Do it, even if in tears

 “Bethink thee of something that thou oughtest to do, and go to do it, if it be but the sweeping of a room, or the preparing of a meal, or a visit to a friend. Heed not thy feelings: Do thy work.” - George MacDonald

May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy! He that goes forth weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. (Psalm 126:5-6)

This fits today. I have spiritual seeds to sow. The tears are not as literal now as two days ago, but the task is still before me. I am not certain the soil is ready for the seeds. Jesus told of various attitudes of receptivity and I rather suspect the soil that is on my heart will be hard, definitely rocky and even determined to reject whatever I say, even if it was something much less vital, like a story about a new bakery or an old pet cat.

Some people are immune to ideas contrary to their own because the idea contradicts their values and makes them feel criticized, as if being told they are not acceptable as is.

Piper simplifies this lesson by saying “When there are simple, straightforward jobs to be done, and you are full of sadness and the 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, a car to be fixed, a sermon to be written). I know you will wet my face several times today, but I have work to do and you will just have to go with me. I intend to take the bag of seeds and sow. If you come along, then you will just have to wet the rows.’”

I wish my seed-sowing was a mere task like washing dishes or fixing a car or even writing this, but it more involved. The tears came when seeing a need and the Lord used them to prompt in me fervent prayer. I am hearing Him say to “sow in tears” and not allow those tears to stop me from trusting His power to use what I say to produce a harvest.

PRAY: Jesus, You promised. I trust You. It seems impossible to see a harvest in this, yet You are clear about nothing being too hard for You. Tears or joy, I cannot imagine how You plan to bring any good out of this. Just help me be obedient and filled with faith that the simple work of my sowing will bring sheaves of harvest, and all tears will be turned to joy.

Called to . . . ?

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37–38)

The main speaker at a writers’ conference talked about writing as a calling. She said that was not the way to consider our lives. “We are called to love and obey God. Today you might be writing; tomorrow He might ask you to do something else.”

Chambers writes about those caught up in what they think is the calling of God. It might be leading a church, or going to the mission field, or some other designated work, yet while their focus is on that, they miss God’s calling to bring in a harvest next door, or in their family, or in a most unlikely spot.

God does call people to certain actions, yet even Jesus was open to interruptions and changes in direction. A far more important issue, whatever we are doing, is earnest prayer.

I cannot dictate to God what I’m supposed to be doing or what I want to do. My decisions, wants, and wishes may not line up with the will of God, even if I pick something noble. Submission to Him is exactly what it says. He is the Lord of my life and I am not. It is by prayer that I find out what He intends and by prayer that I take care of all burdens and desires.

Some of my praying is for the laborers, those who have decided to follow Jesus and who must be supported in prayer. Some of my praying is for those Jesus calls “the harvest” — unsaved family and friends as well as people from various prayer lists and missionary letters.

Prayer calendars also tell me of needs around the world, some of which bring tears as I pray. As Jesus said, I ask God to supply what is needed, all the time aware that in praying for Him to send out laborers, I could be one of those He sends. As Chambers says, pray and He will engineer circumstances and thrust you out, or not. Whatever He asks of me, I’m not to let my age, or health, or any other reason be an excuse to refuse His directions to me.

It is easy to pray as if I know the answer. That is, I have told God how to fix the problem. If a person is sick, I might pray for healing — but what if God is using sickness to speak to that person’s heart? Another person is out of work and I pray for a job — but what if God is using that lean time to draw her into greater reliance upon Him?

Jesus knows there is a harvest, that is, a great many people are hungry for Him, ready to know Him. Their need is to hear the gospel or to have someone explain to them how Jesus is their everything. They need a witness to the truth about God’s mighty gift of salvation.

The Bible says that, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Yet how will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:13–14)

Verse 17 says that faith comes from hearing. God uses dreams, visions, His Word, even the writing of those who write, yet faith is about “hearing through the Word of Christ.

As for me, I need to listen to the Spirit of God and take what He says to the hears of someone else. Our voice is to go out to all the earth and our words to the ends of the world (Romans 10:18).

How do I know when or where or how or what to say and who to say it to? Prayer is the connection to God by which I share with Him the burdens and requests on my heart, but prayer is also the way I find out what He wants from me.

To Live is Christ — planted in the earth

Driving through Idaho we see farmers beginning to harvest. Most crops are still green and cut for silage. Other fields are ripe and golden, not quite ready for swathing or a combine, but full of promise for a bumper crop. These bring back memories of growing up on a farm, and being involved in seeding and harvest time.

My devotional reading talks about sowing seeds too. This time it is not wheat or grain, but God sowing His people in the earth and being kind to them. They did not do anything to deserve His blessing, but He intended to change their hearts and make them His people.

Then I will sow her (Israel) for Myself in the earth, and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ and they shall say, ‘You are my God!’  (Hosea 2:23)

The Bible often uses illustrations from farming. In the New Testament, Jesus also talked about sowing seeds. This time He refers to a basic principle; unless a seed dies in the soil, it cannot produce a crop. 

I tell you for certain that a grain of wheat that falls on the ground will never be more than one grain unless it dies. But if it dies, it will produce lots of wheat. If you love your life, you will lose it. If you give it up in this world, you will be given eternal life. If you serve me, you must go with me. My servants will be with me wherever I am. If you serve me, my Father will honor you. (John 12:24–26, CEV)

I’m not too sure how many heads of wheat grow on one plant produced by a single seed, but that increase is a farmer’s livelihood. It also makes no sense that a seed will grow once it is planted. That single seed seems to rota and die yet something remains and it sends out a living shoot. It grows and eventually produces a harvest.

Jesus is illustrating a principle for spiritual fruitfulness. Those people trying to preserve their lives will lose it when it comes to eternity and to living for God. No one can serve the Lord and be selfish. Instead, Jesus calls for death to self and to all that I want to do with my life. To serve Him, I must die and as He says, this death will produce a harvest.

A harvest of what? The Bible says I am to be fruitful. Jesus mentions this dozens of times. He says, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4) making it clear that to produce a harvest, I need to both die to self and cling to Him.

Some of this is attitude fruit. Galatians 5:22-23 says, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” I know from this and from experience that these things come from the Lord Jesus Christ, and without Him, I cannot produce such attitudes. Selfishness can fake them, but not for long. Eventually fake fruit rots without any harvest whatsoever. 

Jesus also spoke of a different kind of fruitfulness, that which produces a harvest of souls. This is a metaphor for bringing people to salvation through faith in Him. 

But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:36–38)

Some Christians seem to be gifted in soul-winning. They are winsome and bold, able to draw people to God. I’m not one of them. Yet this does not excuse me. I’m to bear fruit in the sense of letting the Holy Spirit fill me with good attitudes, and in the sense of being part of the harvest by telling others about Him.

None of this happens unless He is first my God, and second, I am abiding in Him. This is about total trust and total abandonment. This cannot happen unless I’m filled with the Holy Spirit, as opposed to being filled with me, myself, and I. I have to tell people about Jesus, filled with Holy Spirit attitudes. As one saint says, sometimes I must also use words.

My life cannot bear fruit unless God plants me in this earth. I need to die to all that I want and do what He wants. Each time I see a field of ripening wheat, God uses it as another reminder that this is why I am here.