Psalm 126:5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. I. SOWING AS COMPARED WITH REAPING IS A VERY LABORIOUS PROCESS. The land must be cleared, the soil broken up, the stones and rubbish removed, etc. That which is reaped in a few hours has cost him in the sowing many long weeks of toil. It is so in the spiritual life. The hard labour is at the beginning. The fallow ground and the stubble are to be broken up. The agony is at the gate that opens into the narrow way of a religious life. All after experiences are comparatively facile and pliant. II. SOWING AS COMPARED WITH REAPING IS A LONELY WORK. The reapers go in bands with shout and song; but the sower goes alone. And so in those spiritual processes connected with the new birth, each heart "knoweth its own bitterness." Over those inner furrows of the soul goes no sower but the man's own conscience in the sight of his God. III. SOWING AS COMPARED WITH REAPING IS IN AN UNTOWARD SEASON. The sower must be out in the rough winds of March, under the dark, leaden sky, and upon the cold, clammy earth. It is so in spiritual things. The harvest is in revival periods of warmth and enthusiasm, but the sowing must be in times when the church is cold and everything looks discouraging and gloomy. IV. SOWING AS COMPARED WITH REAPING IS A SELF-DENYING WORK. The farmer takes from his granary corn which he needs for his present supply, and scatters it that it may fall into the ground and die. The initial processes of religion involve self-denial. Man must be grown up. Many selfish aims and ambitions fall into the ground and die, that out of them may spring a higher and nobler life — the life that we live by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. (T. D. Witherspoon, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. |
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