. Only to be repeated again the next season. In John 15, Jesus describes a "perennial" plant, a vine that lasts and produces fruit. It doesn't have to be replanted every year, just maintained to make it the most successful. I wonder if Jesus heard the pilgrims, singing in the distance, about the harvest and the joy that each season brings. I wonder if He was using the Pilgrim's Song to introduce the disciples to the New Way. There was much joy in the Old Testament and their yearly sacrifices in the presence of God. But there was sorrow in the fact it had to be "replanted" so often to pay for their sin. Jesus offers a vine, an everlasting plant that bears fruit. Jesus planted it, once for all, and asks us to stay with Him and grow and bear fruit. Just as the pilgrims planted in tears but harvested joy, Jesus is offering to plant joy in our hearts, HIS joy, and that joy doesn't expire.
Application--I learned this as a song when I was a teenager (from the KJV). So of course it's stuck in my mind now. 😆 I love verses 2 and 3 "They have said among the nations, 'The Lord has done great things for them.'" And they respond with "'The Lord HAS done great things for us; we are glad.'" (Emphasis mine) The psalmist leads the congregation to pray for restoration daily. Daily we find ourselves in some kind of captivity. To our thoughts, to the opinions of others, to the daily grind and the "bigger noise". We can't avoid times of weeping, it's part of life. But we've been entrusted with a whole bag of seeds to sow! So we need to be intentional, even during times of sadness, to do the things God has for us to do. Then with great joy, we will be able to see the harvest, much fruit from a branch attached to the healthy vine, the greatness of God at work in the lives of His children. When you see the harvest, you'll understand the reason for the tears if you keep your focus on Christ Jesus.
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