Those Who Sow in Tears

Me

You know, ministry can be a lonely place sometimes.

There are seasons where you sow and sow and wonder if anything is growing.

Seasons where you carry burdens quietly

Because you don’t want to place them on the church.

There are seasons where you feel the weight of relational loss.

I read an article recently that said the average pastor loses five to seven meaningful relationships every year,

Not because of conflict or failure, but simply because people move, drift, change churches, or step away from faith

Five to seven a year.

Just to put that in perspective,

Most people will experience that kind of relational turnover over the course of their entire life!

These aren’t shallow connections.

They’re people you baptized, discipled, prayed for, walked with.

People you were close to for a season.

And when that happens again and again, you keep going.

You keep planting.

You keep praying.

You keep showing up.

You keep sowing, even when it feels like you’re sowing nothing but tears and heartbreak, sowing in vain by every metric you can think of

But every once in a while,

God brings a moment you didn’t see coming

A conversation that encourages you,

A breakthrough in someone’s life,

A Sunday that feels full of life,

A reminder that God is working in ways you didn’t notice.

And in those moments you realize something:

God has been doing far more beneath the surface than you ever saw.

The tears you sowed weren’t wasted.

He was planting something deeper.

And the buried joy slowly begins to sprout once more in your life.

Psalm 126 is written for people who know God has restored them before,

But are asking Him to restore them again.

People who have sown in tears

And are waiting for the joy that God grows from sorrow.

We

And I don’t think that experience is unique to pastors.

Many of us know what it feels like to be faithful in a season that feels dry,

To give more than we feel we have,

To keep going when life feels heavy.

Some of us are carrying quiet burdens.

Some are walking through relational strain.

Some are grieving losses others don’t fully see.

Some are praying prayers that seem to linger in the silence.

Some are trying to trust God when the ground beneath them feels unsteady.

And yet, here we are.

Still showing up.

Still planting.

Still praying.

Still hoping that God is doing more beneath the surface than we can see.

Still believing that the tears we sow are not wasted,

Even when we don’t yet see the joy they will become.

Psalm 126 is God’s word for people in that place.

People who know God has restored them before

And are asking Him to restore them again.

People who have sown in tears

And are waiting for the joy God will grow from sorrow.

So let us turn now to Psalm 126

And see what this psalm declares about who God is and what He promises to do.

God

God Restored Us Before (v.1–3)

One of the ways that God encourages us is through what he has done.

It is called History, since it is, His Story.

If you were to read the Old Testament,

You would see the great sin of Israel is forgetfulness.

They get into trouble because they forget what God has done.

It is why so many prophets call out for them to remember the works God has done!

Scripture calls God’s people to remember His works again and again because forgetting Him leads to wandering.

When we forget who God is,

It causes us to drift, doubt, and defile ourselves.

So here, the author speaks the pinnacle of Israel’s forgetfulness.

They had run from God for a long time,

God waited over 200 years for Israel to return, and over 300 years for Judah to return to him!

God waiting 5 centuries of total time for his people to turn from their sin,

5 centuries of prophets, good kings, warnings.

But they forgot and rebelled and worshipped demon gods instead of the one true God.

So they were dragged into exile by God’s decree, and then God brought them back.

This is why this Psalm starts with joy, that God has done a great thing by bringing back his people to the promised land!

It was so overwhelming it felt like a dream too good to be real.

On the returning home, they were filled with laughter and song.

It was such a momentous time that even the non-believers said,

God has done something amazing for them!

Yes, God has done amazing things, it is wonderful!

So, we are to remember what God has done.

The emotional highs.

The coming through when it looked impossible.

It is as if you are finally living again,

Like you were holding your breath and suddenly you inhaled oxygen,

It is the thing that brings your soul rest.

So what are the things that we might remember how God worked?

Things that bring us joy that cannot be contained!

Periods of deliverance from sin.

Blessing of a good friendship, or spouse.

This was joy that could be seen and heard.

They also become a witness to the world.

Non-believers are stunned on how it worked out!

So when you see God’s hand,

You can’t stop talking about his help for you.

It is also not purely an individual thing,

It is a blessing that the community brings.

God has done great things for our church,

And for each of us here, and we rejoice in that.

God’s past grace becomes fuel for present endurance.

For me, I’ve felt that blessing by the church.

While I said ministry is many times lonely,

It also blesses in incredible ways.

When Cam died and we had his service,

I was expecting that most of the EM would come in support.

What I was not expecting was at least half of the Chinese side showing up to support my family.

I can tell you, the way that everyone as a church came to support us, immediately made me feel, this is my church, this is my family,

And I am more than simply a staff member here, I am part of this family.

You might have no idea how rare that is in so many churches.

Many times the pastor just feels like the professional Christian on staff, without much family connection or relational support.

But here, I’ve experienced something different.

And I thank God all the time that I get to be part of a church family that actually feels like family.

And that is exactly what Psalm 126 is reminding us:

When God restores, He restores in ways that bring life, joy, and community.

The opening of this psalm reminds us of this truth:

The God who restored will do it again.

We Long for God to Do It Again (v.4)

Yet there is a big shift in verse 4.

Suddenly there is no praise and shouts of joy, but cries for restoration.

None of us are able to live in perpetual joy and laughter,

At least not in this fragmented world.

This psalm begins with remembrance, but transitions to a place of difficulty.

Just like all of us, we have times of joyous laughter with God,

And times it feels like we are in the desert and God is nowhere to be found.

And even in the best of our days, we still live in a broken world,

Where our joy is not fully realized.

When the hard times come for us, this Psalm reminds us the important truth:

We must trust in God to help us, just as he has in the past.

We are creatures trapped in time,

we worry about the future,

Romanticize the past,

Yet can never live outside the present.

And that’s exactly why the next distinction matters

Because how we look back determines how we walk forward through hardship.

So here is how two ways of looking at the past, Nostalgia and Remembrance are different:

Nostalgia says, “I long for the good ole days.”

Remembrance says, “God was faithful then, and he is faithful now.”

Nostalgia says, “I wish I could go back, and escape from this.”

Remembrance says, “God restored us before he will restore us again.”

Nostalgia says, “Nothing will ever be as good as it used to be.”

Remembrance says, “The same God who redeemed and restored me in the past is still the same God who will do it again.”

Nostalgia says, “God worked for me back then, but I don’t see or feel him working now.”

Remembrance says, “What God has done in the past fuels my trust in Him today.”

Nostalgia says, “The past is where my joy lived.”

Remembrance says, “Past joy is a promise of better future joy.”

Nostalgia clings to a moment, idolizes the past, and is escapism.

Remembrance clings to God, testifies to how God worked, and strengthens faith for today.

Nostalgia looks back to escape by clinging to a season.

Remembrance looks back to believe in order to cling to the Savior.

That’s why the psalmist cries out, “Restore us like streams in the Negev.”

This was a southern area in Israel that would dry up and be a wasteland, but then when sudden flash floods would come, it would be transformed.

When the rain suddenly comes, these dried riverbeds are suddenly brought to life and give birth to beautiful flowers.

Remembering God’s past works is like water in a dry land

It revives the soul and restores joy.

The point of verse 4 is that life is not great, that things are difficult,

But they won’t always be.

It is a call to Jesus to help bring back the joy of deliverance we once had!

Just as the joy from deliverance was so amazing that is what we wait for from God.

We will go through desert experiences, times of dryness.

We will have times that are hard because we know we have deliverance,

Yet we still experience the brokenness of this world.

There is that aspect for our faith of the “already, but not yet.”

We have been freed from sin, but sin still tempts us and we still fail.

We have been delivered from Satan, but we still live in his world.

We serve the reigning King of the universe,

But we are still waiting for him to come to establish that physical kingdom.

So we should not be embarrassed or shy in these prayers!

You should cry out to God when you feel dry,

When you feel spent, when it feels like life is crashing around you.

Cry out for God to restore you, just as He has before.

We cannot manufacture renewal.

We can only seek it, pray for it, and wait for the God who brings it.

So we can look at this dry spell and say,

God come like a torrent of rain and bring life to my parched soul.

That honest cry is based in that idea:

The God who restored us will restore us again.

Cry out for God to restore you, just as He has before.

We cannot manufacture renewal.

We can only seek it, pray for it, and wait for the God who brings it.

So we can look at this dry spell and say,

God come like a torrent of rain and bring life to my parched soul.

That honest cry is based in that idea:

The God who restored us will restore us again.

And here is the hope Psalm 126 gives us:

God does not only restore around us.

He restores through our tears.

The God who restored us will restore us again.

And that is what the psalmist shows next.

Our tears become the very seeds of joy.

God Turns Tears Into Joy (v.5–6)

These verses about those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy, and those that weep as they plant will sing when they return with the harvest.

Perhaps the most encouraging and powerful thing this psalm tells us is not only that there were times that God did a great deliverance,

Or that there are going to be times of dryness and suffering in our faith journey,

But that our tears are not wasted

They are seen, used, and transformed into a harvest in due time.

When we go through sorrow, lament, but still follow in obedience to God through those seasons of drought,

Our tears and crying out to him become a seed that God does unseen and unstoppable work with in our life.

But it remains hidden beneath the surface until God brings it to life.

Because tears are the seeds we sow,

Joy becomes the harvest we reap.

Because we go out and we do our best,

Even when everything in us doesn’t want to.

When We go and sow the seed of Jesus when life is not fair, when life hurts, when it seems like all have abandoned us,

We must remember, Jesus has not.

Ultimately, God does not replace our sorrow.

He redeems it

Often the restoration we long for grows from the very tears we sowed.

The final verse is a lot of the same,

But shows us the importance of how we live.

Do we just follow Jesus when it is easy,

Or do we keep going when life is hard and we don’t know how we will survive?

Our small acts of obedience produce a harvest

God values not material gain, but spiritual fruit only He can bring.

When we are faithful in small things,

God entrusts us with more, weaving our obedience into His greater purposes.

And when God moves, we reap what we have sown

Sorrow is redeemed into joy,

Scarcity is transformed into abundance.

We see this most fully in Jesus.

Jesus Himself sowed tears in Gethsemane, on the cross, and in the grief of those who loved Him.

From those tears came the greatest harvest of joy in history: His resurrection.

If God can turn death into joy,

Then no sorrow we face is beyond His power to redeem.

It’s why we trust that God will restore again,

That our tears will be redeemed into joy.

You

So the question for you today is simple.

What would it look like for you to respond to Psalm 126 this week?

Not just emotionally.

Not just intellectually.

But practically.

Here are four concrete steps this psalm invites you to take.

Identify one area where you feel dry and name it before God.

Not in general terms.

Be specific.

“Lord, my marriage feels dry.”

“Lord, my spiritual life feels dry.”

“Lord, my joy feels dry.”

“Lord, I feel exhausted.”

You cannot surrender what you will not name.

Psalm 126 teaches you to start with honest prayer.

Remember one thing God has done for you & thank Him for it

Not a vague memory.

A specific moment.

A time He answered prayer

A season He restored hope

A friendship He brought

A spiritual turning point

A provision you did not expect

Write it down.

Say it out loud.

Tell someone if needed.

Remembering is an act of spiritual warfare.

It keeps your heart anchored when the present feels shaky.

Choose one small act of faithfulness to do this week.

Tears are seeds.

Seeds must be planted.

So plant one.

Pray when you do not feel like praying

Open Scripture even if your heart feels numb

Text an encouragement to someone

Forgive someone

Ask for help

Show up to worship

Serve someone quietly

Stay faithful in a habit God is growing in you

Small obedience creates space for God to grow joy.

Pray one simple restoration prayer every day this week.

A short prayer you actually can repeat:

“Lord, restore my joy. Make streams in my desert.

Turn my tears into seeds. Do again what you have done before.”

You do not need long prayers.

You need consistent ones.

This psalm invites you to pray with confidence

Because God has restored before and God restores again.

And here is how this affects your life:

Instead of letting dryness defeat you, you bring it to God.

Instead of letting nostalgia trap you, you let remembrance strengthen you.

Instead of letting sorrow paralyze you, you plant it in faith.

Instead of withdrawing, you show up again.

Instead of assuming the story is over,

You trust that God is still working beneath the surface.

This is how Psalm 126 moves from poetry to daily life.

This is how tears become seeds.

This is how joy grows in real people.

This is how God restores.

We

And church, this is where Psalm 126 becomes more than a personal encouragement.

It becomes our shared hope

Because we are not just individuals sowing in tears.

We are a people learning to walk with God together.

We worship together.

We pray together.

We carry one another’s burdens.

We remind each other of the God who has already carried us through more than we sometimes remember.

We have seen God restore before

in this church,

in our families,

in our own lives,

and in the lives of those sitting around us.

And we will need to see Him restore again.

As a church, there will be seasons that feel like joy and laughter,

And seasons that feel like drought and difficulty.

Seasons where ministry feels full of life,

And seasons where it feels like we are sowing with tears.

But we do not walk through any of those seasons alone.

We stand together.

We pray together.

We believe together.

We hold on to hope together.

We help each other remember the things God has done

So that we can trust Him in the things He has yet to do.

And when one of us is in a dry place,

the rest of us become the reminder that God is not finished.

When one of us is sowing in tears,

The rest of us help carry the seed.

When one of us is waiting for joy to return,

The rest of us keep pointing toward the harvest.

This is what it means to be the people of God.

We live this psalm together.

And this week, we enter into Advent

And This is what Advent invites us into:

Remembering God’s past faithfulness,

Crying out for His restoring work now,

And waiting with hope for the joy He has promised

This is the truth we hold onto as a church this Thanksgiving and Christmas:

The God who restored before will restore again.

And every tear we sow in faith becomes a seed God uses to grow joy