"Restore our fortunes, LORD, as streams renew the desert." Psalm 126:4
Now if you have a King James, man what a different translation. It says "bring back our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the South." NKJV
Translators struggle with this as well. When we read the KJV it leads us to believe that the Psalmist says take me back to our captivity. Well, nothing could be farther from the truth. We must simply look a little deeper into the Hebrew word translated "captivity." This word is also translated fortunes, prosperity, resources, and some believe it can refer to the remaining captives. Interesting???
Well when the words give us a bit of a struggle we look deeper into the context. Remember the children of Israel were celebrating their return from Babylon. 70 years of praying and crying out to God has now resulted in HIS fulfilling HIS promise to them. The result was one of phenomenal celebration. But remember, that context as we look at verse 4.
They were headed home. Imagine coming back to your city after 70 years. The battle that destroyed the city had been decades earlier. Nothing but looting and decay had taken place since their departure. Once beautiful buildings, homes, streets, gardens, vineyards, and of course, the Temple, all in complete disarray. Hard to even grasp the magnitude of their first sight of home, Jerusalem.
I believe that verse 4 gives us a look into their heart. Their cry was one of desperation. One of complete and utter despair at what they now knew as home. As they walked once beautiful streets, they walked through a jungle like maze of destruction and desolation. They then remembered that they had seen desolation around them all the time.
It is the desert that resides to their South. They also remembered that yearly their gracious God would provide rain. Not just showers but rain and lots of it. So much so that those regions that often were parched and dry as well as barren would often become streams of running water that would flood into the lowest lying areas. Then a miracle would take place....those desert regions would then turn a beautiful green. Gardens would spring from desolation. Green would carpet their lands but only after those streams flowed from above.
Thus the motive of their prayers. God, the One who just delivered us from our captives, we now beg you to restore, to bring back our former glory. We ask that You restore our prosperity, our resources, just like You restore the desert places.
There are several beautiful principles here....1) Do you have a former glory? What I mean is, was there a time when you were more in love with your Lord? When you served Him more fervently, more sacrificially, more obediently? If so, is this your prayer for yourself? Bring back our fortunes, our blessing, our former glory Lord! It should be. Too many christians today are far too far away from the One who loves them so. Come home dear christian. Ask Him to restore unto you the Joy of your salvation, to bring back the fortunes of His grace.
2) Are you accessing the resources of heaven in your prayer life? Now what I mean by this is what are you asking God to do in your world. Tiny, trivial stuff that in reality you can handle yourself or something so big only He can pull it off. We need more of this kind of praying going on. God restore from Your resources of heaven. Show Yourself strong, move mightily among us Oh Father! This often happens only when we are in places of extreme difficulty.
So if your circumstances have you hopeless, overwhelmed and confused. Good, this is a great time to pray. Call upon the God of heaven. The God of the Universe, the God who loves His children so....Just don't quit! Don't give up. They prayed for 7 decades to see their deliverance and now they know that NOTHING is impossible for their Father!!! Remember, NEVER GIVE UP!!! Pray!
Who knows.....Their may be rain in your forecast for today!
You'll be glad you did!
Blessings
Bruce
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