Struggling With Sadness

Sermon Transcript

The book of Psalms is a great book. It’s a long book, and Psalm 119 is like a book. I like the Psalms because the theology is great, and I like their beauty and variety and the honesty of the Psalms. Here is a guy, David, who shares his feelings. Us guys don’t usually traffic in that very much. When was the last time you walked up to one of your buddies and said, “Hey, man, how do you feel?”

Feelings and emotions—the expressions of this man, David, “a man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). He was a guy who talked about how he felt, and he was honest about his feelings. “Lord, where are You?! My enemies are encamped against me. They’re tearing me apart. It seems like you don’t care!” And once he started down that road and shared how he felt, he would say, “But Lord, I know You’re there and You’ll bring me through.” I like the fact that he has that kind of transparency and honesty in the book of Psalms.

The psalms deal with happy emotions, like joy and gratitude, but they also deal with fear, envy, and stress. Today, we’re going to look at a psalm that deals with the emotion we’ve all had: sadness. Some of you may be in the midst of it now. Just looking out at what is going on around us, maybe what’s going on in your family—we’ve just come and worshipped the Lord today, but your heart is still broken, you’re still struggling with sadness.

So let’s read this psalm and go back and unpack it. Psalm 126 says, “When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad. Bring back our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the South. Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”

This is a psalm that was written in a time of spiritual difficulty and dryness and in emotional sadness. As you see in the text, it talks about sowing with tears and going out weeping.

We don’t know who wrote this psalm, but many believe it was David. But whoever wrote it we know was inspired; it’s God’s Word given by the Holy Spirit. And we know that whoever God used to write it, things weren’t going well; his life was a mess.

That’s why this is such an important psalm. It’s a psalm for those who struggle, for whom life is not presently going well. Your life is messy; you hate your job, you’re just tolerating your spouse, maybe you’re up to your neck in credit-card debt, you’re going through a divorce or you’re tired. It’s easy to get tired; just turn on the news.

So I understand. If you look at the news and see what’s going on, you feel sad. It’s sad to see this country, this nation, this world going down and heading in the wrong direction. It’s heartbreaking. How can you watch the news and not be affected by it? Some people crashed many police cars, broke store windows—all this craziness going on in our country, even locally. And then you go out into the world, and where’s the solace there?! Are you going to find comfort and peace there? No.

It’s just a sad time. So a lot of people are struggling with sadness. That’s why God laid this on my heart. If you’re going through one of those times and feel sad, that’s what this psalm is all about. It’s about helping you navigate through that time.

The psalmist here learns that when he struggles with sadness, what is helpful is, number one, be mindful; number two, be prayerful; number three, be faithful; and number four, be hopeful.

The first step in dealing with sadness, if you’re struggling, is that you need to be mindful. Listen to how the psalmist starts. He says, “When the Lord brought back the captivity…” or “restored the fortunes” “…of Zion….” When you hear the word “Zion” in the Bible, just think of Israel.

So the psalmist is looking back to a time when Israel was in trouble. We’re not told exactly what the trouble was. It may have been a famine or a plague. Israel may have been attacked by an enemy nation. And some believe that it refers to their captivity in Babylon, and when they came out of that captivity, the psalm refers to that time.

But whatever the situation was that the psalm refers to, God restored their fortune. He turned their bad situation around. And the effect it had on the people was powerful. Verses 1-2 say, “When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’”

This was reflecting on a time when God was doing a thing in the nation, in God’s people. Though they faced difficulty initially, things turned around. And if this psalm refers to the captivity in Babylon, when they were in Babylon for quite a while, they had previously worshipped false gods and were disobedient to God, so that is the reason for their captivity. Israel frequently worshipped false gods—we frequently do the same.

When things are going well, we kind of forget God and begin to worship other things. Then God, in His love and grace, brings punishment to us. “Whom the Lord loves He chastens” (Hebrews 12:6). So God chastened Israel by their captivity in Babylon. And they came to the place where they were crying out to God. Then God released them from their captivity.

So their release from captivity is described in our text in verses 1-3. When God rescued them, they were deliriously happy, laughing and singing. It seemed almost too good to be true, like they were dreaming and didn’t want it to end. Have you ever had a great dream, but then it’s over? Have you ever had something so good happen to you that you almost couldn’t believe it was happening?

As a church, we recently had that happen. A little over a week ago, we sent missionaries into the Congo in Africa with Bibles. It’s a pretty rough trip. We’ve done it for many years and established churches there. A few days ago, our Africa team got in a boat and were headed across a big lake. There were no hotels or resorts on the shore of this lake; it was very primitive. There were some problems with the boat, but they finally got it fixed. But they were delayed in their crossing by three hours, and it was getting into the evening. When they got out in the middle of the lake it was already dark, and the boat sunk.

So here the missionaries were with life jackets on, floating in the water in the dark. They were in the water for 15 hours. We got word about what happened before the boat sank, and we were asked to pray. You talk about a heartache and a heartbreak! “Lord, what is going on here? These are great people who love you! They’re making a sacrifice for You.” So the church started praying like crazy. We didn’t sleep that night. I didn’t sleep at all that night. Their family members are part of our church, and they’re praying and wondering when we would hear something. It’s an isolated area, so there’s no information coming out.

But one of the guys had an Apple watch, and he was able to send a ping. As a result of that, when we called the embassy to let them know this had happened, they sent out the African Navy. I don’t know what it consists of, and they also sent out the Chimpanzee-protection people. I don’t know why they would have a boat on a lake. And the African police were sent out looking for these people in the dead of night. They got a ping that was somewhere in a three-and-a-half-mile area. The lake also had a current, so they would be drifting.

It was a long, long night. And finally, in the morning, we got word that they found part of the team. The rest of the team was still missing. It’s the kind of thing that you pray, “Please, Lord! Just touch these people and get them in the right place! Help them to find every one of them!”

It gives me more empathy for someone whose child is kidnapped, or they run away and haven’t been heard from. It just gives you a compassion for someone who is not hearing from their loved one who is in trouble.

That was a long period of time, 17 hours, that we didn’t hear from them. Then suddenly we got word that they found all of them. They were at the American Embassy, and they finally landed on American soil at LAX the day before yesterday. They’re all safe. Praise God! And when they landed at LAX, it was like they were in a dream. “Wow! We’re here! We made it! Thank You, Lord!”

It was that kind of thing. God has done that in my life. He’s done things like that in your life.

The first thing the psalm writer here does in that time of sadness is look back to a time in the past when things were good and it was a time of joy. So it’s good to remember God’s past faithfulness to us whenever we’re struggling with sadness. It’s especially important in those times when we’re struggling.

And every time the Jewish family, the nation of Israel, observed the Passover feast, they were remembering God’s faithfulness in delivering them out of Egypt. They remembered what God had done for them in the past.

During the time of Samuel the priest, there was a key, military victory that Israel had won. God had given it to them. Samuel recognized this as he took up a stone and set it up as a memorial. He called it the Ebenezer Stone. In the Hebrew, “Ebenezer” means “stone of help.” Samuel set that up so that in the future, God’s people would look at that stone and say, “God came through for His people. He showed up and helped us.”

Our missionaries who were out on that water, from this day forward will remember that time when God miraculously and powerfully moved on their behalf. That should be sufficient to get them through any kind of difficulty they may face for the rest of their lives.

It’s good to remember God’s faithfulness in the past. Maybe you’ve been through some kind of physical or spiritual difficulty, or perhaps you’re in one now. Maybe they’re family difficulties or church difficulties. I’ve seen God answer prayer, and it’s awesome to reflect on what God has done here at Revival Christian Fellowship in this church body and what He’s done in your life.

Maybe you’re thinking, Pastor, that’s great, but I don’t want to live in the past. I don’t want to long for the glory days or get lost in nostalgia. But that’s not what this psalm is about. It’s commemorating and celebrating God’s faithfulness. It reminds me of His character. That doesn’t guarantee that He will act the same way in the future. Rather it reminds us of what God is able to do.

If you’re in a time of sadness today, struggling presently, take some time to remember. It’s what the writer of this psalm did: remembering the times of blessing, the times of joy, a time when God came through for you, was faithful to you and when He miraculously moved. And perhaps it would help you to write down in a journal your prayer requests. Then when God answers that prayer, record that as well. Then as Ebenezer was to the Jews, it is your own, personal “stone of help.”

Remember that the same God who showed up in the past is still with you today in the present. Don’t forget that in your sadness. So be mindful.

Number two, be prayerful. In the first three verses of our text, the psalmist is talking about God to his fellow worshippers. He’s essentially saying, “Here are all the great things the Lord has done for us.” Then in verse 4, all of a sudden, things shift. For the first time in the psalm, he stops talking about God to the people, and he starts talking to God. And it’s personal; he prays. He says, “Bring back our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the South.” The New Living Translation says, “Restore our fortunes, Lord, as streams renew the desert.” What’s he saying? He doesn’t deny that his life is presently a mess from his perspective. Maybe your finances have taken a downward turn, and things are worse than they have been in a long time.

I’m assuming David wrote this psalm, so I’m going to refer to him as the psalmist. And we see that this is an unapologetic prayer for God’s help. He isn’t thinking by what he writes that he doesn’t want to offend God in any way. No; he’s just saying that he wants God and remembers when He moved. That time was like streams in the Negev or “streams in the South” or in the desert. That’s what he’s painting a picture of here. For me, living as I do in the high desert, I am very familiar with this language as he refers to “streams in the South.”

The Negev is in the southern part of Israel. It’s an extremely dry desert. So most of the time the rivers there are like California rivers; they’re named rivers, but rarely do you see any real volume of water in those rivers. Every once in a while, however, the rains come.

Twice I’ve been in the desert along Bear Valley Road. If you get off there and head east, the road goes down to the Mojave River crossing. In the 40 years I’ve lived in that area, I’ve seen little trickles of water in the river. But there was one year that the rains came down and the floods came up. That river then flowed bank to bank. I had never seen anything even remotely like that. It flooded a few houses and was almost to the bottom of the bridge. It was such an event that Channel 7 News was even out there! It was a flash flood alright!

So what happened as a result of that was radical. It was amazing the transformation that took place! When spring came that year, I had never seen so many flowers in bloom! There were carpets of flowers! You’ve seen it; when Lake Elsinore has a super bloom. What I saw was a super bloom across a normally brown desert. It was green with beautiful flowers I didn’t know existed in the desert.

That’s what David is referring to in this psalm. He’s praying, “Lord, my life right now is like a dry desert. But You have the power to show up, and like this dry desert, make it into something beautiful.” A contemporary term we use is “a super bloom.” He’s able to make a super bloom from this dryness.

That is a bold prayer. It’s dramatic and radical. You should pray, “Lord, you’re able to do a miracle here. Pour out refreshment on this dry, brown desert. Make it green. You are able to do that!” That’s the kind of prayer we need to pray when we’re going through struggles. Rather than, “Lord, if you could just get the rent that’s due. If you can just get me the rent, get me a raise.” No. What are you asking God for when you’re praying? “Well, if He can just me through; I’m not asking for a miracle here.”

Why not? What’s wrong with us?! The Bible says, “You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2). When was the last time you asked God for a miracle? In our psalm, David is saying, “Lord, show up like a downpour, and transform this sad situation into something that is unrecognizably beautiful!”

I pray that for our country. I pray for a revival in our country; that God would bring us back and do a work in another Jesus Movement. I’m praying for that on a regular basis. I hope you’re paying too. It would be a miracle! Yeah! And guess what God loves to do? He loves to do miracles! So pray! And be prayerful when you’re struggling with sadness.

Number three, be faithful. Sometimes when we pray, even with that kind of boldness and we ask for the miraculous, for reasons only God knows, things don’t change right away. So when things are still a mess, listen to what He says to do as you are praying and waiting: “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing….” verses 5-6.

So the psalmist is again giving us a metaphor from the world of farming. Sowing seeds means, of course, that you’re planting seeds in the ground. But why does he talk about sowing seeds with tears? Why are these farmers weeping as they’re sowing their seeds? The answer, again, is because their lives are a mess.

That’s what this psalm is about; it’s about the times in life when things are going horribly wrong. They make us deeply sad and bring us to tears.

So imagine this scenario. You’re a farmer and it’s springtime, so it’s time to plant seed. That’s what farmers do in the spring. But something tragic has happened in your life. Perhaps your wife just left you. Perhaps you’ve lost a loved one. Perhaps you just lost your job. So you’re devastated and you wake up crying every day. What do you do? In the tears, through the crying, you get up and go out into the fields and plant seed, with tears streaming down your face.

“But I don’t feel like it.” You feel like staying at home in bed and pulling the covers over your head and munching on some comfort food. You feel like drowning all your sorrows, entertaining yourself into oblivion. That’s what you feel like as you’re weeping. But you get up and go out “weeping, bearing seed for sowing.” That’s what we are called to do. And that’s what farmers are called to do.

There is a call of God on our lives to be faithful, even when life is a disaster; to get up and do what needs to be done.

Whenever I go through a time like that, I throw a pity party. You invite your friends, but sometimes they don’t want to come. I’ve had those moments, those times. When I arrive at those seasons in my life, what I’ve learned is—“Okay, dude; you’re crying, you’re hurting—to pray and obey. Hear what God says to do and do it. The calling He’s placed on me is preaching. “I don’t feel like preaching.” Well, that’s fine; you don’t have to.

But God says, “You have to preach, because that’s the calling I placed on your life. It’s not about you, pastor; it’s about My people. It’s about My glory. It’s about My calling upon your life.” So you have to go out and sow those seeds.

So when I get to that place is say, “Okay.” Through the tears, I talk to the tears and say, “Time to get your big boy pants on. Get out there and do what God’s called you to do!”

John Piper wrote a devotional about this psalm. He called it Talk to Your Tears. He said, “Say to your tears, ‘Tears, I feel you. You make we want to quit life. But there is a field to be sown, dishes to be washed, a car to be fixed, a sermon to be written. Tears, I know that you will not stay forever.’ The very fact that I just do my work—tears and all—will in the end bring a harvest of blessing, and my tears will be turned to joy.” What a great promise!

You’re probably not a farmer, so what does that mean for us? Who’s taking care of your kids? It means changing diapers. It means making lunches. Yes, through tears. If you’re a student, it means showing up for class and writing papers. Yes, through tears. If you’re a teacher, it means getting into your classroom and getting ready for the next year. It’s doing what God has called you to do.

There are times when you will feel like quitting, but wisdom means choosing to do what needs to be done. That’s the key. So in your sadness, be mindful, be prayerful, be faithful and finally, number four, be hopeful.

“Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” I like that. It’s a promise of God. And He keeps His promises. He has kept His promises in your life previously, so He’s going to continue—no matter what the sadness and difficulty is presently. He will continue to take care of it, because He doesn’t lie; He can’t break His promise to you.

Maybe the reason you’re so sad is because you’re in sin. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). That means recognizing their sin and confessing it. Then they’ll be comforted.

If we are faithful to do what we are called to do, even through the hard times and through the sadness and tears, there’s a promise here. That says that one day things will change. The dryness won’t last forever. The tears won’t last forever. God says there is a harvest coming. Wait for it.

Maybe you’re thinking, Okay; that sounds nice. I want to believe that, but why should I? The answer is, of course, that our hope for the future is based on God’s faithfulness in the past. All through Scripture you see example after example of God entering into bad situations, tearful situations, and restoring the treasures of His people.

But there is one event that rises above all the rest. We need hope, and there is One who offers the greatest hope. God keeps His promises. And when Jesus walked this earth, He knew what it was to be sad. He is actually called “a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). He went through some tough times; He was misunderstood, betrayed, spit upon and rejected throughout His life. So everything the psalmist talks about here—tears, weeping and sadness—Jesus knows what it is to go through profound, painful sadness. He went to the Cross and died, and three days later the greatest event in the history of the world took place.

Today we don’t worship a dead teacher. I thought about religion and rules from some moral standard that some teacher sets. Jesus didn’t just die and that was the end of it, like Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest. Jesus died, so where is our hope? On the third day Jesus rose from the grave. He had repeatedly told the disciples this would happen, but they missed it completely.

God keeps His promises, saints. When the women showed up first at the grave—women, you are to be commended for that—and they saw the empty tomb, and the angel said to them, “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead” (Matthew 28:7), the disciples were out fishing. That’s what men tend to do. “I’m too confused. I don’t know what to do. I’m going fishing.”

The women, on the other hand, went to the disciples with the message of the Gospel. They said, “Hey, guess what! It was like a dream!” None of them expected Jesus to rise from the dead, although He said He would. And when the women found the tomb empty and saw the two angels—you talk about someone who doesn’t want to be awakened from a dream! You talk about laughing! I can’t imagine what the women would have said! Maybe something like, “We went to the tomb, and there were some shiny guys there! They told us that….” Can you imagine the elation they felt?!

But the disciples must have said, “Oh, the women are emotional. Just chalk it up to that!” But then they went to check it out for themselves, and guess what?! “Those ladies were right! He has risen from the dead!” It was just like a dream! It was something they never could have imagined.

That’s our hope. God has made us promises; that “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). What He has started, He will finish. Our hope, our help comes from Him. Our hope is not in this country, not in the strength of our military, not in our own ability, not in more information, not in our intellectual abilities; it’s about transformation and submission to the Lord, knowing that He has a plan and He will fulfill His promise.

If you just think about all the promises He made to the nation of Israel—every one has come to pass, both by way of their disobedience and their chastening in what was going to happen to them. They were scattered throughout the earth. Then God said that one day they would be gathered back together, and they would not be thrown out of their land again. So I know that no matter who or what attacks Israel, we know who wins, because God said they would never be scattered out of their land again.

Why is it that they were able to drop bombs right down the shaft of Iran’s nuclear facilities? God made a promise, and God keeps His promises. He has to Israel, He has to you and will continue to keep His promises to you.

So take that sadness and work through the tears, talk to God about it, have people praying for you and know this: He will turn that sadness into gladness (Jeremiah 31:13).