Preparing for Glory

Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy servants and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of Yahweh, our God, be upon us and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. Psalm 90:15-17

Preparing for glory is a cliche that is often uttered to mean that we should make sure we are ready to go to heaven when we die. That is a small glory compared to what God is doing on the Earth. The Lord Jesus is ruling heaven AND EARTH and He will continue to rule until all His enemies are subdued beneath His feet. His glory is being revealed here, as we live, and He is preparing us to be His vessels of this glory.

This Psalm speaks to us of God's glory that is revealed in the Earth through us, His saints. He brings us to glory through suffering and death. This is nothing less than learning to be like Jesus and we know that the Lord Jesus brought the Father glory.

I have always said that our joy is inversely related to our suffering. When God brings resurrection from death-like circumstances then the joy on the other side of that suffering is directly inverse or better than the amount of the suffering. No one wants to suffer but the more you suffer, the more joy there is when God reveals Himself as deliverer.

This Psalm speaks of something similar. God makes us glad according to our days of affliction. His work in this way will reveal glory to us and to our children. The Psalmist recognizes that this is beautiful. This is hard for us to grasp. The suffering does not seem beautiful. But the fact that God leads us through affliction to glory reveals His beautiful character. In this way, He establishes our work in joy in the Holy Ghost.

So, sufferers, take heart. God is doing a beautiful work in you.