“When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” – Psalms 126:1-3
These verses speak to me about being exuberantly happy. The kind of happiness that comes from realizing that your life of lacking is thoroughly gone, replaced with a new life of abundance. Our daily lives have their ups and downs, but the phrases “our mouths were full of laughter” and “we are filled with joy.” don’t seem realistic. We resonate too much with the second part of this psalm, “Restore our fortunes, Lord” or being in the position of want.
It seems to me that we received the fortune of heaven itself when we accepted the gift of salvation. Our inheritance is endlessly huge, having been named as co-heirs with Christ. We are heirs of Heaven and Earth! Imagine what that looks like … we’ve been given a gorgeous tapestry of promises for this life, which will meet every need we could ever have many times over. Recall with me how faithfully God keeps every promise he’s made. Most wonderfully, we get to do this life hand in hand with the author of reality, himself. I think we have been given a better fortune, one that literally cannot be taken from us.
Maybe instead of restoring our fortunes, the cry of our hearts should be, “restore the joy of our salvation.” Let’s get back to our first love and the fervor of untainted hope. So that we can’t help but dream of our awesome future just like the Israelites in this psalm. Unlike them, we never pray for the restoration of our fortunes.
Jonathan Duncan