Sowing in Tears

Del Tarr served as a missionary for fourteen years in Western Africa, just below the Sahara Desert where the climate is similar to that of Bible lands. The rainfall comes in May through August. The other eight months of the year are blazing hot and bone dry. Dust from the barren wasteland gets inside everything—mouths, noses, cupboards, even wristwatches and Bibles.  

 One day during a prolonged drought like this, Del blew the dust from Psalm 126 and its meaning hit him like a hot wind. Especially verses 5 and 6, which read, “5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! 6 He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”

 Del wrote, “April is the month that haunts my memory. In it you hear the babies crying in the twilight. Mother’s milk has dried up. Most of the days are passed with only an evening cup of gruel. Bellies are in agony for bread. Then, inevitably, it happens. A six or seven-year-old boy comes running to his father one day with sudden excitement. ‘Daddy! Daddy! We-ve got grain!’ he shouts. ‘Son, you know we haven't had grain for weeks,’ Dad replies.

           “Yes, we have!” the boy insists. ‘Out in the hut where we keep the goats, there's a leather sack hanging up on the wall. I reached up and put my hand down in there. Daddy, there's grain in there! Give it to Mommy so she can make flour, and tonight our tummies can sleep!’

The father stands motionless. “Son, we can't do that, he softly explains. ‘That's next year’s seed grain. It's the only thing between us and starvation. We're waiting for the rains, and then we must use it.’

The rains finally arrive in May, then the young boy watches as his father takes the sack from the wall and does the most unreasonable thing imaginable. Instead of feeding his desperately weakened family, he goes to the field and with tears streaming down his face, he takes the precious seed and throws it away. He scatters it in the dirt! Why? Because he believes in the harvest.”[1]

Del Tarr

What a stirring challenge to keep sowing Gospel seed, even when it doesn’t seem to make sense or when results are not immediately obvious. I have felt the sting of tears many times trying to serve the Lord. A sermon falls flat, as it seems people have cotton balls in their ears. A man I am witnessing to about the Lord rejects the offer of eternal life. A long season of spiritual drought when its hard to hear God’s voice and it seems like the Enemy is winning.

 But it’s the sowing in lean times that makes the harvest that much more joyful. The recent months during the pandemic have been discouraging in many ways. However, these past few weeks I have seen the Lord bring an unexpected harvest. More than once, I have shed tears of joy over the number of young people who have made professions of faith. The baptismal waters will be stirring again soon. As Paul said, “Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Gal. 6:9).

I’m glad for the struggle, because it has proven my God to be strong and the Gospel to be trustworthy. I will remember the harvest, so that when I must sow again in tears I will not give up before I see God come through. -DM     

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[1] Del Tarr, “Making Truth Memorable,” Leadership Journal, Spring 1983, vol. IV, no. 2, pp. 66-67.