Those who sow in tears

Psalm 126, like many other psalms, describes in part, the joy of the returning exiles from captivity in Babylon to Jerusalem. Try for a moment to put yourself in the place of an Israelite. He sees his country invaded and destroyed. He sees the centerpiece of all that is holy to them, the temple, destroyed. Then he is loaded up and carried away in chains. He looks back only once and sees the smoke of destruction still ascending to the very heavens which seem to have abandoned him.

For years and then decades you would raise your family and tell them stories of their homeland, of Zion, the land of milk and honey. Then after 70 long years the impossible happens, you are suddenly allowed to return. Imagine the wonder of returning with your children and grandchildren who had never seen this and before, only heard tales of it. All those years, all those decades that have passed. In that time your homeland would have seemed like a distant dream. Was there even a homeland? Might it all have been a dream? Yet here you now stand. Every night in your prayers for endless years, all you had to hang onto was a promise. As the years passed the passion of the prayers subsided. You saw your people become more and more like those around them. In your spirit you wept for what was lost and for what now seemed like an impossibility.

Maybe you know a little of what the exile must have felt? Maybe you have lost someone to the world? Perhaps yo have spent many a night, not just for weeks or months, but for years and decades watering your pillow. Maybe you have cried until there seems to be no more tears left, yet still you persist. Every now and again the Spirit of the Lord overshadows you and the wells that you thought were dry, you find that there is water still and you shed your tears, glad that you still have them left, sad and weary that they are still needed after all these long years. You look in the mirror and you realize that you are growing old and still you weep for what is lost.

Can I tell you brothers and sisters, these tears you shed are waters from the fountains of heaven. This hope against hope is seed from your Father's storehouse. Those who continually weep, it is they who bear seeds for sowing. One day brothers and sisters you will be like one who dreams. And one day, when you find it is a dream no longer, your mouth will be filled with laughter and your heart will be filled with joy. The long arduous road leads back to Zion. And you will find yourself in the company of men and women who will rejoice and declare " The Lord has done great things for us."

THOSE WHO SOW IN TEARS

The rains that fall from Heaven
Fall down upon our face
And the dawn is surely coming
Yet in the darkness we embrace

Perhaps you've never seen the dawn
Yet in your heart you know its true
That beyond the edge of all you know
There is a sky that's ever blue

To plough the field of perpetual winter
For a harvest never seen before
Is to walk in darkness without stumbling
Is to open up the heavenly door

What lies beyond, no one can see
Yet through the door there is no fears
This is a place where seeds are found
They are for those who sow in tears

And with the seeds and with our tears
We'll plough the fields until the end
With weeping hearts the seeds are watered
And then the harvest God will send

Then all our tears are wiped away
Our hearts are filled with laughter
We now embrace perpetual dawn
And blue skies ever after!

My prayers are with you amranger.......... bro Frank

I thought about so much as I wrote the poem for psalm 126. It was especially touching for me because by best friend and dearest brother in Christ is going through a dark valley right now. HIs oldest son who is 15 is facing Leukemia for the second time. The first transplant failed after a year and now they are going through the process again and the outcome, outside of God, and if one listened to the world, is not promising.

Anyway, the Lord gave the young man Psalm 126. When the Lord gives someone a promise, no matter how long the road is, no matter how many the years are, then this is the hope and that is the seed from which forth life defies death. My own dear mother, now old, has prayed for decades for her other son and daughter and they are both addicts with all the chaos and madness of that life. Since she lives in Scotland, I get to listen to a women who has prayed for decades for her " children," struggling with faith, getting down, getting back up again. All those prodigal parents out there I am sure could relate.

All those who have faced situations that have lasted not for days or weeks or years, but decades and yet still believe, still hang onto the promise, this is what my poem was trying to capture. The struggle of it, the falling down, the getting up, the weariness, the sometimes joy, the oftentimes hopelessness, and the overcoming of all that in the Lord. This narrow path, this walk of life can be long. And this faith that sustains us even although time whispers in our ears, is a glorious and well-pleasing thing to the Lord.

We do not live in movies where all is wrapped up with a bow in the space of an hour. Life and all of its challenges are there to test us all. Who will endure till the end? Who will be an overcomer? The promises are to those who overcome. The hurdles of life, the passage of time, these are the issues of our lives. Will we stay the course? And in all of that the Lord understands our struggles, He understands the frailty of our flesh, He gently encourages us when our heads are down. He ask us to lift up the head that hangs down and see the glory of our God. All of these struggles would have faced the faithful in Babylon. To stay faithful and walk after the Lord even although so many of who we knew had seemingly been swallowed up by the world.

And then suddenly, after a literal lifetime, one finds oneself standing in Zion. Its is tremendous to think of the joy. And so whether we are figthting for life, or praying for a loved one or facing an illness that is debilitating, all of Gods children know that there is coming a day when we will stand on ground that we had prayed for for so long, we will stand in Zion, stand in victory, having remained faithful, despite the battles, till the end. Let us encourage one another to stand in the evil day, for there is coming a day of victory for all of us, whether in this life or the next, victory belongs to the faithful..............brother Frank

God bless you brother Ron............bro Frank