When dreams come true

“When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream”

Psalm 126:1

When the Lord returns your fortunes, it will be like a dream. Babylon represented pain to the children of Israel. They had suffered too much in Babylon. They had been in exile for many years and had no hope that God would ever come to their rescue. It reminds me of the same fate that the children of Israel suffered at the hands of the Egyptians. They also had lost all hope that God was going to come to their rescue until God announced to Moses that “I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt, I have heard their cry and I am concerned about their suffering. The cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. I am sending you to Pharoah that you may bring My People out of Egypt”.

Just like God was concerned about the children of Israel, God is similarly concerned about your life. When we go through hard times, it feels like it will never end. We begin to lose hope for a better tomorrow and make peace with the fact that things will always be the way they are. We begin to acclimatize our situation and be numb to the pain. There is a level of pain that tend to bury all hopes for the future. The chances of rescue look slimmer and slimmer by the day. As each month or year goes by, our hope is eroded gradually until we see no prospect of a better tomorrow.

When God delivered the children of Israel from the Babylonians, it was hard for them to believe, considering all the pain they went through. It was too good to be true! It did not seem real. It was like a dream. Their jubilation was proportionate to their earlier despair. “Our mouths were filled with laughter and joy”. When you are swimming in the pool of tears and sorrow, you often wonder if you will ever laugh again. Sarah knew all too well the pain of being barren. It must have been sorrowful to her. It is the type of pain that she lived with everyday. Every morning when she woke up, she was reminded “I have no child”. When she went to bed at night, a thought came “I have no child”. When God finally visited her, ending her barrenness, she said “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me”.

God has seen every tear you have shed. Just like He remembered the people of Israel and led them from oppression to Canaan, a land filled with milk and honey, He will remember you. Just like He remembered His people who were in Babylon, He will remember you and you will say like the Israelites that “those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy”. Don’t let your current pain deceive you into thinking that your life will always be like this. It will not be always like this. There is a sowing time and a harvesting time. There is a time appointed by God when all the seeds you have planted through years of tears will germinate into fruits of joy. They will mushroom randomly and unexpectantly and it will be like a dream to you. God does not forget. He will remember your years of pain, frustration, suffering, and toiling. It will be sudden, overwhelming, speedy and sensational. You just have to lift up your eyes and look beyond day to day circumstances and focus on what could be and opposed to what already is.

When it is time for God to show His favour upon you, no earthly limitation, complexity of your situation, intensity of the attacks against you, depth of your sickness, period of your condition, family history, or any other perceived limitation can stop Him. No matter where we are in life, we can draw strength and comfort from Psalm 126 which offers a solid assurance of a much better day. We are reminded from this Psalm that God was able to convert the lives of the Israelites from a nightmare to a dream come true. May the Lord bring a total restoration in your life. May He restore your fortunes, your health, your marriage, your relationships, your employment. May He replace your tears of captivity into joyful shouts of praise!