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"The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad."

~ Psalm 126:3

 

The 7th of the 15 Songs of Ascent.  This psalm may have been written after the Jews returned from exile in Babylon under the leadership of Ezra, Nehemiah and Zerubbabel (see Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah).  But it is also possible to have been written after any of the many (time and again) deliverances of Jerusalem and the people of God.  Times of supernatural intervention such that the surrounding nations could not dispute nor refrain from declaring Who had done what. 

This psalm gives praise for the greatness of what God did in “restoring the fortunes of Zion” (v.1), acknowledging that even the nations took notice and rightly gave credit to God (v.2).  This then spurs the psalmist (one of the people of God, not a ‘man of the nations’) to also rightly declare to himself and his brothers/sisters that indeed the LORD had done great things for them (v.3).  In this is great gladness (v.3) and joy (v.5-6). 

Because he knew that God’s covenant faithfulness and sovereign grace is the basis for confident expectation of the same in the future, this psalmist requests God’s ongoing favor and notes the blessings that are to be experienced by those who follow him (v.4-6).

O Church, the LORD has done great things for us!  And we are glad!!