There are many experiences in life that prompt mixed emotions. Walking a daughter down the aisle can bring a father sadness and joy, nostalgia and pride. Dropping a child off at school for the first time—whether kindergarten or university—is a feelings’ factory for parents. Attending a Christian funeral both breaks the heart with grief and fills the heart with hope. These types of circumstances are beyond simple sentiment and spark a variety of simultaneous emotions to be recognized, understood, and managed.

So it is as our church family begins to again re-gather after a time of forced separation. There is, all at once, relief, gratitude, joy, and cautious optimism. But there is also a gnawing cynicism, a deep fatigue, and a resigned helplessness. In other words, it’s a time of mixed emotions. What do we do with all of that? Are those appropriate reactions? How can we move forward in a way most pleasing to the Lord?

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There are many experiences in life that prompt mixed emotions. Walking a daughter down the aisle can bring a father sadness and joy, nostalgia and pride. Dropping a child off at school for the first time is a feelings’ factory for parents—whether it’s kindergarten or university. Attending a Christian funeral both breaks the heart with grief and fills the heart with hope. These types of circumstances are beyond simple sentiment. They spark a variety of simultaneous emotions to be recognized, understood, and dealt with.

I find this morning such an occasion. Perhaps you do as well. There’s relief, gratitude, joy, cautious optimism, and excitement. But, if I’m honest, there’s also gnawing cynicism, deep fatigue, and resigned helplessness, like a boxer who’s taken the worst of nine rounds getting up off his stool for a tenth. Today there’s mixed emotions. What do we do with all that? Why bother getting up off the stool? 

This morning, Psalm 126 is going to help us navigate this complex moment in the life of our church family. In it we’re going to find an example of God’s people coming back together after a long time apart and crying out to the Lord in joy and in sorrow, in hope and in regret, in in excitement and in fatigue. They too were experiencing a time of mixed emotions and we’re going to learn from them.

Behind Us: The Joy of Preservation

The Psalm begins by looking back in time to the kindness of God in the deliverance of his people. 

When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion,
We were like those who dream.

Psalm 126:1

We’re not told explicitly what the circumstances were the captive ones of Zion were being restored from nor what they’re being restored to. It’s likely this is a post-exilic psalm, written to commemorate Israel’s release from Babylonian exile and return to their own land after seventy years away.

Whatever the case, the psalm celebrates that the Lord did this. God brought them back. God restored their well-being. God returned them to their fortunes. God released them from captivity.

And they can hardly believe their eyes: We were like those who dream. So quick did it happen, so dramatic the change, so invigorating the freedom, that it was hard to believe it was real. “Pinch me,” they said to one another. “I want to make sure I’m not imagining this.”

Naturally, this was cause for celebration:

Then our mouth was filled with laughter
And our tongue with joyful shouting;

Psalm 126:2a

Note the passivity of the verbs—laughter and joyful singing were put in their mouths and on their tongues. They had to laugh and shout, songs had to be sung, and dances had to be danced.

The joy couldn’t be contained even within the borders of Israel.

Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”

Psalm 126:2b

Even the peoples around them couldn’t deny, first, the greatness of what Israel was experiencing and, second, that God had done it for them. They looked at these returning people dancing in the streets and had to admit, “The Lord has done great things for them.” And Israel had to agree with that assessment.

The Lord has done great things for us;
We are glad.

Psalm 126:3

That God had preserved, delivered, and began to re-gather his people in their land prompted celebration. While they had been forced apart and separated from their place of corporate worship, Israel had now, by God’s hand, started to re-gather. And it was joyful.

And certainly we can relate to that. Like Israel in Psalm 126, we should, by looking behind us, experience the joy of preservation. We were scattered and now we’re beginning to re-gather, by God’s hand and kindness. We look back over the past year-and-a-half and we can see God’s fingerprints as he protected us, provided for us, and now seems to be delivering us. Joy!

There are many churches today that have already or are on the brink of closing their doors because of lack of unity, lack of interest, or lack of money. God has preserved Oakridge in all those ways. Joy!

This year people have come to Christ, others have expressed a desire to be baptized, others are finding conviction of and victory over sin. God has been faithful in preserving us and we can see that when we look behind us. And that should bring us laughter and joyful shouting, thankful celebration for all that God has done. If we can’t look back and say “The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad,” then that says more about our blindness than God’s kindness. He’s been so good to us we must be dreaming!

Around Us: The Ache of Incompletion

But alas, it’s not only the joy of preservation we’re experiencing as we look behind us, there’s also the ache of incompletion we feel as we look around us. Long before us, Israel felt this as well.

Restore our captivity, O Lord,

Psalm 126:4a

The idea of this Hebrew phrase is a call for God to “do it again.” “Just like you brought some of us back from exile, bring the rest.” The NIV renders this line “Restore our fortunes, Lord.” The paralleled line adds clarity and colour.

As the streams in the South.

Psalm 126:4b

To the South of Jerusalem is the Negev, a vast desert with mere trickles of water to be found. But in particularly rainy seasons, water would collect and the trickling streams would suddenly become gushing rivers, running with, at times, destructive force.

The psalmist is asking God to open the floodgates of blessing. May the caravans of Jews that has trickled home from Babylon become like the torrential flood waters in the Negev in the rainy season. 

While there was the joy of preservation as God’s people looked behind them, there was also the ache of incompletion as they looked around them. As thrilled as they were that God had begun to bring them back together, they still longed to complete the family.

And, seriously, look around today. Does the sight of all these empty chairs, the members of our family they represent, does this not cause us to ache for the completion of our restoration. “Lord, open the floodgates and restore our fortunes! Flood this place with the blessings this trickle represents.”

When I was young I remember going with my parents to Costco and scavenging the free samples they offered at the ends of aisles. Sometimes it was some kind of dessert and, while I enjoyed it, I also resented the fact that I probably wasn’t getting more than that taste. My parents weren’t going to buy the product itself. The sample made me want it though. Today kind of feels like we’re getting a sample. And it’s delicious. But I want the whole box.

Before Us: The Toil of Reconstruction 

As we look behind us we also look around us. As we experience the joy of preservation we also endure the ache of incompletion. It’s mixed emotions. But we’re not done yet. We also look before us and anticipate the toil of reconstruction. We see what lays ahead and know there’s a lot of rebuilding work to be done.

Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.
He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed,
Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

Psalm 126:5–6

One reason many believe this is a post-exilic psalm is the references here to hard the farming is going to be. Having been away from the Promised Land for decades meant the soil went uncared for, untilled, un-worked. To get it back up and running was going to be sweat-of-the-brow, bring-workers-to-tears-of-frustration type of labour.

But don’t miss the encouragement: There will be success eventually, fruit that comes with perseverance, reward for the work. They will reap with joyful shouting and shall indeed come again with a shout of joy bringing sheaves.

Going forward, the Lord will be faithful to his people just as he has been in the past. But that doesn’t ease the work ahead, the labour necessary to rebuild life as they knew it before they were scattered. The farmland, yes, but also to rebuild houses and the temple. They also had to rebuild their religious lives, their worship practices, their social structures. They had to unlearn habits they’d picked up in Babylon and relearn what it means to be the people of God. They had lots of work to do. But it would pay off.

Oakridge, we’ve got some work to do and it could be tough, tear-inducing labour. We’ve got some rebuilding ahead of us. The rebuilding of relationships that have been put on hold or strained, the reestablishment of habits and disciplines that have been lost or abandoned, the reorientation to pursuing Christ in community and what that means, looks like, and demands. We’ve got adults that need care, attention, prayer, discipleship. We’ve got young adults and teens who need clarity, direction, and correction. We’ve got children who need education, love, support.

We’ve got a lot of work to do as a church family. And while it can be a little overwhelming, it’s also an exciting opportunity to rethink what we do, how we do it, and why we do it. We have an opportunity to prayerfully realign ourselves with what God has called us to do as a church and rebuild a version of Oakridge that is more faithful to that call than it was two years ago. And, that’s something God will bless.

To encourage the health of a forest or increase the productivity of a piece of farmland, sometimes they are intentionally set on fire. These are called controlled burns and professionals use them to get rid of disease and pests, rot that’s accumulated over time, as well as stimulate germination and the renewal of the ecology.

Could it be that the Lord has used a controlled burn in his church today? Burned off what wasn’t necessary and gave us a chance to be even more productive than before the fire? I think so. But it’s going to require some work.

Like Israel in Psalm 126, we at Oakridge are starting to regather after a time of forced separation and, like Israel, it’s a time of mixed emotions. We look behind us with joy because God preserved us. We look around and experience the ache of incompletion. And we look before us and see the toil of reconstruction. But we experience all of these realities under the umbrella of God’s unwavering faithfulness. And we labour with hope.

Rejoice With Longing, Labour With Hope!

I want to invite and encourage you all here today, and all of you joining us online, to embrace the complexity of this time; to rejoice with longing, labour with hope!

We do want to rejoice right now. We have much to be thankful for. But we do so with a sense of longing, not only for our church to be fully restored—for the streams to become gushing rivers—but also for our promised, future restoration. We rejoice now because of all the good God has done, because he’s shown himself faithful yet again, but we also long for perfect restoration. We long for the kingdom to come.

We also want to get to work. We want to labour and rebuild. We want to see this place thrive, to see people saved, baptized, maturity, evangelizing, serving. We want to see this place vibrant with the work of ministry by the power of God the Spirit, in the name of God the Son, and for the glory of God the Father. And we labour as such with hope, knowing that God blesses faithful work.

We want to embrace the complexity of this season of our church’s life—rejoice with longing, labour with hope.

I want to invite and encourage us all today to commit ourselves to praying for Oakridge Bible Chapel at least once a week going forward. Find a way to remind yourself to do this. Perhaps a bookmark in your Bible, a note on your refrigerator, a sticker on your dashboard. Whatever it takes. But let’s commit to praying for this place as we rejoice with longing and labour with hope.

And there are three things I want to encourage you to pray: Thanks. Please. Help. First, thank God for preserving us. Thank him for being faithful and restoring us. Second, ask him to fully restore us. Please, God, open the floodgates of blessing. Third, help. God, help us labour with hope. Guide us in the direction you would have us go. Give us endurance to work through the tears.

Thanks, please, help. Once a week for this church family.

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