Talk to Your Tears

 Devotional by John Piper

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. (Psalm 126:5–6)

There is nothing sad about sowing seed. It takes no more work than reaping. The days can be beautiful. There can be great hope of harvest.

Yet the psalm speaks of sowing “in tears.” It says that someone “goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing.” So, why are they weeping?

I think the reason is not that sowing is sad, or that sowing is hard. I think the reason has nothing to do with sowing. Sowing is simply the work that has to be done, even when there are things in life that make us cry.

The crops won’t wait while we finish our grief or solve all our problems. If we are going to eat next winter, we must get out in the field and sow the seed, whether we are crying or not.

If you do that, the promise of the psalm is that you will “reap with shouts of joy.” You will “come home with shouts of joy, bringing [your] sheaves with [you].” Not because the tears of sowing produce the joy of reaping, but because the sheer sowing produces the reaping, and you need to remember this even when your tears tempt you to give up sowing.

So, here’s the lesson: When there are simple, straightforward jobs to be done, and you are full of sadness, and tears are flowing easily, go ahead and do the jobs with tears. Be realistic. Say to your tears, “Tears, I feel you. You make me want to quit life. But there is a field to be sown (dishes to be washed, car to be fixed, sermon to be written).”

Then say, on the basis of God’s word, “Tears, I know that you will not stay forever. The very fact that I just do my work (tears and all) will in the end bring a harvest of blessing. So, go ahead and flow if you must. But I believe — though I do not yet see it or feel it fully — I believe that the simple work of my sowing will bring sheaves of harvest. And my tears will be turned to joy.”

Joy in the Pain

 My neighbor’s mother lost her husband, his dad, 17 years ago.  She seems to miss him today as much as she did when it happened.  Unfortunately, his mother’s health has declined now to where she is in constant pain and it has been this way for many years.  Yet she is always able to smile, to have conversation, and try to be somewhat active.  In fact, she has maintained a daily devotion for over 20 years and sends it out to many people. My neighbor said this of her, “She has been able to find and maintain joy in the Lord while not being always happy from Dad’s death and her physical pain.”

This is an incredible accomplishment.  In fact, I would put it very near to the tippy top of accomplishments in life. 

I don’t meet enough people who have found this.  Most people descend into a form of personal destruction.  Abusing alcohol seems to be a method for a lot of people I know who are in pain, whether it is emotional or physical.  One person who also lost her husband descended through substance abuse from playing tennis to barely able to walk.  Another has a liver that is almost gone; one bad infection and he will probably die.  Yet another mixes too much alcohol with anxiety and sleeping pills almost every night.  These are just a few examples, I know many more.  All of these people were active social productive members of society.  The suffering that happens in life is too much for them for the time-being.

Being able to find the personal touch of God daily, to confirm your knowledge of His presence hourly, to dwell every minute confidently aware of Him, is a wisdom that few can obtain.  It is other worldly.  Yet it should be the goal for everyone. 

Paul wrote in Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  This can certainly be applied to our will for our life versus God’s will, but it can also be applied to our suffering.  We let our suffering die in its control of us just as the Lord suffered and was crucified.  I shall let my suffering go and seek to dwell always with God. 

C.S. Lewis told us that we have this desire to be happy because we were made for another world, a better world, and we want to get back there.  We crave depth and meaning and this world doesn’t satisfy that, but adds suffering as a bonus.  When Jesus was transfigured, he was met with two people who had been dead for a very long time.  They had to have been in heaven.  So, Jesus was in this world and heaven at the same time.  This means that we are able to experience heaven even now because heaven is being in the presence of God.  Our desire for more is met in our moments of the personal experience of dwelling with God, Jesus, His Spirit.

Desiring to dwell with God with our life as much as we can do it leads us to that place where we can be joyful in His presence even in the midst of this world’s suffering.  This should be our goal. 

Hope and Purpose

Without hope there isn’t much purpose in living. 

In today’s world, it is easy to lose hope.  People are actively working to take away liberty.  They want to tell you where you can go, how you should go, what you can do, how you should do it, what you can eat, how to act in public, how far apart to stand from others, what you should wear.  They are destroying the ability to work hard, earn your living and succeed.    

It’s easy to lose hope when the church, who is supposed to be a reflection of God, follows the social directions of this world.  They act as the world does and do not stand on the truths of God.  They are looking for ways to cancel those who desire to follow the moral authority of the one true living Lord.  One that values all life: the unborn, the living, and the nearly dead.  One that values His guidance on how to live and what is righteous.  “They” of society and “they” of the church are often indistinguishable from one another.

It’s easy to lose hope when the religion of society is their political party and it is not based on God. Or when the religion of society is based on what a person believes makes them happy and that is more important than anything else.

Hope is very important.  It becomes a purpose.  When a person with a serious health condition goes to a Doctor, a good Doctor not only has to describe the method of treatment, but sell hope to the patient.  That hope for a cure or in the prevention of continued degradation is extremely important in the effectiveness of the treatment.

Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You. – Psalm 73:25

Imagine if there was someone who only wanted your best.  That you could trust them completely never to not want your best.  They would never turn on you.  This is very difficult for anyone who has lived around people for any length of time to imagine.  I used to think this was my Mama.  I used to say, “No matter how bad I screw up my life or how bad life kicks me down, it’s okay because I can always go home and I know my Mama loves me.”  Until she did some things not bourn out of love.  Everyone will turn on you and let you down.  Every single person you know.  Yet, Jesus, the physical manifestation of God, will not.  He always only wants your best.  It was unfair of me to have that attitude with regard to my Mother.  She could never live up to something only God can do.

When you accomplish something good or a good thing befalls upon you, God is not envious or jealous.  You can share your excitement with God and not be concerned about His true depth of excitement.  When you are down and struggling and the winds are against you, you can be confident that He is with you and not in any way feeling schadenfreude (the feeling of joy when harm or damage happens to another).  In fact, He wants you to rely on Him and He will hold you and carry you through those times.

So, what is there on this earth outside of God?  He alone is my hope.  Everything and everyone else is a disappointment in some way.  

Is there a heaven without God?  He alone is my hope.  He alone holds the future beyond this world.

The only hope in life is in God.  The purpose of life is in God and in nothing else. 

Where is Life?

 ¹³ Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.

¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. – Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

In the Lord of the Rings, Frodo says to Sam: "No taste of food, no feel of water, no sound of wind, no memory of tree or grass or flower, no image of moon or star are left of me."  It is there that Frodo says he is "at the end of all things."  There, at the end of it all, once you’ve experienced a great deal of life and you realize that existence is suffering - everyone suffers, existence is sin - everyone sins, you find that the spark dulls; the brightness fades; the desire is losing purpose.  

You find yourself asking: What is left?  And why?  Is there anything worth the effort anymore?

God is left and He has always been and will always be.  He was before you and He will be after you.  He has not dulled, nor is He less bright, nor is He without deep desire and purpose.  Life is in the everlasting Lord and in nothing else.  He alone is the breath, the spirit of living. 

Revere the One True Living God.  Know that He is and be conscience of His authority over all things.  Strive to follow His guidance in Christ Jesus.  Be forgiven when you fail.  Bear the image of Jesus in as much as you can fight yourself to do it. 

In such a faith as this there is life (desire, purpose) and wisdom.