Have you ever had to keep going when you couldn’t see any results or it seemed everything was failing?

Maybe you’ve prayed for someone for years and nothing seems to change. You’ve tried to repair a relationship, but it remains strained. You’ve faithfully cared for someone who isn’t getting better. You keep doing what you believe God has given you to do, yet there doesn’t seem to be much to show for it.

Psalm 126 gives us a beautiful picture for those seasons.

It pictures a farmer going out to sow his seed while weeping.

For us, planting seeds might sound peaceful. For an ancient farmer, however, those seeds were precious. They were grain that could have been eaten. When food was scarce, scattering that grain across the ground required trust and sacrifice. Once the seed disappeared beneath the soil, the farmer had to wait.

He couldn’t make it grow. He could only plant and trust God to provide the harvest.

That’s a pretty good picture of the Christian life.

God gives us many things to do, but He doesn’t always let us see what He’s doing through them.

• Parents teach their children God’s Word and wonder whether they’re listening.
• Christians share the hope they have in Jesus and don’t immediately see faith.
• We forgive someone who doesn’t seem sorry.
• We serve a neighbor without knowing whether it made much difference.

Sometimes we do these things with joy. Sometimes we do them with tears.

And, sometimes, those tears aren’t just tears of frustration, they are tears of sacrifice. We are called to love others with a sacrificial love. Just as the farmer may have to go without some food in order to plant the next harvest, we may need to give of the things that are important, even necessary for us. That could be time, money, physical effort, or carrying an emotional burden with someone.

We cry tears of sadness with the mourning. We cry tears of desperation for the wandering loved one. We cry tears of need when we give up what is precious to us for another.

Psalm 126 doesn’t tell us that the tears aren’t real. It doesn’t tell the farmer to cheer up before he goes into the field. Instead, it gives him a promise of joy to come.

That’s the pattern we see most clearly in Jesus.

On Good Friday, Jesus sweat blood. He went to the garden in such distress and His disciples couldn’t even stay awake. Then came the cross. His disciples saw nothing that looked like victory. Jesus suffered and died. His body sown into the tomb. All they could see was loss. They wept.

But the grave wasn’t the end.

On Easter morning, sorrow gave way to joy because Jesus rose from the dead. What looked like defeat became the salvation of the world.

That resurrection promise changes the way we face our own seasons of sorrow.

It doesn’t mean every difficult situation in this life will turn out exactly as we hope. Some prayers will be answered in ways we don’t understand. Some losses will remain with us until the resurrection.

But because Christ is risen, our tears of sorrow do not have the final word.

So we keep planting.

We pray. We love. We forgive. We serve. We speak God’s Word. And we trust the harvest to the Lord.

One day, when Christ returns and makes all things new, every believer will finally see just how right it was to trust Him. We’ll probably cry then, too…but this time tears of joy. There will certainly be shouts of joy as the harvest is brought in and we begin an eternity with our Lord.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

Sometimes it is difficult to keep going when I cannot see what You are doing. Give me faith to trust You even through tears. Help me to faithfully love and serve the people You have placed in my life, and remind me that because Jesus is risen, sorrow and death will not have the final word.

Amen.

As part of your devotion time, I encourage you to also pray for at least some of the following:

• Your family
• Your local church
• Your pastor
• Some of your fellow church members
• The people on your B.L.E.S.S. list
• Your country and her leaders
• Your community

After praying for these people, you may want to finish your devotion time with the Lord’s Prayer…

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and every. Amen.