16th. April 2020. Daily Devotion.

Many years ago, in my first year studying music, I took part in a performance of Brahms’ A German Requiem with the University of Glasgow Choral Society. Brahms was not a committed Christian himself but was inspired to use many Biblical passages as the text for his work. For me this was a wonderful introduction to the message of the Bible. The Requiem begins with “Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted,” and moves immediately verses from Psalm 126:

5 Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. 6 Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.

It took me a long time to understand the meaning of “those who sow with tears”

Don’t we associate sowing see with hope and expectation? Why then with tears?

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 forth 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 must 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.

Here then is 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, based on 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 (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 your tears will be turned to joy.” John Piper

This is a sad time, many are anxious and fearful, face challenges or are overwhelmed with grief. More than one person has said to me recently that though they are in under no immediate threat, there have been times when they have simply sat and cried. One of my cousins berated herself, “Dinna be sae daft, pull yourself together.” No, there is nothing daft about tears; remember, Jesus wept more than once, and our tears surely are therapeutic. Pray for those for whom their tears are their food day and night.

Psalm 42

3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

Psalm 58

You have taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your book?

Revelation 21: 4

“and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

Prayers

God of wind and water, stillness and storm, your Spirit sweeps over the surface of the sea. Give us faith to seek you in times of trouble. Reach out your hand to us when we are sinking so that we may believe and worship you, through Jesus Christ, Sovereign and Saviour.

God our refuge, shelter us under your wings as we kneel before you in grief and pain. We pray for all those who have lost a beloved child, parent, sibling, lover, or friend . . those who have witnessed horror . . . those who are wounded in body or spirit . . . for each is a child made in your image. We pray for ourselves, O Lord. Restore our hope, and mend our hearts, even as we weep with grief and tremble with anger.

Give us strength to support the broken-hearted, your grace to be confident in your presence here, and your light to find our way through the shadows, that we may be bearers of your light to all we encounter; in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Book of Common Worship, © 2018 Westminster John Knox Press.

If you would like to listen to the opening of the German Requiem, it is here, sung in German – text and translation below:

Matthew 5:4

Selig sind, die da Leid tragen, denn sie sollen getröstet werden.

Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.

Psalm 126:5,6

Die mit Tränen säen, werden mit Freuden ernten.
Sie gehen hin und weinen und tragen edlen Samen, und kommen mit Freuden und bringen ihre Garben.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.