Thursday, December
14, 2017
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing
precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves
with him. Psalm 126:5-6(KJV)
Meeting human needs that are significant always costs – and it
should. Human needs met in some way must
be significant. Notice how the Psalmist says
we bear precious seed. Ministry “seed” must be significant enough so
that there is “preciousness” about the way we give ourselves to meeting the
needs of desperate people.
The text indicates that the sower goes forth and bears the seed; but he
also weeps over it. Do you weep over
insignificant things, or precious? I see
weeping over lost loved ones, straying prodigals, health reversals and lost
fortunes.
We go forth weeping, meaning we go for significant human reasons. Have you ever wept for someone’s need? Have you ever wept for someone’s soul, a lost
person who just seems to stay out of reach of the Savior and His gospel?
I wept over a man’s soul one time early in our ministry. He came to Elizabeth and me in our first
church out of seminary. John was not a
nice man. He started attending our
church. He was a rough, ex-military man;
if you look up the definition of bad attitude and language in the dictionary –
you’ll find John’s picture there. John
was a drunk – mean and foul; he beat his wife, an all-around bad guy!
I wept because I never really could reach John.
He made a profession of faith, and was baptized; we all thought it was
genuine, but the man was as mean as they come, a serpent in sheep’s
clothing. And I wept over him.
A few weeks after he joined our church he returned to his old ways. During one of his drunken tirades Elizabeth
and I had to hide his wife from him. The
man carried a 44-caliber revolver; the last words he ever said to me were: I’m
going to make a minister out of you. I told him that wasn’t his job, only Jesus
could work with the likes of me. Several
weeks later John made the headlines. He
committed suicide publicly, in front of a K-Mart store.
I don’t know what happened to John’s soul; I am not equipped to look
inside one’s heart – only Jesus can do that.
But I wept again for John; I wept for the precious seed I shared with
him. I also wept for the many others
like John who are out there – people in the kind of anguish that only a lost
soul can know.
For You
Today
There
is a significant ministry out there for each of us…precious seed needs to be
sown.
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