Mercy like the winter rains

Press the play button to watch the video above or press 'more' to read the transcript of the daily devotion below. Please read Psalm 126 (use your own Bible or use the link above to access the in-App Bible).

‘Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.’ Psalm 126:7

Today’s Bible reading is Psalm 126. According to the tradition of the time, Jesus and his disciples would have sung this psalm as they travelled to Jerusalem for the Passover. We sing with them today.

The psalm begins by looking back to a time when God spectacularly restored the fortunes of his People: ‘When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then we were like those who dream’. (v.1)

God blessed them so much, they were pinching themselves to make sure it was real. The air was full of laughter and song, the psalmist continues. Even people in other countries heard of it and joined the Hebrew people in speaking about the great things that God was doing. All this we read in verses 1-4: looking back to God’s great mercies in the past.

But then the psalm suddenly changes, in verse 5. Suddenly we are in the present, and the psalmist is praying for God to be merciful again. ‘Restore again our fortunes, O Lord’. (v.5)

At first, we think that perhaps some new calamity has befallen God’s People, so that the psalmist is asking God for a new spectacular rescue. But as we read on, we see that this is not quite what is happening.

The psalmist prays for God’s mercy to be like the winter rains which water the Negev, the arid region in southern Israel, or like the harvest time when the food supply is secured and joy is complete. So the psalmist is recalling some spectacular blessings in the past, but he’s praying in the present for blessings which are more everyday – but real and needed nonetheless.

In the coming fortnight, as we travel in heart and mind with Jesus, we too recall the great blessings of the past, the redemption of humanity at the Cross. And so we look forward with sure hope. As St Paul writes, 'He who spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also, with him, give us all things?’ (Rom 8:32)

Let us pray: Lord God, we give you thanks that on the Cross your Son redeemed humanity. As we look to the blessings of the past, so we renew our hope in your sure mercies. We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Rt Revd Joe Kennedy, Bishop of Burnley.