Lindy Thompson

Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.

– Psalm 126: 4-6

For the third week of Advent, we light the candle of Joy.

I looked up “the Negeb” and found out it translates as dry land: “Tract of land in southern Judah, which, though fertile in comparison with the rest of Palestine, is nevertheless regarded as an arid country.” (https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11415-negeb)

Fertile by comparison; regarded as arid.

When we are in a difficult place, it feels arid to us.  We regard it as arid.  It doesn’t feel good, we don’t like it, there is struggle, we aren’t sleeping, our bodies show signs of stress – we do not regard it as good.  We go out weeping.  We do the next thing required of us if possible, but we are not at peace and not tranquil inside.

Ironically, these places in our lives can be fertile by comparison – quietly fertile.  Invisibly fertile.  Things going on under the surface.  The Spirit moving in the mysterious and hidden way the Spirit often moves.

We resist the pattern, because no one likes hard times, but the pattern holds nonetheless – barren stretches in the desert, lonely periods in the wilderness, have their own relative fruitfulness that make themselves known on their own timetable.

We may go out weeping, but we bear seed for sowing, though we may not be aware of it, and we are promised a return home with shouts of joy, arms filled with the goodness of the Spirit.

Joy wins, friends.  God will not leave us desolate.  Joy is baked into all that God touches.  Our part is to receive and to trust the transformation that God authors.  And God is trustworthy.