Sow Through the Tears
08/16/2026
Some days faith feels strong. Other days, faith looks like doing the next right thing while your heart is hurting. You pray, you keep showing up, you keep trusting God, and yet nothing around you seems to be changing. Psalm 126 gives us a picture for those days. Sometimes the seed that eventually produces joy is planted with tears still running down our face.
“Those who sow in tears
shall reap with shouts of joy!”
Psalm 126:5 (ESV)
That verse is beautiful in itself but in context with the next verse it takes it to the next level.
Psalm 126:6 (ESV) say,
“He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”
The person in this Psalm isn’t crying because they have quit. They’re crying while they’re sowing.
That’s a big difference.
There are times when we think faith means we shouldn’t hurt. If we’re really trusting God, maybe we shouldn’t be discouraged. Maybe we shouldn’t be disappointed. Maybe we shouldn’t cry.
But Scripture doesn’t paint that picture.
This person is weeping—and still carrying seed.
They haven’t stopped believing that something can grow.
I think there are people who need to hear that today. You can love God and still be disappointed. You can trust God and still have questions. You can believe He is good and still cry over something you desperately wanted to turn out differently.
Tears don’t mean you’ve lost your faith. Sometimes tears are falling right in the middle of faithfulness.
Think about a farmer planting seed. Once that seed goes into the ground, it’s out of sight. He can’t dig it up every morning to see if anything is happening. If he does, he’ll destroy what he’s waiting for.
He plants. He waits. He trusts that something is happening beneath the surface.
That’s hard for us. We want visible evidence. We say things like:
“God, I’ve been praying. Where is it?”
“God, I’ve been faithful. Why hasn’t anything changed?”
“God, I’ve forgiven them. Why does it still hurt?”
“God, I’ve done what You asked me to do. Why am I still waiting?”
Sometimes we mistake unseen for inactive.
Just because you can’t see what God is doing doesn’t mean God isn’t doing anything.
And there’s something else here I don’t want us to miss: the tears don’t stop the sowing.
That’s where this verse challenges me.
It’s one thing to cry. It’s another thing to let the pain convince us to put the seed down.
Maybe you’ve been hurt, so you’ve stopped trusting people.
Maybe you’ve been disappointed, so you’ve stopped expecting God to move.
Maybe you’ve prayed for something so long that you’ve quietly stopped praying about it.
Maybe you’ve served and served and haven’t seen the fruit you expected, so you’re wondering whether it’s worth continuing.
Psalm 126 says, keep carrying the seed.
Keep praying. Keep loving. Keep serving. Keep forgiving. Keep giving. Keep obeying God.
Not because you can guarantee the outcome you want, but because you trust the God who holds the harvest.
And notice what God promises here. The Psalm doesn’t say the person who went out weeping comes home empty-handed with a good lesson about perseverance.
They come home carrying sheaves.
The tears were real, but they weren’t the end of the story.
Now, we have to be careful with this. This isn’t a promise that every painful situation will eventually turn out exactly the way we want. Sometimes God’s harvest looks different from what we pictured when we planted the seed.
But God does not waste faithful obedience.
There are prayers you’ve prayed that have changed you while you’ve been waiting for the answer.
There are difficult things you’ve walked through that have produced compassion in you that wasn’t there before.
There are times you’ve chosen obedience when quitting would have been easier, and God has been building something in your character that you couldn’t see at the time.
And there may be seeds you’re planting right now that you won’t understand until much later.
So if you’re crying today, cry.
God isn’t intimidated by your tears.
But don’t put down the seed.
You may have to sow with tears in your eyes, but keep sowing. God isn’t finished with the field yet.
Action Steps
* Name what hurts. Be honest with God about where the tears are coming from instead of pretending everything is fine.
* Identify your seed. Ask yourself, “What act of obedience do I need to keep doing even though I haven’t seen the fruit yet?”
* Keep sowing today. Pray again. Encourage someone. Forgive again. Serve again. Take one faithful step without demanding immediate results.
Challenge for the Day
Do one thing today that you know God has asked you to do, even if you’re discouraged by what you haven’t seen yet. Keep carrying the seed.
Prayer
Father, You know the places where I’ve been faithful and still haven’t seen the harvest. You know the prayers I’ve prayed, the disappointments I’ve carried, and the tears nobody else has seen. Help me not to quit just because I can’t see what You’re doing. Give me the faith to keep carrying the seed and the courage to keep sowing. I trust You with what grows, when it grows, and what the harvest looks like. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Pastor Jeff
#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign
Some days faith feels strong. Other days, faith looks like doing the next right thing while your heart is hurting. You pray, you keep showing up, you keep trusting God, and yet nothing around you seems to be changing. Psalm 126 gives us a picture for those days. Sometimes the seed that eventually produces joy is planted with tears still running down our face.
“Those who sow in tears
shall reap with shouts of joy!”
Psalm 126:5 (ESV)
That verse is beautiful in itself but in context with the next verse it takes it to the next level.
Psalm 126:6 (ESV) say,
“He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”
The person in this Psalm isn’t crying because they have quit. They’re crying while they’re sowing.
That’s a big difference.
There are times when we think faith means we shouldn’t hurt. If we’re really trusting God, maybe we shouldn’t be discouraged. Maybe we shouldn’t be disappointed. Maybe we shouldn’t cry.
But Scripture doesn’t paint that picture.
This person is weeping—and still carrying seed.
They haven’t stopped believing that something can grow.
I think there are people who need to hear that today. You can love God and still be disappointed. You can trust God and still have questions. You can believe He is good and still cry over something you desperately wanted to turn out differently.
Tears don’t mean you’ve lost your faith. Sometimes tears are falling right in the middle of faithfulness.
Think about a farmer planting seed. Once that seed goes into the ground, it’s out of sight. He can’t dig it up every morning to see if anything is happening. If he does, he’ll destroy what he’s waiting for.
He plants. He waits. He trusts that something is happening beneath the surface.
That’s hard for us. We want visible evidence. We say things like:
“God, I’ve been praying. Where is it?”
“God, I’ve been faithful. Why hasn’t anything changed?”
“God, I’ve forgiven them. Why does it still hurt?”
“God, I’ve done what You asked me to do. Why am I still waiting?”
Sometimes we mistake unseen for inactive.
Just because you can’t see what God is doing doesn’t mean God isn’t doing anything.
And there’s something else here I don’t want us to miss: the tears don’t stop the sowing.
That’s where this verse challenges me.
It’s one thing to cry. It’s another thing to let the pain convince us to put the seed down.
Maybe you’ve been hurt, so you’ve stopped trusting people.
Maybe you’ve been disappointed, so you’ve stopped expecting God to move.
Maybe you’ve prayed for something so long that you’ve quietly stopped praying about it.
Maybe you’ve served and served and haven’t seen the fruit you expected, so you’re wondering whether it’s worth continuing.
Psalm 126 says, keep carrying the seed.
Keep praying. Keep loving. Keep serving. Keep forgiving. Keep giving. Keep obeying God.
Not because you can guarantee the outcome you want, but because you trust the God who holds the harvest.
And notice what God promises here. The Psalm doesn’t say the person who went out weeping comes home empty-handed with a good lesson about perseverance.
They come home carrying sheaves.
The tears were real, but they weren’t the end of the story.
Now, we have to be careful with this. This isn’t a promise that every painful situation will eventually turn out exactly the way we want. Sometimes God’s harvest looks different from what we pictured when we planted the seed.
But God does not waste faithful obedience.
There are prayers you’ve prayed that have changed you while you’ve been waiting for the answer.
There are difficult things you’ve walked through that have produced compassion in you that wasn’t there before.
There are times you’ve chosen obedience when quitting would have been easier, and God has been building something in your character that you couldn’t see at the time.
And there may be seeds you’re planting right now that you won’t understand until much later.
So if you’re crying today, cry.
God isn’t intimidated by your tears.
But don’t put down the seed.
You may have to sow with tears in your eyes, but keep sowing. God isn’t finished with the field yet.
Action Steps
* Name what hurts. Be honest with God about where the tears are coming from instead of pretending everything is fine.
* Identify your seed. Ask yourself, “What act of obedience do I need to keep doing even though I haven’t seen the fruit yet?”
* Keep sowing today. Pray again. Encourage someone. Forgive again. Serve again. Take one faithful step without demanding immediate results.
Challenge for the Day
Do one thing today that you know God has asked you to do, even if you’re discouraged by what you haven’t seen yet. Keep carrying the seed.
Prayer
Father, You know the places where I’ve been faithful and still haven’t seen the harvest. You know the prayers I’ve prayed, the disappointments I’ve carried, and the tears nobody else has seen. Help me not to quit just because I can’t see what You’re doing. Give me the faith to keep carrying the seed and the courage to keep sowing. I trust You with what grows, when it grows, and what the harvest looks like. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Pastor Jeff
#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign
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