Talk To Your Tears

Psalms 126:5-6 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. [6] He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

l. INTRODUCTION -- TEARS

A. General

-Even after having spent twenty years working in the medical field, the human body still has the ability to amaze me. I am amazed at its precision and its ability to repair itself. I am astounded at the resilience of the physical heart that serves as a pump that out-works anything man has ever built. I am amazed at the capacity of the nervous system to process information and direct impulses throughout our bodies without a single directed thought. I am amazed at the ability that the body has to bring small amounts of air into the lungs and mix this with the blood to give us energy, the very breath of life. I am amazed at how the body responds to the insults of surgery and works to heal itself.

-I am continually amazed that despite the fact that the great majority of people in this world abuse their bodies with all sorts of different things, that the body continues to work directly opposed to those abuses and compensate in a vast array of ways.

-But rarely do we consider the importance of tears and the great impact they play in our lives.

-Consider what would happen without tears:

• We could not see. . . Tears actually help with visual clarity.

• We could not blink. . . Tears provide lubrication for our eyelids to blink over our eyes.

• We would have infections in our eyes. . . Tears help to prevent large amounts of infections before they can gain entrance into the eyes.

-Furthermore:

• Tears contain a fatty substance that helps our eyes stay moist.

• When we cry our tears have a different chemical makeup. If we are hurting either physically or emotionally a protein is present in the tears. If an irritant gets in our eyes, the tears are almost 100% made up of water.

• Another important function of tears is that they bathe your eyes in lysozyme, one of the most effective antibacterial and antiviral agents known.

-Consider with me that we are brought into this world amidst tears. Before we ever gain a breath, the pain of childbirth forces tears from a young mother’s eyes as she brings her own portion of joy into this world. . . . but that joy comes with the price levied in tears.

-Around that young mother, there comes more tears. . . . not tears of pain but they are rather tears of joy. This, you see, is how tears of pain and joy can exist singly in a life.

B. Biblical

-Before a rain drop ever touched the surface of the earth, the tears of Adam and Eve had fallen in sad failure.

-Tears in the Bible are apparently in order with some of God’s greatest men.

• Joseph wept.

• Hannah wept.

• David wept.

• Hezekiah wept.

• Ezra wept.

• Nehemiah wept.

• Jeremiah wept (in fact, his head was a fountain of tears).

• Peter wept.

• Jesus wept.

• Mary wept.

• Paul wept.

• John wept.

-We find in our tears a number of things:

• Sadness.

• Blessings.

• Repentance.

• The ministry of tears.

• Love.

• Cleansing.

• Power.

• Joy.

• Hope.

• Feelings.

• Desire.

• Anger.

• Fear.

• Pain.

• Goodness.

• Holiness.

• Intercession.

-Tears could be described in a thousand different ways and a thousand different paths could be described that tears forces us to walk.

ll. THE TEXT OF PSALM 126

-Our text brings us to a very important point of revelation.

-When one looks into the manners and customs of the Bible, there is an understanding that these people who were sowers of the seed would often do so under great duress.

-They often were under the heavy constraints of limited resources and the seed that they took to plant was almost as if they were taking food from the mouths of their children simply to plant for the harvest. Every precious seed that was cast into the ground was very valuable. It was crucial that a yield be brought from this seed cast into the ground. The sower would sometimes plant in doubt, fear, and distress.

-There were the pressures of an enemy coming into the field and sowing tares. There were the concerns of the wayside, the thorns, the rocks, and the birds overhead that could steal the seed from the ground.

-There was a great burden on the mind and heart of the sower. To plow the troublesome soil was heavy work and it brought sweat, tears, and pain from the body of the man who worked the fields.