Read the Psalm 

As we walk along the way with Jesus, we will experience the temptation to run from the hard parts of the story God is telling. When sorrow is the theme of our current circumstances, we often want to find some momentary joy or a bit of escape. When faced with trials and temptations, the tendency is to over-react rather than respond with trust.

The picture painted in Psalm 126 is one of abiding, or staying, with God as this story of death and resurrection unfolds. The invitation is to keep sowing seeds (a metaphor for stewarding one’s life and resources) even as there is sorrow. Sorrow often leads to inaction or retreat, but when one’s heart is being shaped by this way of Jesus, faithful action is the result. Faith is expressed in the words: “those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy.”

The metaphor of agriculture is helpful because a seed goes into the darkness of the ground, seemingly dead and gone forever, but then followed by new life. Much of following the way of Christ is like this. In our modern world, we expect instant results, and we want to know all the answers and reasons immediately. Sowing seeds requires trusting the story of Jesus, not our modern ways of engaging life. 

In the New Testament writings, Paul borrows from the concept of childbirth in Romans 8:22-25 to express how we engage the way of Jesus which is the design of creation:

“For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

Hebrews 11:17–19 gives us a unique insight into Abraham’s thought process as he followed God’s command to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Of course, it is not hard at all to imagine that Abraham might have over-reacted and said: “no, there is no way I will sacrifice my son.” Or, “you’ve got to be kidding me.” He did not react but responded to what He knew of God’s pattern of working in the world. It allowed Him to abide, to remain, to stay in what God had invited for Him.

“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.”

Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead. This is astounding because he had not seen anything like this before and did not have the history of Jesus’ resurrection to draw upon. However, he trusted that if this (sacrificing his son) is what was happening, then God had a plan grounded in His love and goodness as well as His promise to Abraham about his son.

Our responsiveness and obedience to God’s heart often feels like we’re losing everything. It can feel too hard and like we’re losing our freedom and our dreams. However, as Jacques Phillippe comments in Interior Freedom, 

“In order to become truly free, we are often called to choose to accept that which we did not want, and even what we would not have wanted at any price. There is a paradoxical law of human life here: one cannot become truly free unless one accepts not always being free. To achieve true interior freedom we must train ourselves to accept, peacefully and willingly, plenty of things that seem to contradict our freedom. This means consenting to our personal limitations, our weaknesses, our powerlessness, this or that situation life imposes on us, and so on.”

In the Welcome Prayer, Thomas Keating shares invites us to welcome it all:

Welcome, welcome, welcome.
I welcome everything that comes to me today, because I know it’s for my healing. I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons, situations, and conditions.
I let go of my desire for power and control.
I let go of my desire for affection, esteem, approval, and pleasure.
I let go of my desire for survival and security.
I let go of my desire to change any situation, condition, person or myself.
I open to the love and presence of God and God’s action within. Amen. 

Reflection questions: are there circumstances in your life in which you are tempted to stop sowing? In these situations, what will it look like to keep sowing even as you weep?

Prayer: Lord, restore me and renew my life. Give me the courage and strength to keep sowing even as I feel deep sorrow. I trust that You will take what I sow in faith and raise it up to Your glory. I love You, Lord. Amen.