Joy and disappointment seem to be polar opposites. Joy is exuberance, happiness bubbling over, the excitement we feel particularly when something delightful has happened to us (think of the joy at weddings or a baby’s birth or after a celebration victory, for example.) Psalm 126:1-3, another in the Psalms of Ascent we are studying, captures that sense of joy when God’s deliverance is all so real (‘our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.’ Ps 126:2) It probably refers to the Israelites’ return to their native land after years in exile in Babylon, and there is a sense of giddy celebration which is wonderful to behold. Joy is infectious. Even onlookers notice it!
Disappointment, on the other hand, is the dejection we feel when things aren’t going our way, that aching, searing sense of loss, that heaviness which leaves us feeling demotivated and unable to move. Dashed hopes, the pain of things not turning out the way we had expected and a sense of bewilderment, are common causes of disappointment.
It seems, however, that both joy and disappointment are part of life. Ps 126 starts with heady joy as God’s deliverance is remembered with wonder and awe, but it seems there is now aridity and frustration which cause the psalmist to ask God to restore Israel’s fortunes yet again. (Ps 126:4, see also the books of Ezra and Nehemiah for how the return to Israel was not always plain sailing.) Timothy Keller reminds us that ‘communities of faith often have ‘Negev’ times of great spiritual dryness’ as well as times of overflowing joy. He goes on to say, ‘Sometimes a flood of God’s Spirit comes down powerfully and suddenly, like the streams from distant mountain rainstorms, and the community is restored dramatically. But there is also a slower path to renewal. Those who ‘sow with tears’ are those who have painstakingly prayed and wept over their own sins and also over people without faith. As in actual farming, sowing does not show immediate fruit. But faithful prayer and service will eventually bear fruit. The desert will become a garden. (Is 35:1-2)’ (‘The Songs of Jesus’, P 332)
If you’re in a time of disappointment right now, when the deliverance and miracles of God are simply memories, this psalm reminds us that we need to sow with tears. Paul takes the harvest analogy and reminds the Galatians, ‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’ (Gal 6:10) The call to persevere runs throughout Scripture (see Heb 6:12, Heb 6:15, Heb 10:36); salvation has a past, present and future element, and as Alec Motyer says, ‘while we await final salvation, we are still in the uncongenial far country – but are called to sow and reap.’ (‘Psalms Day By Day’, P 376) Joy may not always seem to be bubbling over, but it will have the last word. (Rom 15:13)
