Celebrate What God Will Do
Look at how the Israelites now look forward with great confidence in what God will do for them in the future: "Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them." (Psalm 126:5-6)
The work God is doing now will only be completed in the future. He is working towards something that hasn't happened yet.
The Anticipation of Heaven
In one sense, we who believe in Jesus can always celebrate the future we will have in heaven. We can always look ahead and celebrate that one day we will be with Jesus - we will see Him face to face, bow in His presence, and all our tears and pain and struggle will be gone! Hallelujah!
Do you go running into church, and go running to God each day, to say thank you for the gift of eternal life! Thank you for the glorious future that awaits me one day when this life is over!
I laugh at myself sometimes, when I enjoy the buildup to something more than I enjoy the thing itself. Have you ever done that? You have tickets for a show, and for months you can't wait! The anticipation and the excitement is overwhelming! Then the show comes and goes, and it's over - and the build-up was more exciting than the event itself!
My dad told me of when he was a boy, him and my grandfather getting up early to watch a big boxing match. The match began and grandad went off to get the coffee and rusks, and boom! The fight was over in one punch! Grandad came running back saying what happened! What happened! The build-up had been better than the event.
Waiting With Bated Breath
But then there are those occasions where you wait with great anticipation, and the event is everything you hoped for and more! The waiting itself built the excitement.
That's a bit like the Christian life. You long for heaven with a great anticipation and excitement - and it makes the waiting all the better!
This is not to say that we do nothing and laze about while we wait for the end. We have work to do. We have a world to heal in Jesus' name. But as we work hard and do what He's called us to, we wait in great anticipation of what God will do in the future.
Remember when the people of God were in exile in Babylon? Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians, and the Israelites were under pagan control and unable to worship as they used to. God speaks to them through the prophet Isaiah: "They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31)
While we're on earth, He'll use us for great things in the days and weeks and months and years to come! When our time is over, we have a glorious future with Him in a heavenly place, and we wait with joy for that.
As Adoniram Judson the famous missionary once said, "My future is as bright as the promises of God."
The Psalms paint a picture of confident, forward-looking hope - those who sow in tears will reap in joy. Lift your eyes today from present difficulty to the glorious future God has promised His people.