The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. – Psalm 126:3

Sometimes I get caught up in how bad things are.  Things right now in this world are bad.  If I dwelt on those things, I would stay a miserable soul.  I have done a lot of wrong in this life, and I have had a lot of wrong done to me.  It is so easy to beat myself up for the wrong I’ve done, and it is just as easy to want to hurt those who have hurt me.  My mind seems to have the default setting of dwelling on negative things.  I am thankful for Bible verses like this that snap me out of it.  

In context, this verse is contained within a restoration.  At first read, I thought it meant the restoration of the Israelites to their homeland and of course they were simply glad to be back worshipping in the temple of God.  However, I read a commentary that took it to mean that they were “restored” back into captivity like they were in Egypt before God brought them out.  They were glad because He was correcting them and still working in their lives.  Either way, whether they were home restored with things going their way, or if they were in captivity being corrected . . . they were glad.  

Right now, I am glad.  The definition of glad is “pleased” or “delighted.”  I am pleased that all the wrong I have done has served to make sure I never want to repeat those wrongs.  I am delighted that God has taken what my enemies have meant for evil and turned it for good.  It does not matter if I am in a valley or on a mountaintop, both places are merely circumstances in my life.  What does matter is that in both places, God has done great things for me and will continue to do great things for me. 

Sometimes I really miss being in the pulpit of a church preaching.  Church has without a doubt produced the peaks of my mountaintops and the lowest of my valleys.  I have been elated and ever so joyful in church, and I have been beaten down and crushed.  The Lord has done great things for me in and through both situations, and by His grace, I sit here glad this morning.  

This past Sunday there were 20 of us in the wilderness.  There was a couple from Woodruff, a couple from Greer, a family from Charleston, a family from Moncks Corner, and some locals as well.  As we worshipped singing “Holiness, Holiness, is what I long for,” I scanned the people and thought, “This group of people will never be together meeting like this again this side of heaven.”    God worked it out so that little group of people would be singing to Him and diving into His word together at that precise moment in time.  I don’t think I have ever been so amazed by something so simple.

The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. – Psalm 126:3