Waiting on God for Breakthrough

Waiting on God for Breakthrough

Psalm 126 - 127:2

Intro.

Advent means “Coming”. 

Intrinsic to Advent is the reality that we’re waiting on a “coming” that is not here yet. 

We are living in between the redemptive first coming of Christ and the second advent of Christ, when he comes to restore creation and make all things new. We’re living in the already of what Christ as done and in the not yet of our salvation not being fully complete.  

Rom. 8:22-23
22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 

So often the weight of this longing is what we feel. We can get confused or distracted in what we’re waiting for. We’re often tempted to bypass the waiting, the pain, the brokenness, the longing. 

Today I want to look together at Waiting on God When You’re Longing for Breakthrough. 

Turn with me to Psalm 126. 

Song of Ascents. 15 psalms written for the pilgrimage up to Jersusalem, both for the feasts and, possibly, for the exiles returning from exile. They are songs for the journey in our walk with God as we press on toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

Context: The Context is Needing and waiting for restoration, for breakthrough. For when life feels like a desert. Or as David says in Psalm 63, like a dry and weary land where there’s no water. 

Psalm 126 - 127:2

1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, 
we were like those who dream. 
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, 
and our tongue with shouts of joy; 
then they said among the nations, 
“The Lord has done great things for them.” 
3 The Lord has done great things for us; 
we are glad. 
4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord, 
like streams in the Negeb! 
5 Those who sow in tears 
shall reap with shouts of joy! 
6 He who goes out weeping, 
bearing the seed for sowing, 
shall come home with shouts of joy, 
bringing his sheaves with him. 

We are going to look at this morning what we can glean from this psalm and the beginning of the next, singing and praying it while we Wait on the Lord. 

1. Remember His Past Faithfulness

The author of this psalm is unknown. But it’s written evidently after some great deliverance of God. Possibly after God brought them back from their captivity in Babylon, depending on when it was written. 

But if you look at verse 4, it’s clear that the rejoicing of the psalmist is not because of his present circumstances. 

He’s looking back on the faithfulness of God to Israel in the past. He had restored their fortunes before, he sings in verse 1. 

Oh when God did, how joyous they were! It seemed like a dream - like it was too good to be true!  

His deliverance, his freedom, his blessing brought them such laughter and joy. 

People would look at us and speak of all that God had done for us. 

Don’t miss verse 3. 

They used to say all these things. And here I’m recounting all of God’s past deliverance, in the midst of needing deliverance. In the midst of not seeing deliverance. Not necessarily seeing present signs of his faithfulness. 

Penning and singing this song are choices. A choice to look up from their present circumstance to God. To choose to remember God’s goodness as a source of present joy and hope: the LORD has done great things for us, and we are presently GLAD. 

I will choose to rejoice in a dry and weary place, because God has shown Himself faithful. 

Beloved, look at the example of Psalm 136, and THANK HIM. 

Phil. 4:6 - Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. 

No matter what you’re waiting on God for, you’re waiting on THIS SIDE of the Cross of Christ. You’re waiting with Immanuel, God with Us. You’re waiting from His rest, forgiven, adopted, free! 

Recount His faithfulness to you, thanking him for what you have seen, even while looking to Him for what you can’t. 

2. Reject Self-Sufficiency and Look to Jesus

Psalm 127:1-2 
Unless the Lord builds the house, 
those who build it labor in vain. 
Unless the Lord watches over the city, 
the watchman stays awake in vain. 
2 It is in vain that you rise up early 
and go late to rest, 
eating the bread of anxious toil; 
for he gives to his beloved sleep. 

Solomon in this song is not writing against diligent work - we know that we’re to work as unto the Lord, laboring diligently by the strength that God supplies.  

But we tend towards a work that the psalmist here calls ANXIOUS TOIL. 

It’s a kind of working that’s seeking to fix things on your own. To bypass waiting on God or trusting in God. 

Anxious toil with the hands is fruit of unbelief in the heart. 

You cannot control your life. You cannot fix your circumstances or change the people around you. You cannot solve your finances by self-reliance. 

Self-reliance is vain and futile. God will work His sovereign will. It’s the Spirit that gives life - the flesh is no help at all! 

This text could mean that He gives to His beloved even in the midst of sleep. The point is the same. Our God is gracious and generous. He builds the lives of His people as He builds His church. 

He’s promised to provide for you all that you need. And so he commands us not to be anxious about our lives. He calls us to trust him. 

So often we’re like the disciples, focusing on the fact that we have no bread, while we’re in the presence of Him who is the Bread of Life. And Jesus asks them, “Do you not yet understand? Are your hearts hardened?” (Mark 8:17). HE was the Bread they needed. The provision they needed. And not just in the ultimate spiritual sense, but every time they had need, he had provided for them along with the multitudes.  

He is able to provide what you’re longing for, in a moment. If you have no bread, listen to Him. 

Psalm 125:1
1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, 
which cannot be moved, but abides forever. 

3. Wait. Pray. And WEEP. 

Psalm 126:4-6
4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord, 
like streams in the Negeb! 
5 Those who sow in tears 
shall reap with shouts of joy! 
6 He who goes out weeping, 
bearing the seed for sowing, 
shall come home with shouts of joy, 
bringing his sheaves with him.

“Turn again our captivity, God.”

Do it again, God. We’ve seen your faithfulness. God we’ve experienced your deliverance, your breakthrough. 

This is a desperate prayer, beloved. 

This is not some trite song for happy and victorious people. This song is a weapon. An anthem for the desperate. 

What the Psalmist is looking for was a MIRACLE. The supernatural breakthrough of God. 

Is that you this morning? Praying for direction. A spouse. For breakthrough in your marriage. With your kids. For a job. A healing. Your next season. For provision. For conversions. Maybe you’re spiritually dry this morning. 

The Negev means ‘DRY’. It was a desert area south of Jerusalem. 

Often, though not predictably, it was arid and dry in the dry summer season, and the land could be transformed in a moment when spring rains in the mountains flooded into its thirsty riverbeds. 

These rains could lead to flash floods in the desert. One moment, it was an arid wasteland. And in a moment, a torrent of water would sweep through, sometimes for a few hours, and at other times for days. 

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This was a breakthrough from Heaven. And it’s what the Psalmist was crying out for. 

It’s a breakthrough we cannot produce on our own. In this psalm, God’s teaching us how to lean our grief and our burden and our longing into our praying. 

Desperate friends, don’t run from your desperation, from your grief - all that you try to stuff. All that you try to fix by your strength and anxious toil. Open your heart to God and pour out your hearts before Him, He is a refuge for us. 

Who is it that reaps with shouts of joy? Those who sow in TEARS. 

Tears are as part of the labor as the sowing of the seed, and they precede great harvests and joyful victories.  

It’s the fervent prayers of the righteous that are effective in their working.  

On one occasion, two Salvation Army officers set out to start a new work, only to meet with failure and opposition. Frustrated and tired they appealed to William Booth to close the mission. “General” Booth sent back a telegram with two words on it, “TRY TEARS.” They followed his advice and they witnessed a mighty revival.

Maybe you’ve tried everything but be WEAK before God, and crying out to Him as a son or as a daughter. Not working anxiously, not scheming. Just weeping, praying, and obeying His last instructions to you while you wait. 

4. Keep Obeying, Through Tears, With Eyes Fixed on Jesus

The psalmist is praying for breakthrough, and he keeps being faithful to obey God in the part God called him to.  

He’s not praying for breakthrough, for a harvest, while neglecting the role that God had for him. 

This is an active waiting on God. If we don’t sow, there will be no harvest. But without heaven’s blessing, even if we sow our part, unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain.  

Some plant. Some water. God alone causes the growth. And yet, he invites us to plant and water. 

Keep sowing obedience. Keep praying. Keep seeking after Him in His Word. 

If you’re waiting on God and need counsel, come talk to one of the pastors, and we’d love to counsel you in what obedience could look like for you while you’re waiting on God for deliverance and breakthrough. 

5. Believe Him for the Harvest

We must trust Him, that those who go forth in tears WILL reap with shouts of joy! We will. 

But the sheaves may look different than what you were expecting. And the timing will be different than what you were expecting. 

We must trust Him more than what our eyes can see. 

“...And then, just when everything is bearing down

on us to such an extent that we can scarcely

withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell

us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we

take to be evil and dark is really good and light

because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault,

that is all. God is in the manger, wealth in poverty,

light in darkness, succor in abandonment. No evil

can befall us; whatever men may do to us, they

cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed

as love and rules the world and our lives.”

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Our God is good and righteous in all that He does as He rules the world and our lives. He has purpose for you in the midst of your waiting. 

Knowing Him is better than all your waiting for, and you can press on to know Him more now, even as you wait. 

Our part is to do the next obedient thing, and to believe Him that shouts of JOY are coming. 

Restoration in your specific case may not look like how you hoped,“after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (1 Peter 5:10).

He is coming to Restore all that’s been broken, and Jesus will make all things new. Shouts of joy, in His presence, are coming. Coming soon. 

One day soon, we will rejoice, bringing our sheaves - the fruit of our labor and our longings - with us. 

If we long for that day, our task today is to keep sowing with weeping.  

Psalm 130:1-2–7
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! 
2 O Lord, hear my voice! 
Let your ears be attentive 
to the voice of my pleas for mercy! …
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, 
and in his word I hope; 
6 my soul waits for the Lord 
more than watchmen for the morning, 
more than watchmen for the morning. 
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord! 
For with the Lord there is steadfast love, 
and with him is plentiful redemption.