Psalm 126:5–6: “Those who sow in tears / Shall reap in joy. / He who continually goes forth weeping, / Bearing seed for sowing, / Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, / Bringing his sheaves with him.”

May 11th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

In this psalm, the author used a farming illustration to explain a spiritual truth about our relationship with God, one that has both an immediate and eternal application. In order to produce a harvest, something must first be sown, seed. In this verse, tears of repentance over sin were sown and a joy-filled return to the land of Israel was reaped. The psalmist was saying something like, “Our future joy will not happen without our being involved in the process.” No sweat, no sowing of seed, means no harvest.

The Apostle Paul also used this illustration in his letter to the Galatians:

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” (Gal. 6:7)

The early believers in Galatia had grown discouraged at how slow the work of sowing the seed of the gospel into other people’s lives was. In fact, it seems the Galatians had already stopped using their time and money to invest in the kingdom of God and had gone back to investing in their own selfish desires and goals. They had lost sight of the spiritual harvest that would eventually come as a result of their sowing.

There is an interesting agricultural parallel that still happens today in Southern Africa. There are some years when locusts swarm the land and eat all the crops. It has been reported that there are so many flying insects that their bodies block out the sun. When this happens, the next winter is very difficult as food stores are strained. However, at the next harvest, after the “year of the locust,” something fascinating takes place. The dead bodies of the previous year’s locusts serve as fertilizer for the new seeds, which results in huge harvests. Every believer experiences seasons of distress and affliction, which seem to eat away and destroy any spiritual fruit there might be. But the promise of God is that if we “sow to the Spirit [we] will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” The season that follows a difficult period in our life is often the most abundant time for reaping spiritual fruit for the LORD.

“LORD, we choose to sow our life into Your kingdom this day. Use us we ask in Jesus’ name.”