“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalm 126:5-6 ESV

Psalm 126 is a song of hope for those held captive by present sorrows and dire affliction. It encourages those who walk with weighted steps to wait expectantly for their God. There is a special promise for those who shed tears in desperate places—the sorrow will not endure forever. God will restore us once more, and our joy will be made all the greater for having endured the tribulation by faith. When rock bottom feels like the end of us, we can trust that Christ will hold us fast—for “with him is plentiful redemption” (Psalm 130:7).

For seeds of sorrow to become sheaves of joy, time must pass in between. Just as a farmer plants seeds in the spring and harvests crops in the fall, so too must we fling our mustard seeds of faith onto the soil and trust that God will do what is necessary to bring about sheaves of spiritual bounty. Therefore, we water the seeds with our tears. We endure the sorrows while the roots of faith are divinely nourished underground. We sit our bottoms on the Rock of Ages and trust that our hope is not dependent upon us, but anchored in the One who is making our desert like a garden of the Lord (Isaiah 51:3). And just when we wonder if anything is happening at all, sprouts appear. The ground breaks, and the stalks rise, and we know the weeping which led to the watering was not in vain.

The tears we cry today will reap a joyful harvest in due time—so we take heart, remember our hope, and wait for the seasons to change.

Read the full devotion at https://devotableapp.com/daily-devotion-psalm-126-when-we-hit-rock-bottom