As I make my way through the Psalms I was struck by another powerful verse that goes well with the heartbeat of Anguished Soul:
“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves with him.”
Psalm 126:5-6 (LSB)
I work in finance and one thing I often hear is: “If only I put my money in [blank] ten years ago!” People are always eager to know where to invest their money in order to get the greatest return. The only problem is that nobody knows the future. We simply don’t know the next stock that will climb the heights of the stock market. So, rather, we have to invest carefully looking back at history and present economic factors to determine what a good diversified portfolio would look like.
Where am I going with all this? Glad you asked. Did you know that the Kingdom of Heaven has an investing portfolio as well? There are certain investments in the Kingdom of Heaven that we are told, by God, to invest in (Galatians 6:8). What’s even better is that we do know the future when it comes to these investments!
Tears
There happens to be an investment in the kingdom of Heaven called: “tears”. And God tells us in advance what the return on investment is for this: “shouts of joy”. We need not be speculative here either because we have this Word from God: “shall”. It is a guaranteed investment. To further explain these “tears” I will refer to my favorite commentator, Matthew Henry, for help:
“…there are tears which are themselves the seed that we must sow, tears of sorrow for sin, our own and others, tears of sympathy with the afflicted church, and the tears of tenderness in prayer and under the word. These are precious seed, such as the husbandman sows when corn is dear and he has but little for his family, and therefore weeps to part with it, yet buries it under ground, in expectation of receiving it again with advantage. Thus does a good man sow in tears.”
Matthew Henry
I would add: tears for the lost souls. You see, in America it is rare for a Christian to cry for the above bolded reasons. Rather we cry when our stock portfolio drops, when our plans are interrupted, and when we get overly stressed. We have become numb to what is actually worth our tears. If we would take the time to “seek first the Kingdom of Heaven” we would quickly realize what is worth crying over. Sin, which hurts God and harms our communion with Him; Lost Souls, as approximately 44,000 people die every day without knowing Christ (probably much more); Afflicted Church, brothers and sisters die every day due to persecution in other countries; and Prayer, overwhelmed by God’s majesty and holiness to the point of tears.
Examine Yourselves
Those things might stir you but that is not my intention. I’ve been to too many mission conferences where I’ve run off of emotion for 2 weeks with eagerness to pray for missionaries just to have that zeal quickly fade. I want something lasting. Something permanent. I want an anguished soul. Odds are, if you made it this far, you want that too. My exhortation to you is as follows: do not look to stir yourself up emotionally. Simply look to Christ. Look to Him to give you His heart concerning sin, lost souls, His Church, and His prayer. Refuse to look anywhere else. Only He can give you a soul that feels what He feels.
Next, take initiative on your own part educate yourself on the above bolded phrases. Read scripture and ask God to reveal sin in your life. Research more about our persecuted brothers and sisters around the globe who are dying for His Name’s sake. Ask Christ to teach you to pray and read the word with passion. Finally, begin to cultivate the mind of Christ when looking at the lost souls of the world.
Action
- Thank God for His abundant mercy and providence over your life
- Confess to God your lack of concern and tears for things that matter
- Ask God for wisdom and Christ’s Spirit to feel as He feels
- Praise Him for His never ending care and concern. That even when we lose focus He remains faithful.