Daily Manna · Day 114 · April 24
Great Things
“The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.”
Psalm 126 is only six verses long, yet it moves through three different times: what God has done, what His people still need, and what they will see.
It opens with a memory full of wild joy: "When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing." Even the nations around them said, "The LORD hath done great things for them." In verse 3 the singers take those words and make them their own, and that is the line most people know: "The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad."
The psalm turns at verse 4: "Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south." That is a request, and they are asking for the very thing they have just finished celebrating. So perhaps the return was only partial, or it had stalled, or it turned out smaller than the dream. The streams in the south were the dry riverbeds of the Negev, the southern desert. They are empty most of the year and fill quickly when the rain comes. It is a picture of something that is empty right now and waiting for rain.
Then come verses 5 and 6, which are neither a memory nor a request. They describe the time in between: "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."
So the psalm holds all three together: what God did, what is still not done, and the seed that is carried in the meantime. That answers the fear that being thankful while you are still waiting is a kind of lying. It is not lying. Verse 3 sits right next to verse 4 in the same song, and neither one apologizes for the other.
You do not need to do anything with this today. Sit still for a few minutes. Thank God for the great things He has already done, tell Him plainly what is still empty, and rest in His promise that those who sow in tears "shall reap in joy."
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 114 is When Thou Art Full (Deuteronomy 8:11).