- Remember God when it's tough.
- Work hard through your sadness.
- Rejoice harder when you're done!
In Psalms 126, we get a picture of a people who are having the time of their lives. Doing it big! "Livin La Vida Loca", if you wanna take it back. However, once you read ahead to verse four, you determine that in reality, they are actually experiencing very tough times. Stepping back for a moment, you must realize that David wrote this Psalm like the movie 'Inception'? It begins in a dream, and this is a significant fact. So, here in the dream, the people are reminiscing about the glory days. You know how folks will get nostalgic at times and relive what they consider the peak of their life? Sharing stories from back in the day. Well, that is what these people were doing. They are recalling how they used to laugh and sing; folks used to brag on them, and they used to be full of joy! Please say 'used to' aloud. Here is my first point: If God USED TO have you there, he can get you there again. Here is my first point, “Remember God when it is tough”. The good moments of your past are what you need to dwell on; not that you forget them or that you don’t get over them, but you instead never dwell on anything, but what is good. That is why in later scripture Philippians 4:8, it says this; "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Let me take a moment and please, for God’s sake hear me out. The purpose of your testimony isn't always to encourage other people; some of you all need to realize that your testimony is to encourage and inspire YOURSELF! That is why God made it YOURS and not someone else's. I will repeat that, some of you all need to realize that your testimony is for YOU!
Remember God when it's tough. Just like Eve looking at the fruit before she ate it, the Israelite spies looking at the giants and fortified cities before giving up on God’s dream, David looking at Bathsheba before he murdered her husband, Peter looking at the waves before he sank, Simon looking at the angry mob before denying Jesus three times, we must all be aware of what we are focusing on during our trials and tribulations. If you don't remember what God has brought you through when life gets tough, you can easily forget that you have made it through worse. Therefore, you can make it through whatever you are going through right now. Some of you have prematurely convinced yourself that you are experiencing some of the worst problems of your life right now. You are prejudice towards adversity. You are so busy thinking about the fact that a weapon has hurt you, that you miss that it didn’t get you. You aren't crippled; you aren't dead; you aren’t mentally disabled; you aren’t paralyzed! But even if you are, you are not dead, God still loves you, and you can still do great things. If you would only take a moment and reflect on what God has already brought you through in the past, you would see that the current circumstances are not that serious; objectively compare what you are going through now for what you have already overcome. You are not as broken, sad, lonely, poor, lost, or messed up as you were back in the day, and look at you now! You may have lost some things, some people, some possessions, perhaps a limb, but as Christ said if you have eyes to read this encouragement, ears to hear this message, and by God if you can feel this, then you have reason to reflect on the victories of your past and present. Remember God when it's tough! [Extra scripture]
The same God that got you through high school, can get you through college. The same God who got you through that one teacher who almost kept you from graduating, can get you that promotion. The same God that got you through puberty, can get you through them hot flashes and the midlife crisis. The same God who got you your first job, can get you another one. Reflect on how you used to be happy, used to free-spirited, used to confident, used to ambitious, used to have dreams, and do what it takes to get back there. Remember God when it's tough, because He ain’t done with you yet! Say that aloud, “He ain’t done with me just yet!” Remember God when it’s tough.
This brings me to my next point; Work hard through your sadness. You see ladies and gentlemen, the reason you have to focus on your testimony and who you used to be when God brought you through the last break up, the last termination, the last health check-up, the last relative passing, and so on, is because you gotta work Boo-Boo. God has no problem helping you through your sorrow, but He is there to HELP and not do it for you. Again, God is there to help and not do it for you. Here's a real life example. Did you know that any baby which hatches from an egg can't be helped? Newborn birds, alligators, snakes, and even butterflies inside cocoons are not helped escaping their respective cages. They have to at least be strong enough to break through the shell to make it in the real world. Let me rephrase that for humans, if YOU want out of your current situation, not only do you have to break YOURSELF out, but if you can't do that, then you aren't strong enough for what is yet to come. Please take a moment and say, “Work hard through your sadness.” You see babies break out of their shells when they have outgrown their current environment by effectively utilizing all the available resources in their space. So if you are wondering why you can't break through, perhaps you need to buff up. Get on some Spinach like Popeye or get some Wheaties in you. The thing is though, our egg shells are spiritual, mental, emotional, and psychological, so we can’t see them. You don’t realize that even though you can physically breathe, you are still suffocating. Even though you can physically get up out of your seat, you can’t emotionally move past a pain from your past. My fellow prisoners, this is why God in Ephesians 4:8 says this: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Let’s break though! Somebody say, “BREAK THROUGH!”
Also, here is one thing more, some of you all call yourself holding your baby down, but you are really holding your baby back. You are doing things for people that they need to be strong enough to do for themselves. You aren’t helping them, you are crippling them. They are in their shell for a reason, and God has given them what they need to breakthrough; what they need to break themselves through. “Work hard through your sadness.”
I know that some of you may possibly see this as an atheistic argument, because God seems not to be there, but let's analyze this thing. Did you notice that David was lead to just put the word 'seed', not a mustard seed, God saved that for later, because NOW is the time of action; today is the day of salvation. The word seed is left without specification because each man and woman and child in here has his/her own seed, and only YOU can plant your Harvest. Like Smokey the Bear's challenge, only YOU can prevent your progress. God did it for the animals too! Let’s return to the egg shell example. Did you know that the thickness of each egg shell is unique? And, did you know that the bird's beak is pointed to pierce through the shell and that the reptiles have an egg tooth, which is only there for one reason and goes away afterward. Now what some scientists call random evolution, is what other scientists call “intelligent design”. God has already given you the resources and the equipment for your breakthrough. He just wants you to realize it. YOU need you to “Remember God when it's tough” and “Work Hard through your sadness.” Whether you believe, “He won't put more on me than I can bear”, “if He brought me to it, He can bring me through it”, “What God has for me it is for me”, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me” or all of the above, you have to know that whatever barriers are holding back right now, whatever shell you are in at the moment, KNOW 100%, that before God put the shell around you, he put the tools and resources to break through that shell inside with you too.
So, now that you know to “Remember God when it's tough” and to “work hard through your sadness”, all that is left is to “Rejoice harder when you are done!”. The Word gives us the best news we could ever ask for in times of trouble, the exit strategy. If you go out to the fields weeping, yes you are sad, but you are moving forward, yes you are sick and tired, but you are trying, yes you are emotionally exhausted, but you are here and hard at work. Those who go out weeping to the fields carrying seed to sow. Did it say they go carrying bitterness to weigh them down? Did they carry drama to gossip about? Did they carry coolers of hater-ade to pour onto the already labored and bowed backs of others? No, they carried seed, and this is where that strength from you breaking through the shell was needed. Here is where the pointed bill didn't just break through the shell but now helps you break through the winds of adversity, makes you more aerodynamic, so you can fly higher and easier than ever. That is how blessings are made, faithfully sowing seeds in good soil, which are then watered by the tears of those who are in need of God.
Notice the invisible. Read in between the lines and see God move in the shadows. Do you see God putting the HR person in a good mood before your resume came up? Do you see God making sure you interview with the person who knew your people or friends from way back when? Do you notice God moving the nail out of the path of your tire on the way home after you picked up your kids? No, Sir and no ma'am. You never know what God is doing behind the scenes, but you have to trust and have faith that He is still indeed moving. That is why you can Work hard through your sadness, because you are not working hard by yourself. You have Almighty God working it out in the background.
Returning to the text, what we see next is the return of those who are weeping, but they are not carrying seed, but now have that degree they have been dreaming about and studying hard for. They have that relationship they been wanting since childhood and have been improving themselves to get. They have that financial stability they have been reading about in Departures magazine from American Express and saved up to get it. They have the harvest. Some of you all need to realize that if you weep while you work, you will rejoice after your victory.
My dear sweet people who feel confined inside invisible shells of various designs and thicknesses. My friends who are weeping but not in the fields... My brothers and sisters who like me are carrying burdens and baggage instead of seed... Let us get right in the eyes of God and let us carry something that will help us out, let us cry in a way that will progress our lives, let us suffer through sorrow and pain with this plan of action: Remember God when its tough, work hard through your sadness, and finally, rejoice harder when its over!
God bless and keep you, from one weeping planter to another.
Peace and amen.
