When God Acts Suddenly!

You’re listening to a podcast by Lance Lambert Ministries. For more information on this ministry, please visit www.lancelambert.org or follow us on social media to receive all of our updates. In this episode, Lance reads from Psalm 126 and places a strong emphasis on the phrase “we were like unto them that dream”. He explains how the work of the Lord may seem to take a lifetime, but when the right time comes, the Lord moves suddenly. He also explains that in order to be like those who dream and see the fulfilment of the work of the Lord, we need to have our lives laid down to serve Him and to be prepared to water seeds with tears. Let’s listen to “When God Acts Suddenly! Psalm 126. When the Lord brought back those that returned to Zion, we were like unto them that dreamed. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. Then said they among the nations, The Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity O Lord as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with joy, bringing his sheaves with him. Shall we pray? Dear Lord, we do bow once more in thy presence because we cannot turn to thy word without recognising, dear Father, that without the gracious ministry of thy Holy Spirit, we are bereft of understanding. But Lord, we praise thee that thou hast promised that the Spirit of truth himself shall glorify thee and shall take of the things of the Lord Jesus and shall declare them to us. O Lord, thou knowest the weakness of speaker and hearer alike. Have mercy upon us through our Lord Jesus and make thy word live to us this morning so that we may be fed and strengthened, comforted, corrected. We may be those to whom the word of the Lord come and does something. For we ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. We haven't such a lot of time this morning, but there is one thought that is in my heart which is centred in this 126th Psalm. And it is a funny phrase. It may seem to some folks here that it's a rather strange phrase to have got arrested with in this wonderful little Psalm. And it is this verse, this part of the verse 1, We were like unto them that dream. We were like unto them that dream. I think that one of the most wonderful things in the whole world is to be so involved with the purpose of God and with the work of God when it is impossible, when naturally it cannot come to pass and finally see the fulfilment. I cannot think of anything more wonderful than to have been involved with the Lord in what He is seeking to do, whether it be on the personal family level, whether it be on the local level, whether it be on the national level, or whether it be on the international level. There could be nothing more wonderful than to be involved by the Lord in that which He is seeking to do in days when it is impossible and finally to see the Lord do it. Then we were like them that dream. We speak of those who are dreamers, meaning of course those who are of no earthly use. And we all know that there are plenty of them in the work of God. Those who for all the time are forever dreaming. This is not a text for such. This is not something for those who spend their days dreaming. This is for those who are involved in a realistic way in the purpose of God and it's outworking which could cost them everything. When they dream is when it comes to the fulfilment. Then they have to pinch themselves to see whether they're awake. Now I don't know how many of you have ever had such an experience as that. I must say that the principle of all God's work is that it is impossible by natural standards. That is the principle upon which God works. If you want to put it in another way it is the principle of resurrection. Men cannot raise the dead. They manage to massage a person's heart and keep them alive. When the brain sort of has ticked off for a moment they manage by shock to bring it back. But they can't raise the dead. There is no case humanly on the human level of a man who's been dead for four days being raised. Only God can raise the dead. It is the prerogative of God to raise the dead. And the principle of resurrection is simply this. That our conversion, our new birth, our union with Christ, our reigning with Him in the heavenlies is all based on being made alive together with Christ. The passage we read this morning in Ephesians 2. That is the principle of resurrection. All God's work is on that basis. In other words, inherent within the very work of God is the impossibility of it being fulfilled by natural means. Now it does not matter where we turn in the Bible, we find this is true. When God wanted to take a people out of Egypt it became more and more and more impossible. In the end it happened in a night. God worked it. When they came to the Red Sea it was impossible by normal standards. But in a moment God caused that great wind to blow, the east wind, and the sea was parted and they went over as on dry ground. It was impossible for those people to live in the wilderness. There wasn't the water or the food for such a great multitude, but there was manna that came down from heaven and water out of the rock and a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day that led them. It was all impossible by natural standards. When they went over to possess the land fortified as the land was to the hilt with great strong people, it was impossible by natural standards. And the Lord saw to it that the Jordan was in harvest flood, just to make sure that it was impossible. But they went across as on dry ground. The walls of Jericho to come down since they had no dynamite in those days was an impossibility. But the walls of Jericho came down. And so we can go on and on and on. It was impossible for Abraham to have a son and for Sarah to conceive and bear a son. But when they were 100 years of age, they had a son. So we can go on and on. I think it was impossible for Jacob the twister to become Israel, the prince with God. But it happened. Everywhere we look, we find this principle in the work of God. That by natural, normal standards, it is impossible. For God delights to do what is impossible with man. And has chosen to put all his work into that realm where man's energies and man's resources cannot actually create it and cannot develop it and cannot finish it. I suppose the writer of this psalm, probably in the days of Ezra the scribe, had this very much in the fore of his mind and heart. When the Lord brought back those that returned to Zion, we were like unto them that dream. If you were to put yourself in the shoes of those who were in Babylon, I think you would have felt that the one thing that was impossible was to ever get back to the land God had given your fathers. For one thing, Babylon seemed to be such an immense metropolis with its hanging gardens, its zoological gardens, its botanical gardens, its magnificent boulevards, its great centres of commerce, its banking houses, its schools and colleges, its whole great administration. It seemed to be as eternal as the hills themselves. And after all, a generation is a generation. It's all very well to take this historical view of things, which is of course very helpful. But after all, most of us only live for 70 years and some of us for less, a few of us more. But the fact of the matter is that we have this short span. And if I was in Babylon, for me, it would have been a lifetime in Babylon. How was it possible, do you think, that God could work such a miracle, that the people should be allowed to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild it, considering that Jerusalem was no more, that the walls were thrown down, that the house of God was destroyed, and that all the habitations, the homes, had been pulled down. But you know it happened in a night. And one of the great facts of history is that that seemingly, apparently, eternal, universal empire of the Babylonians disappeared in one single night of time. And the Persians took over. And the Persians had a diametrically different policy to the Babylonians. And in one night, the whole policy of Babylon was reversed and home rule became the order of the day. You will remember the story, those of you who know your Bibles, you will remember how at Belshazzar's feast he called in Daniel because of the writing on the wall that put the fear of God into the whole lot of them. They saw a finger writing upon the wall. No one understood it, so they called in Daniel. And Daniel said, You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. This night the kingdom shall be taken from you. We will not go into the way that the Persians got into Babylon. It was a remarkable way. Of course, you can read that in a history book. But the fact of the matter is no one thought that Babylon could fall in a night. No one thought that that great administration, that Babylonian administration, could all collapse in a night. Perhaps least of all those dear people of God, whom Ezekiel had gathered into synagogues, worshiping the Lord and praising the Lord and studying the Word of God, I wonder how many of them thought it could happen in a night. It could happen in a night. If I know my own heart, I'm sure that they were like most of us. They thought it's impossible. It's impossible. Maybe in some far off century it will happen. But it happened. And the writer of this psalm said, When the Lord brought back those that returned to Zion, we were like unto them that dream. It happened in a night. God overturned the Babylonian empire and brought in the Persian empire with Cyrus, according to his own word through Isaiah the prophet. And we were like those that dream. We couldn't believe it. We pinched ourselves. Are we really here? Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. Then said they among the nations, The Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south. I suppose to most people here in the west, they might wonder quite what this means, turn again our captivity as the streams in the south. But for those who know Israel, you will know if you have hawk-like eyes, that again and again and again in the south, in Sinai, in the Negev, you will see in the most arid scenery, beautiful because of the different colour rocks and sands, but with hardly any vegetation, you will suddenly see every now and again, beware of floods. And I can well understand people thinking that the Israeli authorities with the typical Jewish sense of humour have stuck these things up all over the desert to give everyone a laugh. It is even more remarkable when you see beside the road, you hardly know it, you've gone down a little, a sort of indentation, and then you move right over for a while, you're in a riverbed. You don't realise it. You come up the other side. But you do see a measuring rod on the side to measure the height of the water. Those floods can come in half an hour. A 30-foot wall of water or more can come down those dried up riverbeds that look as if they've never seen water, not in 50 years. When we were there in September, there was a day of thunderstorms, and there was such a flash flood in the Dead Sea, which swept six people to their death, five were rescued. They had been warned, but they looked at the sky and it was pale blue and the sun was shining. They could not see from down in the wadi, Jerusalem with the dark black clouds above it. And they walked in the wadi, the dried up riverbed, against the warning that had been given to them by the kibbutz from which they started out, and they drowned. But you understand what the Lord is saying. Now what does it all mean? It means this, that God's purpose can be fulfilled in a moment of time. He may take a lifetime of preparation, but in a moment, He fulfils what He has said. God never fails. What God has said He will do, He always does. And when God makes over to you some promise and confirms it, and it's not just self-centered, and it's not for your glory, but when He has made over a promise to you, and you are prepared to be involved in the sacrifice and the suffering for its fulfilment, that fulfilment can come about in a moment of time, like a flash flood, suddenly, one moment, dry as dry can be, as it has been for years, and the next moment, streams in the south. The heart of this psalm, if you want to be a people who one day are like those that dream, your mouth filled with laughter, your tongue with singing, the heart of this psalm is in the last two verses, They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing seed for sowing shall doubtless come again with joy, bringing his sheaves with him. The fact of the matter is this, that we have to water the seeds we plant with our own tears. In the East, sometimes seed, in times of famine or drought, is so precious that to obtain seed for sowing, the family has to tighten its belt. Literally, bread has to be taken out of someone's mouth to keep back seed for sowing. That is the secret of this psalm. You can never come to a place where we are brought back to Zion to be like those that dream unless we are prepared for the costly business of sowing seed instead of eating it. Of course we have to eat to live or we'll never sow the seed. But there are those of us who will satiate ourselves with spiritual food. It's all the sort of motto of an affluent society, gimme, gimme, gimme. That's all. You will never come to the place where you are like those that dream because you see the fulfilment of God's purpose, because you've been involved in it in such a way. This isn't just someone who's a spectator. This is someone who's gone forth with seed for sowing and it says, He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing seed for sowing shall doubtless come again with joy bringing his sheaves with him. The Hebrew is very literal. It's going, he goeth and weepeth. Going, he goes and weeps. I think most of us want a Christian life which is a joy ride. And God is so, may he forgive me for using such a word of him, sweet, that if you want a joy ride, the Lord says you can have a joy ride if that's what you want. Your tears will come at the end when God will wipe away tears from eyes. But if you are prepared to be involved in the purpose of God, you will shed many a tear now. But you will also come a many a time to be like those that dream. In some small way, some of us I suppose here, you remember when God first promised us different things, we certainly couldn't believe it. It seemed so hard and then it came to pass. And I remember again and again those of us who were involved, we were like those that dream. Isn't it so? When I heard that Basil Stagg had come back to the Lord, I was like someone who was dreaming. I thought the next day, did I dream that or did Margaret write to me? But she had, I saw the letter. And I felt, isn't it wonderful to be like those that dream? When you've been given a promise about someone or about a work or about things and then finally you see it fulfilled. May God help every one of us to pay the price. There has to be seed for sowing. That's the first thing. That's costly. Secondly, we have to go and going, we have to go and as we go, there will be weeping. But he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing seed for sowing shall doubtless come again with joy, with his sheaves, with him. May the Lord help every one of us this morning to be in that company of saints who overcome by the grace of God and who knowing something of this principle of resurrection know what it is to be involved in the purpose of God and in the fellowship of his sufferings and thus in the end come to be involved in its fulfilment. Shall we pray? May what you’ve sown in tears be reaped in joy. May you know the deep deep love of Jesus.