Sowing while we wait

Ps. 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, bring his sheaves with him.”

While we are waiting for Christ’s return, we are living in a fallen, sin-cursed world where there is indeed pain and suffering.  Here we still experience sorrow, death, and tears.  So, in the midst of our trials, how does our trust in God come forth?

We know God’s universal law of reaping and sowing:  whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.  Gal. 6:7.  This Psalm tells us something even more.  When we sow in tears we will reap in joy.

If, in the midst of our sorrow and weeping, we continue to sow the seeds of righteousness, we will reap a harvest of joy.  Gal. 6:9 promises that, “in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

Trials are common to us all.  Suffering is a sad result of sin that affects each of us.  Christians, in particular, suffer further persecution at times that can cause even more heart-ache.  The promise we have; however, is that even in the midst of the trials, the tears, and the weeping, our faithful sowing will reap joy and we will have a harvest to show for it.

In faith, we can continue to sow seeds around us, even through our tears.  Actually, doesn’t it seem sometimes that the best seeds are planted when tears are present?  Our experiences give our testimony of faith more weight.

Our trials and painful experiences are like fertilizer that gives the seed the extra nutrients it needs to grow strong.  If we can still plant seed and walk in faith even during trials, it gives others the proof they need that God is faithful and mighty; and this can help them to grow strong in the Lord and in their own faith.

I encourage you today, while you are waiting, to continue trusting in God’s faithfulness and to continue sowing seeds.  Water the seeds with your tears, if need be, but continue to sow.  You will reap joy and come back rejoicing, harvest in hand!

Keep trusting.  He is coming again!

jamie

 

 

Advertisement

Training them

Pr. 22:6:  “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

When I went to church this morning, I tried to type a post about this verse, but my wi-fi on my phone wasn’t working very well.  I am glad it wasn’t.  The Lord changed what I needed to say during my time at church.

My Sunday school class was on my mind when I woke up this morning and this verse made me think of them even more; and of my job as their teacher.  Occasionally I wonder if it matters.  This verse reminds me that it does.  As I minister to these 4th graders each week I am training them in the way they should go.  Like training a vine to grow in the direction you desire, we are all training children to go a certain way.  I have been charged with caring for these certain children and I must take my job very seriously, as it has eternal consequences.

I want the children in my Sunday school class to head towards the Lord, therefore I must train them and guide them towards Him.  To encourage growth I have to prune them to get the unwanted or dead growth from their lives.  (the things of this world that don’t truly matter)  To point them in the right direction I must attach the Word of God upon them to hold them in place.  To encourage that they continue on the right path I must pray with them and for them.  I am also encouraging them to pray for one another as they journey together towards the Lord.

Each Sunday I am giving them all the care and attention I can to ensure healthy growth that ends at the only place that matters—with their Savior, the true Vine.  Today we learned a lesson on patience, played games, shared personal concerns, and then I taught them how to look up scriptures in their Bibles.  These things may not seems glamorous while in the classroom with distracted students; however, they couldn’t be more important.  I am helping to equip people to grow in their spiritual maturity throughout the rest of their lives.  I am trusting that God will do the rest once they leave me, and that truly when they are old they will not depart from the truths they are learning even now.

It’s never to late to train, but your example is the loudest teacher.  Stay strong in the Lord and continue your journey.  God will bring the harvest.  What you are doing matters!

Lord, bless my students today and throughout this week.  Let them hear your voice and feel your touch each week as they grow under my care.  Let them remember the truth of Your Word that we learn each week and help them to continue to apply it to their lives.  Lord, please help me not to grow weary in well-doing but to remember that one day You will reap the harvest of their souls.

Happy Gardening!

jamie

The harvest requires work

Proverbs 20:4:  “The lazy man will not plow because of winter; He will beg during harvest and have nothing.”

It is so easy for us to “go with” the seasons of our lives.  If want to reap a harvest in our lives; however, we have to put in the work.  When we stop trying or become less diligent, our harvest will not be what we hoped for… or it may be nothing.  God tells us that we reap what we sow.

Today is our 14th anniversary, and Donnie and I have certainly gone through many seasons during those years.  Here is a lesson we have learned that applies to the scripture today.  If it is a time of winter in our marriage, we have to think about the harvest we desire.  The winter is the time to till, plow, sow, fertilize, nurture all the more.  If we will sow life into our marriages, even during the winter months, we will reap a Great harvest!!  If we give up or give in, our marriage will bear no fruit and may even end.

Likewise, when it is a time of winter in our spirits, that is the time to remain diligent.  We must continue to plow through the Word, till up the soil with prayer and praise, and fertilize our spirits with the teachings of Godly men and women.  If we give in to the feelings of the season, and become lazy, our harvest will not be what we hope.  We will beg while others reap a harvest and we will have nothing.  We can miss out on all the blessings God has in store for us.  We will also neglect pouring the truth and hope of Jesus Christ into others around us that could bring them a harvest.  People are counting on us.

We can use this principle for almost any season of winter in our lives and it will hold true.  We all go through seasons of winter.  We just need to continue to plow…the harvest is coming and oh, how sweet it will be!

Happy Farming!
jamie

Happy 14th Anniversary, Donnie.  I love you!   🙂

Consider the ant

Pr. 6:6-8:  “Go to the ant, you sluggard!  Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.”

We all have times of summer and harvest.  These are good times…happy times…when all seems to be right with the world, the sky is bluer, the sun is brighter.  We are happy.  However, we also have times when we are toiling, tilling, muddy, in pain, tired, and overworked.  There are times when we’ve lost something we hold dear.  How can we be prepared to make it through those dark times, those tiring, muddy times when we feel as though all we are doing is tilling and getting blisters?

Consider the ways of the ant…We won’t go hungry during those toiling times if we have stock-piled while it was still summer.  It can become easy during harvest/summer times of our souls to become distracted and forget to read the Word, continue in prayer, and to seek the Lord’s will.  After all, everything is going great!

Pr. 30:8-9 says, “Give me neither poverty nor riches-feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny You, and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God.”

We can get so full of what we want, and so full of the feelings that accompany summer that we forget the Lord.  Do we only pray when things are going wrong and we need help?  Do we only read the Word when we need an answer for something?  If so, we are cheating ourselves.  God wants us to have abundant life.

That doesn’t mean we get our every desire and nothing ever goes wrong…it simply means we have hope, joy, peace, comfort, and the promise of salvation while we are toiling.  The work isn’t so bad when you know you have a Savior who gave up His life for our salvation.  The dark times don’t feel like the end when you have the hope of a future of salvation through that sacrifice.  The pain of tilling isn’t so overwhelming when you have peace that passes all understanding.  Loss isn’t as piercing when you were storing up promises from the Comforter beforehand, and you allow Him to truly comfort you during your time of need.

Thinking like an ant today,

jamie