Psalms 126:4 - Meaning and Application

These verses look ahead to mercies that were still needed. Those who had come back from captivity were still in trouble, even in their own land (Nehemiah 1:3), and many were still in Babylon. So they rejoiced with trembling, while carrying in their hearts the burdens that still needed relief.

Here we have a prayer for the full completion of their rescue, “Turn back our captivity” (Psalm 126:4). Let those who have returned home be freed from the burdens they still groan under. Let those who remain in Babylon have their hearts stirred, as ours were, to take advantage of the freedom offered to them. Early signs of mercy should encourage us to pray for its full completion.

As long as we are in this world, there will always be more to pray for, even when we have much to praise God for. And when we are free and well off ourselves, we should not forget our brothers and sisters who are in trouble and under restraint. Bringing the rest of the captives home to join those already returned would be as welcome to both sides as streams of water in a dry southern land. It would be like cold water to a thirsty soul, good news from a distant country (Proverbs 25:25).

There is also a promise here to encourage them to keep waiting, and it assures them that, though their present time is sad, it will end well. The promise is given in a general way, so all the saints may take comfort in it. Their season of tears will surely end in a harvest of joy at last (Psalm 126:5-6).

Suffering believers have a season of tears. They are often in tears because they share in the troubles of human life, and usually have more than their share. Yet they sow in tears, meaning they do the work of faith in hard times and live in the way God calls them to live. Weeping must not stop us from sowing. Even in suffering, we must keep doing what is right.

In fact, just as rain prepares the soil for seed, trouble can prepare us for repentance, prayer, and humility. There are even tears that are themselves the seed we sow, tears for our own sins and the sins of others, tears of sympathy with the suffering church, and tears of tenderness in prayer and under the word. These are precious seeds. It is like a farmer sowing grain when food is scarce, weeping because he gives up so much, yet still burying it in the ground, expecting a better return.

Those who sow in tears will have a harvest of joy. The troubles of God’s people will not last forever, but will end once they have done their work. The captives in Babylon sowed in tears for a long time, but at last they were brought out with joy. Then they reaped the benefit of their patient suffering and returned home with their sheaves, that is, the fruit of their labor and God’s goodness, carried with them.

Job, Joseph, and David, along with many others, also had harvests of joy after times of sorrow. Those who sow with godly sorrow will reap the joy of a forgiven pardon and settled peace. Those who sow to the Spirit, in this world of tears, will from the Spirit reap everlasting life, and that will be a truly joyful harvest. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted forever.