Tears For The Harvest

Seeing what is

When I was a young adult my sister was attempting to buy a house through a land auction. All of the goods of the house inside and out were going to the highest bidder. She called me and asked if I or my brother would be interested in the car that was under a roof outside of the garage. I got my twin brother Troy and we took a drive over to see it. We were not impressed with what we saw. But we were hopeful. It was a 1968 Ford Torino. It was covered in a thick layer of dirt. The paint was faded, and it was going to need some body work. All four tires were flat and it just didn’t look promising. I told my sister I would go as high as 500.00 but if it went above that not to be concerned. A week goes by and the auction took place. My sister called me and said I was going to be a bit surprised and needed to come and settle up with the auctioneer. I asked how far over she went and was preparing my heart to see 1000.00 dollars go south. Her response floored me. No one wanted to bid the car.= and we paid 65 dollars for it. We brought it home and were pleasantly surprised. The car only had a few thousand miles on it and even the back seat belt buckles were still in the plastic. We drained the fluids and poured in new, installed new spark plugs, and pumped up the tires, and we were astounded when we turned the key and she fired right up. Restoration took some work but it was worth it. That car though it was rough to look at was not far from her former glory. It took blood, sweat, and tears but she rolled out a testimony to the powerful work of restoration.

A Psalm of Ascent

It has a structure.

Verses 1-3 are the memory of great works gone by.

Verses 4 is the testimony to the current reality and the plea for God to intervene.

Verses 5-6 are the promised response of God.

Sowing Tears to reap the harvest

“Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy...”

The psalmist shows us a clear picture that maybe doesn’t make sense to us in our contemporary world. The one who carries his bag of seeds weeping shall come again with shouts of joy bringing the harvest with them.

The context of this psalm is the return of the exiles. the diaspora is over. The people are returning to again sow seed in their fields that they have wept to see again in their absence.

Sowing in tears. The exiles for 70 yrs. were displaced longing for their homeland, longing for God to restore the Covenant.

Acts 20:31“Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to warn everyone with tears.”

Paul wrote that his ministry was bathed in tears. It was a burden that he undertook to weep for their lives, to weep for the power of the Gospel to be at work. To weep that they may know the authority and power of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 2:4 “For I wrote you out of much distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.”

We may in our world today think of tears as being a sign of hardship, stress, and struggle where we ultimately would discern that this ministry was not for us. But there is a rawness in weeping, their is a visceralness in which we connect to the real abiding grace of God for those whom are under our care.

Weeping for a great work, weeping for a mighty miracle is a holy burden for transformation.

In the Bible over and over again, the prophet weeps asking God for a great and wondrous work.

John 11:35 NRSV

Jesus began to weep.

John 11, Jesus stands in front of the tomb of his friend Lazarus. Knowing what was about to happen Jesus pulls back the curtain and we see a wonder. Jesus wept for his friend. Jesus, the bringer of life, fully God and fully man stands at the brink of darkness on behalf of his dear friend and weeps. Before he commanded his authority over death itself Jesus connects with the visceral of his mission. Jesus weeps for his ministry.

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus before the shadow of the cross pulled away from his disciples and wept. Before he ascended to the cross, his mightiest act, he wept. God cried.

There is power in weeping. Weeping connects us to the deepest parts of ourselves, to the why of our purpose. What are we here for so that we commune with the grace of God at work within our midst to see the powerful restoration about to take place. Jesus weeps and he calls us to weep. What shocked the early believers is that Jesus who being God was moved to sorrow. God is not apathetic. He is not monolithic. God weeps so that he is moved to action! God is not unmoved or else when sin entered the world God would have allowed us to be destroyed with no emotion. but instead, God is moved int he deepest part of his being so that God acts on our behalf.

Have you wept?

We are called to sow seeds of tears on behalf of God and his work in the world. Our world in in chaos. Moral depravity continues to spiral and as the church we find ourselves more and more as the outsider of pop culture. In the church today we find ourselves in a place of remembrance. Like that old car we look back to when our churches were full. When Sunday School Attendance rivaled worship. We remember times when resources and labor were in abundance. And we weep. We remember what used to be and we don’t look to the future with the hope of God to move in a mighty way but we sit around feeling sorry for ourselves and the past that is behind us.

It’s like being stuck in a rut. I grew up on a dirt road. It was dusty and when it rained the water would cut the ruts from the vehicles deeper and deeper. Sometimes you would go to make a turn and the car wouldn’t turn because the ruts were too bad. That is what self pity can do in the church. When we look at the past with only a sorrow for ourselves.

There is no divine power in self pity. The people of Israel sang this psalm as they wept for their circumstance and remembered God’s promise.

We are to weep not for ourself pity but to connect to the ultimate promise and power of God. God’s grace is abounding around us if we would look away from ourselves and look toward God. Let our weeping move us to look for God’s provision and action on our behalf. God is not done with us. Don’t let your tears sow wastefully. But weep so that we may be moved! Let’s cling to the promise.

When we remember the promise we remember the harvest.

Bringing in the sheaves. We will come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves. God calls us to so in sorrow so that we may reap with joy.

Jesus weeps for intercession and then rises in authority to intervene. Jesus commands the authority of the universe. Whether a ministry or a life, or a relationship, bring it with weeping begging God to intervene. Martha says it best “My LORD if you would have been here my brother would not have died”

Let’s get God involved in our churches again, in our faith again, in our relationships again. let us be so moved because their importance that we weep and in sorrow fall on God to intervene.