Restore our fortunes, LORD, like streams in the Negev. – Psalm 126:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 23, 2016): Psalm 126

Life follows distinct cycles. The author of Ecclesiastes reminds us of these cycles, there is the time to plant and the time to harvest. A time to build and a time to tear down. A time to speak and a time to be silent (Ecclesiastes 3). For everything, there is a time. It is natural for our lives to go through cycles. We have long recognized that even our bodies have cycles. There are times when we naturally have more energy than at other times.

And there are times when we will be spiritually dry. It doesn’t necessarily mean that there is something that we are doing wrong. Maybe we need more sleep or maybe we need to extend our time with God and in his word. Sometimes the stress of life is just too much and God seems so far away. But, sometimes, it is just the cycle of life that we are currently experiencing. Our energy level is down and we feel so dry. We have all had times when God seemed far away. And the answer for those times is often to just keep struggling, keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep believing in God, and that the cycle, will change. It always does.

This Psalm was most likely written during the Babylon Captivity. At its most basic level, it is a Psalm asking for the cycle of life to change. The Psalm could be asking for the restoration of Israel, or it might be just asking for a good harvest to follow the spring planting. But either way, the cycle and the result are clearly in the hands of God. The psalmist draws our attention to the streams and waterways in the Negev Desert. During the dry season, every single one of them disappears. But when the rain finally comes, the streams and the desert itself springs back to life.

For the psalmist, things had been dry. But he had confidence that the cycle could change and that God could bring exactly what the people needed at this particular time. That he would bring the rain, maybe both the physical and the spiritual showers, and renew his people once more.

This verse is one of the passages on which the Daniel W. Whittle classic “Showers of Blessing” is based. Both this verse and the hymn are prayers for God to restore us once more – to end the dryness that seems to threaten our very lives and bring us back to life.

There shall be showers of blessing;
  O that today they might fall,
Now as to God we’re confessing,
  Now as on Jesus we call!

Showers of blessing,
  Showers of blessing we need;
Mercy-drops round us are falling,
    But for the showers we plead.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 129 & 130