“Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy.”
Last spring I went to a book club with some women at my church. It had been a very difficult season and I was looking for some encouragement. At the beginning, the leader asked for prayer requests, and it didn't take long for me to break down in tears and start sharing what was on my heart.
A sweet older woman named Betsy, whom I haven't seen since then, said something that encouraged me so deeply, and now I'm living its truth. After sharing some of the deep heartache she's lived through, she said, "Emily, one thing I've learned is that the greater the suffering, the greater the joy."
It had never occurred to me that there was a correlation between the depth of our suffering and the extent of God's restoration of that suffering, although it may seem fairly obvious to others. With Betsy's words on my mind, I read Psalm 126: "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" (vv. 5-6).
As any farmer will tell you, the harvest depends on how much seed was sown. In the same way, as we sow our tears in the midst of pain and suffering (Tim Keller has a great sermon on this), we can expect to reap a harvest of joy that's equal to, or even greater than, what we've sown. One thing is for sure: we can't out-give God. As we give Him our tears, He'll take them and transform them and do immeasurably more with them than we can even think or imagine. And the end result will be our joy.
If you find yourself in a seemingly never-ending season of suffering and waiting, take heart — it will end. In the meantime, do the important work of sowing your tears. Take your pain to the Father, who bottles each and every one of your tears and stores them (Psalm 56:8). Not one of them goes unnoticed.
And then wait with anticipation for your harvest of joy.
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