Talk to Your Tears

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. (Psalm 126:5–6)

There is nothing sad about sowing seed. It takes no more work than reaping. The days can be beautiful. There can be great hope of harvest.

Yet the psalm speaks of sowing “in tears.” It says that someone “goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing.” So, why are they weeping?

I think the reason is not that sowing is sad, or that sowing is hard. I think the reason has nothing to do with sowing. Sowing is simply the work that has to be done, even when there are things in life that make us cry.

The crops won’t wait while we finish our grief or solve all our problems. If we are going to eat next winter, we must get out in the field and sow the seed, whether we are crying or not.

If you do that, the promise of the psalm is that you will “reap with shouts of joy.” You will “come home with shouts of joy, bringing [your] sheaves with [you].” Not because the tears of sowing produce the joy of reaping, but because the sheer sowing produces the reaping, and you need to remember this even when your tears tempt you to give up sowing.

So, here’s the lesson: When there are simple, straightforward jobs to be done, and you are full of sadness, and tears are flowing easily, go ahead and do the jobs with tears. Be realistic. Say to your tears, “Tears, I feel you. You make me want to quit life. But there is a field to be sown (dishes to be washed, car to be fixed, sermon to be written).”

Then say, on the basis of God’s word, “Tears, I know that you will not stay forever. The very fact that I just do my work (tears and all) will in the end bring a harvest of blessing. So, go ahead and flow if you must. But I believe — though I do not yet see it or feel it fully — I believe that the simple work of my sowing will bring sheaves of harvest. And my tears will be turned to joy.”

John Piper 

What Are You Sowing?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Behold, I say to you, ‘Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!’” John 4:35

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Whatever we sow, we’re going to reap (Galatians 6:7), and if you hope to reap at all, you must get out there and sow. There will be no reaping without planting. Here in America, we are reaping blessing upon blessing because our forefathers planted.

I copied this down because I thought the writer said it well:

Did we bring the Bible to these shores or did it not, rather, bring us? The breath of the ancient prophets was in the sails that drove the tiny Mayflower. The hope and faith of ancient poets, kings, and lawgivers were in the hearts of those who first sang the Lord’s song in this strange land. From those beginnings until now, the Bible has been a teacher to our best men, a rebuke to our worst men, and a noble companion to us all.

The reason America is such a great nation is not that Americans are smarter, not because the sun shines on us more, not because it rains here more, not because our soil is richer, but because our forefathers planted certain things in American soil. I’m not talking about crops and seeds; I’m talking about faith and truth and hope and charity and justice. And because of that, we are reaping a harvest.

ACTION POINT

In the principle of sowing and reaping, whatever you sow, you’re going to reap. If you want to reap, first you must plant! Begin today to plant God’s precepts and principles into the minds and hearts of your children, your family, your co-workers, that will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11).

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers