Psalm 126:2-6 (ESV) 2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” 3 The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad. 4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negeb! 5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with
shouts of joy! 6 He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed
for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
For
most of my life – I have been a very joyful person. I took life in stride and
didn’t allow many things to bother me - but then things changed. Spring tuned into summer. Summer turned into fall. Fall then turned into
winter. It
wasn’t just a normal winter but it was a deep freeze that went deep into my
spirit. Life
looked dim and my circle of support seemed to shrink around me. Tears flowed freely and
sometimes without reason. God was
distant to me and I was groping around looking for that glimmer of hope in
order to move forward.
Thankfully,
God was in it and I have since found a new sense of joy that has filled my life
and has helped me live life with a new perspective. It has also helped me to
help others going through some of the same things in their own lives.
It’s
amazing to me to see how God has created within us the ability to heal
physically, emotionally and even spiritually.
Notice
what the Psalmist wrote:
Psalm 139:14 (ESV) 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and
wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
It’s
interesting – one of the release points in our lives is the area of
tears. God
created those tears for reason and we should not be ashamed of their presence.
Consider what would happen
without tears:
- We could not see. . . Tears
actually help with visual clarity. We could not blink. . . Tears
provide lubrication for our eyelids to blink over our eyes. We would have infections in our
eyes. . . Tears help to prevent large amounts of infections before they
can gain entrance into the eyes. Tears contain a fatty substance that
helps our eyes stay moist. When we cry our tears have a
different chemical makeup. If we are hurting either physically or emotionally a protein is present in the
tears. If an irritant gets in our eyes, the tears are almost 100%
made up of water. Another important function of
tears is that they bathe your eyes in Lysozyme, one of the most effective antibacterial and antiviral agents known.
Look at some of the
people in the Bible who had tear in their life: Joseph, Hannah, David,
Hezekiah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Jeremiah (in fact, his head was a fountain
of tears, Peter, Jesus, Mary, Paul, and John.
Our
tears reveal a number of things: sadness, blessings, repentance, love,
cleansing, joy, hope, feelings, desire, anger, fear, pain, goodness, holiness,
intercession, etc. The
list could go on and on.
Tears could be described in a thousand different ways and a thousand different paths could be described that tears forces us to walk.
Psalm 126 helps us to understand tears today.
Tears could be described in a thousand different ways and a thousand different paths could be described that tears forces us to walk.
Psalm 126 helps us to understand tears today.
When one looks into the manners and customs of the Bible, there is an understanding that these people who were sowers of the seed would often do so under great duress.
They often were under the heavy constraints of limited resources and the seed that they took to plant was almost as if they were taking food from the mouths of their children simply to plant for the harvest. Every precious seed that was cast into the ground was very valuable. It was crucial that a yield be brought from this seed cast into the ground. The sower would sometimes plant in doubt, fear, and distress.
There were the pressures of an enemy coming into the field and sowing tares. There were the concerns of the wayside, the thorns, the rocks, and the birds overhead that could steal the seed from the ground.
There was a great burden on the mind and heart of the sower. To plow the troublesome soil was heavy work and it brought sweat, tears, and pain from the body of the man who worked the fields.
Yet, there is a great spiritual law that prevails (very unpopular with our generation, I might add) and that is, through tribulation we enter into the joy of the Kingdom. God means for us to reap in joy but first we must sow in tears.
Jesus is an example of this. He shed many tears as He was on earth over what He saw and what He had to endure.
Philipp
Harrelson talks about the fact that this text opens up to us the avenue of
tears. Tears can go in to directions. They can be very limited to the earthward
or they can soar toward the heavenward.
1. Earthward
If you are human then you will have many of your tears that are bound to this earth. They prevail upon us and will continue to have a hold on us until we are released from our fleshly bodies.
These tears are limited to the purposes of serving our emotions. This is not all bad for there are times that tears over earthly things can serve as stimulants toward the things of God. . . . but generally speaking the tears from down here will limited to this life alone.
a. Tears from Our Fears
b. Tears from Our Failures
c. Tears from Our Rejections
d. Tears from Our Disappointments
2. Heavenward
Then there are tears that can pull you into a whole different spiritual realm. They are the very messengers sent from God to pull us into the world of being a saint of God, a man of God, a man with a crowning purpose in life.
Tears come to us when we realize that we have followed the wrong path in our service for God. The tears help us to find the path and re-chart the course.
Our worship must also must be marked by tears. When we look at the life of the Lord, again and again we note that Jesus poured out His heart. His words were mingled with His tears.
Twice He will weep over Jerusalem. He weeps at the death of Lazarus. He was full of lament and anguish at the
Last Supper and openly shared it with the Disciples. He wrestled with great
tears in the Garden of Gethsemane. He endured the pain on the Cross and
finally cries out when His life is finished.
So…
What shall we do with our tears? What shall we do with the dilemmas that cause
them? Where shall we flee from our
tears? What is
the remedy for those who have tears?
The answer is this: We talk to our tears. There should not be anything sorrowful about planting a crop. It is generally a time of the year that the earth is beginning to awaken from the harsh cold of winter.
Sowing seed is really no harder than harvesting. But what we have to remember is that there is a responsibility that comes with sowing. It is something that must be done.
One thing that we discover about planting is that it will not wait for us while we cry. The demand of the fields will not wait for you to solve all of your problems and if we are going to enjoy the yield of the harvest in the harsh cold of winter, then we must talk to our tears.
This psalm teaches the tough but necessary lesson that there will always be work to be done whether I am emotionally up or down, whether I am discouraged or not, whether I am prayed up or not, whether I feel like it or not. . . . and you must understand this. . . . it is good for us. . .
You can never say, “I am tired and weary and discouraged and terribly disappointed and I will not plant anything this spring.” If you do not work in the spring, you will not eat in the winter.
You can never say, “I cannot pray for so-and-so, because I am so discouraged and I cannot see any progress in it.” If you cannot persevere in prayer, if you cannot be a weeper, if you cannot extend your heart and your tears heavenward, the harvest will be limited.
What you can say is this, “I am troubled and discouraged. I cry when the milk spills. I cry if the phone and the doorbell rings at the same time. I cry for no reason at all, but the fields needs to have some seed planted. That is the way that life is. I do not feel like it, but I will take by bag of seeds and go out into the fields and do my crying while I do my duty. I will sow in tears.”
The lesson is in talking to your tears. . . . . When there are tasks to be completed, when there is a task of raising a family, when there are the demands of a job, when there are demands of the bill collectors. . . . When your days are filled with tears. . . . then talk to your tears. . . . . “Tears, I feel you. You make me want to quit life, but there is a field to be sown in tears (dishes to be washed, meals to prepare, cars to be fixed, work hours to be committed to, sermons to be dug out, and prayers to be prayed). I know that you will wet my eyes and face several times today, but I have work to do and you will just have to go with me. I intend to take the bag of seeds and so. If you come along today, then you will have to wet the rows.
-Then with perhaps a dimmed eye and blunted understanding, I must tell you that your tears will not be with you forever. The very fact is this. . . If you do your work with tears and all then in the end you will reap a harvest of blessing. God has promised this.
-The simple work of your sowing will bring sheaves of harvest, and your tears will be turned to joy.
The answer is this: We talk to our tears. There should not be anything sorrowful about planting a crop. It is generally a time of the year that the earth is beginning to awaken from the harsh cold of winter.
Sowing seed is really no harder than harvesting. But what we have to remember is that there is a responsibility that comes with sowing. It is something that must be done.
One thing that we discover about planting is that it will not wait for us while we cry. The demand of the fields will not wait for you to solve all of your problems and if we are going to enjoy the yield of the harvest in the harsh cold of winter, then we must talk to our tears.
This psalm teaches the tough but necessary lesson that there will always be work to be done whether I am emotionally up or down, whether I am discouraged or not, whether I am prayed up or not, whether I feel like it or not. . . . and you must understand this. . . . it is good for us. . .
You can never say, “I am tired and weary and discouraged and terribly disappointed and I will not plant anything this spring.” If you do not work in the spring, you will not eat in the winter.
You can never say, “I cannot pray for so-and-so, because I am so discouraged and I cannot see any progress in it.” If you cannot persevere in prayer, if you cannot be a weeper, if you cannot extend your heart and your tears heavenward, the harvest will be limited.
What you can say is this, “I am troubled and discouraged. I cry when the milk spills. I cry if the phone and the doorbell rings at the same time. I cry for no reason at all, but the fields needs to have some seed planted. That is the way that life is. I do not feel like it, but I will take by bag of seeds and go out into the fields and do my crying while I do my duty. I will sow in tears.”
The lesson is in talking to your tears. . . . . When there are tasks to be completed, when there is a task of raising a family, when there are the demands of a job, when there are demands of the bill collectors. . . . When your days are filled with tears. . . . then talk to your tears. . . . . “Tears, I feel you. You make me want to quit life, but there is a field to be sown in tears (dishes to be washed, meals to prepare, cars to be fixed, work hours to be committed to, sermons to be dug out, and prayers to be prayed). I know that you will wet my eyes and face several times today, but I have work to do and you will just have to go with me. I intend to take the bag of seeds and so. If you come along today, then you will have to wet the rows.
-Then with perhaps a dimmed eye and blunted understanding, I must tell you that your tears will not be with you forever. The very fact is this. . . If you do your work with tears and all then in the end you will reap a harvest of blessing. God has promised this.
-The simple work of your sowing will bring sheaves of harvest, and your tears will be turned to joy.
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