Psalm 126
Bible Passage: Psalm 126
This psalm speaks of the restoration of Zion, and how the Lord returned the captives back into their homeland. Therefore, this restoration is the start of a new beginning for the Lord’s people. Indeed, verse 2 says that “the Lord has done great things for them”, and that they were joyful, by the Lord’s mercy. However, in any new beginning, there is much to be done; much to re-establish, rebuild, and recover.
Verse 5 says that “those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy”.
Simply put, if we want to see the rewards of our hard work that the Lord has put us through, we need to work hard and be faithful in the roles we play. This applies to different areas of our lives such as relationship, career, and church work – especially relationship.
“Sowing in tears” is about giving unconditionally, faithfully and without murmur, in spite of the fact that it hurts.
Some reflections for all of us:
1. In the aspect of our relationship with people:
- Marriage: How much unconditional love, quality time, and dedication do we sow unto our spouse daily.
- Friends and loved ones: How much time do we spend meeting up with them so that we can sow the seeds of gospel and bring them to church?
- God: How much do we give to God? How much do we sow into His Kingdom?
2. In the aspect of our career:
How faithful are we in the small things that we are tasked to do in our day-to-day work life? Even though work may be routine or uninteresting to say the least, are we productive? If we can be faithful and responsible in the simple task we do, we will be capable to bigger things yet to come.
“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” – Matthew 25:21, NKJV.
3. In the aspect of church work:
In reference to the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, God gave us talents to serve Him in many ways. That is our main purpose of living – living for God and serving people.
Regardless of the ministries that we are involved in at church, we are giving what we have (all we have) to God. Our service to Him is to bring glory to our Lord Jesus Christ. In so doing, we are bearing the cross like Jesus, so that when our time is up, we can be together with our Father, the Almighty God. Are we bearing the cross then?
When we think about all these examples in our life, the process of falling in love, remaining in love, and being constantly faithful to God, to the church, or to anyone hurts.
Nevertheless, there is always a reward or a consequence.
“Though one goes along weeping, carrying the bag of seed, he will surely come back with shouts of joy, carrying his sheaves.”
– Psalm 126:6, HCSB.
The reward is joyful when there is constant faithfulness and unrelenting dedication in what we do.