Day 33 – Friday
Read Psalm 126
Eugene Peterson translates verse 2 like this, “we laughed, we sang, we could not believe our good fortune.” Peterson goes on to say that this is “the authentic Christian note, a sign of those who are on the way of salvation. Joy is characteristic of the Christian pilgrimage. It is the second in Paul’s list of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). It is the first of Jesus’ signs in the Gospel of John (turning water into wine)…We come to God (and to the revelation of God’s ways) because none of us have it within ourselves, except momentarily, to be joyous. Joy is a product of abundance; it is the overflow of vitality.”
Psalm 126 describes the joy found in God’s restoration. “When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like men who dreamed” (vs. 1). The Apostle Peter picks up on a similar image in the first recorded Christian sermon in Acts 2. Peter quotes from the book of Joel who wrote, “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all people, and you sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” There is something about the ability to dream – to see a better future, a better world, a better life – that is connected to our salvation.
I don’t think that the Psalmist is simply talking about optimism. It is not just whether you see the glass half full or half empty. It is whether you know the abundance of God. Peterson talks about joy as a “product of abundance.” It is not something we can create; it is something that is produced. But, he says there is something we can do. “We can decide to live in response to the abundance of God and not under the dictatorship of our own poor needs. We can decide to live in the environment of a living God and not our own dying selves. We can center ourselves in the God who generously gives and not in our own egos which greedily grab.” Psalm 126 is an invitation to remember the abundance of God – and to dream dreams again.
Prayer
If you are struggling to see the “abundance of God” ask Him to show you. If you are experiencing God’s abundance, ask Him to show you how to share it.