Persistence

I normally don't post my artwork. But this piece has been on my mind and heart for a while and the theme keeps coming up. I drew this one this week in response to one of my favorite Psalms: 126, with a special focus on verses 5-6: 

Those who sow with tears
   will reap with songs of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
   carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
   carrying sheaves with them.

I've been meditating on this passage for over a year now. What does it mean to sow in tears? For intercessors, like King David who wrote this Psalm, there are seasons in life that are full of weeping, crying, and shedding tears over the important matters in life. I think it shows that there are often seasons in our lives when we need to intensely pray over that which we want to grow in our lives, to the point of tears. What are the seeds? I think they can be anything we want to see God grow in our lives or in the lives of others. When Jesus talked about seeds, one of the most famous verses in the Bible comes to mind:

He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. ( Luke 17:6)

The question remains: What do you want to plant in faith and are you willing to water the seeds with your tears?

Here's another parable that goes hand in hand with the Psalm...

Luke 18

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

 ¹ Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

   ⁴ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

 ⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

It is pretty apparent this widow had a season of tears with the unjust judge. I can just picture her PLEADING with the judge, probably frequently crying and making a scene to get his attention to take up her cause. How long did she have to go to him over the same matter? Enough to wear him down! 

Is there an area in your life where justice is not being accomplished? Is there injustice happening to some one you know? What issue or situation in your life needs to be planted in faith and watered with your tears in prayer before the Lord?

Of course the best part of this is the second part: The harvest of joy and receiving the justice from the Lord!!!