Read Psalm 126. What gives strength and hope to God’s people? What is being said here, in this context, that we can apply to our own lives today?

 The Lord’s miraculous deliverances in the past are an inexhaustible source of inspiration for God’s people and their source of hope for the future. The past deliverance was so great that it could be described as a dream-come-true experience (Isa. 29:7, 8). Notice that the generation that praises the Lord in Psalm 126 for His past deliverance of His people from captivity (Ps. 126:1) is presently in captivity (Ps. 126:4).

 Yet, the past joy and relief are relived through songs and appropriated in present experience. The new generations keep biblical history alive by counting themselves as present among those who saw the events firsthand. Thus, a living faith cherishes God’s great deeds for His people in the past as something that the Lord has done for us and not simply things that the Lord did only for them (the past generations of believers).

 In fact, the memory of the past spurs renewed hope for the present. The image of “the streams in the south” (Ps. 126:4) is a powerful metaphor of God’s acting suddenly and powerfully on behalf of His people. The very south of Judah was an arid desert region. The streams were formed suddenly and filled with rushing waters after heavy rainfalls during the rainy season. The early and late rains played a crucial role in the success of the agricultural year (Deut. 11:14, Deut. 28:12). Similarly, the image of sowing in tears and reaping in joy (Ps. 126:5, 6) is a powerful promise of divine leading from a difficult present to a happy future.

 The end of the harvest season was the time when the ancient Hebrew pilgrimages brought the fruits of the season to God’s temple in Jerusalem (Exod. 34:22, 26). The harvest motif provided a potent spiritual lesson to the people at that time. Just as the hard labor of sowing and caring for the fields, orchards, and vineyards is rewarded with the joy of a plentiful harvest, so the present trials of God’s people will be crowned with the joy of salvation at the end of time. The image of the great harvest points to God’s restoration of His kingdom on earth at Christ’s second coming (Amos 9:13−15, Matt. 9:37). Here, too, however, the theme of waiting arises. As with the harvest, we must wait to see the fruit and results of our labor.