Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.

Psalm 126 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion,
We were like those who dream.
² Then our mouth was filled with laughter
And our tongue with joyful shouting;
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
³ The Lord has done great things for us;
We are glad.

⁴ Restore our captivity, O Lord,
As the streams in the South.
⁵ Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.
⁶ He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed,
Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

Ecclesiastes 11:6 says: Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good.  Galatians 6:7-9 says:  Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.    The world might say what comes around, goes around. Some might call it karma; that we get what we deserve for our actions.  There is a Biblical and spiritual principle that as we sow we will reap. With the Lord though, there is an exception to that spiritual principle. In today’s text the psalmist says:  Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.    In Psalm 37:1-4;7-11 the psalmist says:  Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass And fade like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart…  Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.  Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there. But the humble will inherit the land And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.  In Luke 6:27-28;31 Jesus says:  I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.  Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.    Romans 12:21 says:  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.   That is the exception to the rule of sowing and reaping, when we sow good into the places where evil has been sown; when we bless those who curse or mistreat us; when we cease from anger and forsake wrath, when we delight in the Lord, we will receive the desires of our heart. If we are humble we will delight in the abundant prosperity of the Lord.

James 1:2-4 says:  Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.    Romans 8:28-29 says:  We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.  So, it is not that we take pleasure in difficult times, but knowing that God is for us, we take pleasure in Him even in the difficult times. If we sow into the kingdom even when the world seems to be against us, we reap from the kingdom, becoming perfected, lacking in nothing; conformed to the image of Christ. In John 12:24, Jesus speaking of His own death says:  “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”  If, like Jesus, we will die to ourselves and to the world, sowing instead to the kingdom of heaven, we will bear much fruit. In the text, the psalmist says:  When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, We were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter And our tongue with joyful shouting; Then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”  The Lord has done great things for us; We are glad.    We live in this natural world and so we are subject to the things of the world, but we are not captive to the things of the world, in Christ we are set free. The Lord has done great things for us through Christ and the cross. We are children of God and heirs of the kingdom of heaven. We should be glad, our mouths filled with laughter and joyful shouting. We choose what we will sow and what we will reap. If we sow seeds of anger, bitterness and resentment when we suffer, we will reap from the fruit of those seeds. If we will sow praise to God even in the darkest times, we will reap from the blessings and benefits of His heavenly kingdom.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit; because of the cross, my sorrow is turned to joy. The world can take nothing from me because I have all I need in You. Amen.