Psalm 126:5-6
Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.
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.
So, why the weeping? The sower knows the seed must die before it
can produce anything worthwhile. Jesus said
that plainly:
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. John 12:24
In that passage Jesus was
predicting his death on the cross for our benefit. It was a short time before the cross, and
Jesus understood the cost of saving rebellious humankind from eternal
death. And that is why he wept in Gethsemane;
Jesus was so moved with compassion for us he sweat great drops of blood. These were the tears of his soul,
longing for our redemption and squeezing every last ounce of caring for self
and safety out of his system…and it was for us.
And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Luke 22:44
I think of presidents making
unpopular decisions, knowing it might cost their political career, or personal
reputation…but doing it anyway because it’s the right thing to do.
I think of a father scooping up his
three-year-old from the middle of the street; the child howls with anger because
she wanted to play there. She didn’t
understand the danger, so she rares back and declares to her father, I HATE YOU!
I think of a child hearing his
parents, late at night, arguing in the living room…again. And, it turns violent…again. There is pain and blackened eyes…again; the 7-year-old
cannot stay in the bed and listen….again.
So, he runs to the living room and steps between mother and father, knowing
he cannot make a difference, but his weeping makes him try.
In each instance the motivation is
love. It is love that causes a president
to choose the right thing over a popular thing.
It is love that makes a father act when his child puts herself in danger,
and doesn’t understand. It is love that
propels even a small child to stand in protection of a battered mother. And it was love that compelled Christ to the
cross.
So, what about those seeds? Why plant them? Love!
There are laws of the harvest.
·
You will always reap more than you sow.
·
You will always reap later than you sow.
·
You will not reap unless you sow.
And the greatest, least popular,
law is:
·
The harvest is greater or lesser in direct proportion to the cost to you of
sowing.
Parents of prodigals sow seeds of
self-sacrifice, nurture, and forbearing the immaturity of youth because of
love. And the greatest cost is loving,
doing the best for the prodigal, when the cost will be the prodigal choosing
the pigpen over the homeplace. That is
when a parent becomes a warrior in the prayer room, and that is when a warrior
weeps.
Let’s
Pray Together:
Father, we understand doing the so-called right thing is really just living the truth of love, doing the best for our neighbor, which includes the whole world, starting in our own houses with our children, parents, and kin. Give us grace today to faithfully back up doing the right thing with our warrior’s tears.
For You Today
You
chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.
Have a blessed day!
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