Psalm 126 is full of joy. In fact, it uses the word four times in a mere six verses. But this is not an easily earned joy; it is the joy of people who have known tears but have been rescued from misery just when they were about to give up.
Interestingly, the Psalm is divided into two sections: the first begins with “When the Lord restored our fortunes” and the second half begins with “Restore our fortunes, Lord.” This is a common move in the Psalms: start by remembering what God has done in the past and turn it into a confident prayer for the future.
While most of the songs in my Pilgrim Psalms series are very vocal-centered, I decided to take a little break with this one and just let it groove. I still think it could be sung by a group of travelers as long as they had some guitars or ukuleles, but that theory has yet to be proven.
1. When the Lord brought home the exiles,
it all seemed like a dream.
We just could not stop laughing
and we sang through joyous tears.
The nations were astonished–
they could not believe their eyes.
The Lord restored our fortunes,
brought joy back to our lives.
Tears, tears, tears,
we went out with floods of tears.
Joy, joy, joy,
we returned with songs of joy.
2. O dear Lord, restore our blessing
like gushing streams in spring,
and turn our tears of sorrow
into tears of joy again.
We cried as we were leaving
and we wept in fields of toil;
but we’ll come back with singing;
we’ll harvest fields of joy.
Tears, tears, tears,
we went out with floods of tears.
Joy, joy, joy,
we returned with songs of joy.
