1 When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. 2 Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them." 3 The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. 4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negev. 5 Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. 6 He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.

Put yourself in the place of the children of Israel who had been taken away into captivity by an enemy nation. After years of servitude in a foreign land they were allowed to return to their homeland. This was such a wonderful experience that it seemed like a dream. Their mouths were filled with laughter and their voices exclaimed songs of joy. In this joy the psalmist (perhaps Ezra) and the people raise one united voice of praise to God for the deliverance. It was God who had blessed them with this freedom. It was God who had given them their former homeland to occupy. It was God who had blessed them with new crops in their fields in abundance. Praise God!

Now consider us today. In Colossians 1:13 we are told that God’s people have been delivered from the dominion of sin (being held captive by Satan) to the kingdom of the Son of God. We were living in darkness but now have returned to the homeland of God’s light. How wonderful to be given this freedom from sin and the shackles with which it binds. We have gone from a (spiritual) land of captivity that spirals downward to the depths of hell into the heights of the heavenly places with Christ Jesus. We have been given freedom in Christ. We have all spiritual blessing in him. We know that now that we are in him all things will be worked by the creator for our good. And we are promised that this life will lead to an abundant entrance into heaven itself. Should our mouths not be filled with laughter and our voices shouting thanksgiving and praise to God for this deliverance? Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

O God, I praise you and thank you for your love shown to me in my deliverance from sin thru your Son. Help me to never get so caught up in the things of this world and its cares so that I for a moment take you for granted. Fill my heart with joy and peace as I commit my ways to you. Lord, I want to do what is right in all things but too often I fail. Strengthen my faith, give me wisdom and fill me with your heart of love so that I might be more like you each day. Let me see each opportunity you give to share your love with others and help me to use it wisely. It is in Jesus that I offer this prayer.

May God bless each of us today as we praise his Holy Name.