Ps 126:5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy. 6 He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves with him.
This couplet of verses represents a lovely example of Hebrew poetry, as they repeat the same theme and convey the same image.
But notice the intensification in verse 6. Feel its detailed focus, as it switches from the plural to the singular.
The truism of verse 5 reads like calligraphy stitched into a linen sheet. It inspires confidence in all who gaze at it while sipping iced tea. It is all too easy to minimize sowing in tears to dwell upon reaping in joy.
But verse 6 reads like it was scratched in blood and sweat on a torn and dirty shirt. There, the one sowing defiantly clings to a hope hidden in the future while toiling in the cauldron of the present.
Verses 5 and 6 are a matched set. But they demonstrate the Kingdom Truth that the word of God that is sweet in the mouth can be bitter in the stomach (Rev 10:10).
They declare the cream of God's divine promises must be churned into butter in our reality. It takes effort to pull the promises of God out of the spirituals and establish them as reality in our realm.
Christ has strained the hardest against that wheel. He toiled alone, sweating tears of blood, while we slept the sleep of sorrow. But He delights in the widow's mite of our efforts while yoked beside Him.
Too many delude themselves, thinking we merely ride in a cart that Christ pulls. But He renewed the Abrahamic Covenant. Well, God spoke great and precious promises to Abraham only after that man had prepared a meal for Him in the heat of the day.
Later, God cut a covenant with Abraham… by having Abraham cut in half sacrifices drawn from his own herds. He then had to beat off vultures lusting to spoil those costly tokens of his obedience. Only then did the fiery pot glide between them and seal the covenant.
Yes, the Lord credited righteousness to Abram for merely believing, but He didn't say "Now I know" on that day. He declared that decades later, after Abraham scaled a mountain and raised his knife against his son. Can you see the sweat and tears falling from Abraham's face as the Lord confirmed His covenant with him?
The Passive Paradigm of modern Evangelical Christianity is an intruder on the path of the Way. It is a discordant note against the song of the Spirit. We must lay hold of life in Christ Jesus and we must guard and keep what we lay hold of. The Way of God passes through a valley of tears. We go from strength to strength along that way because the resistance we face in that path builds muscle.
The luscious grapes growing in the Promised Land are not the only food God provides for us there. Faith knows the giants in that valley are also food for the plucking. Caleb declared they are bread for us (Num 14:9).
Therefore, reconsider the prayer Jesus taught us: "Give us this day our daily bread". Yes, some of that bread will fall fresh into our lap out of verse 5 of our opening passage. But other loaves will require the kneading and baking of verse 6. The days of eating bread mixed with our own sweat have not yet ended, beloved. But this is all good news for us:
Rev 3:20 "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
I have an ear to hear verses 20 and 21 harmonizing with our two verses from Psalm 126. Do you?
- Matt Schilling
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