Those Who Sow In Tears Will Reap With Joy

Psalm 126:5-6 - Those who sow in tears will reap with a song of joy. Whoever keeps going out weeping, carrying his bag of seed, will surely come back with a song of joy, carrying his sheaves.

Going forth with weeping, sowing for the Master,
Though the loss sustained our spirit often grieves;
When our weeping’s over, He will bid us welcome;
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

(Knowles Shaw, 1874)

There are many stories of people who endured great hardship in sharing the gospel but who, eventually, were able to rejoice when it was time to reap that which had been sown. We remember that even Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him (Hebrews 12:2).

In 1921, David and Svea Flood, a young missionary couple from Sweden, felt called to go to a rural village in what was then called the Belgian Congo. They were full of hope at what the Lord would accomplish. However, the chief wouldn’t allow them in the village, so they set up home half a mile away on the track leading to the village. The only contact they had with the village was with one young boy, whom the chief allowed to visit them twice a week to sell them chickens and eggs. 

Svea set about leading the boy to Jesus and, after several weeks, he decided to follow Christ. Svea didn’t know how sincere he was or whether he really understood what he was doing. Regular bouts of malaria left the couple feeling weak and discouraged. Svea became pregnant and gave birth to a girl who came to be known as Aggie, but, through complications of the delivery and the ongoing effects of malaria, Svea died 17 days after the birth. David was devastated and full of bitterness, feeling that God had ruined his life. He buried the body of his 27-year-old wife and decided to return home to Sweden. Knowing that the journey would be too arduous for his new-born baby, he left her with an American missionary couple who were working at another mission station in the Congo.

Aggie ended up being brought up in America and was eventually adopted by the American couple. She grew up to be a strong Christian and married a pastor, enjoying a fruitful ministry, but she had no contact with her biological father in Sweden. He became an alcoholic and renounced his faith.

For her 25th wedding anniversary, Aggie and her husband were given the opportunity of visiting Sweden for the first time, and Aggie was determined to find her father. Shortly before they were due to travel, Aggie received a magazine through the post. She had no idea who had sent it, and it was in Swedish, so she couldn’t read it; but her attention was caught by a picture in the magazine. It was a picture of grave in the heart of the Congo. On the grave was a white cross bearing the name of her mother - SVEA FLOOD.

Aggie quickly went to visit a friend who would be able to translate the article. It told the story of the missionary couple who went to the Congo…the birth of a baby girl…the death of the mother…the one little African boy who had been won for Christ…and how, after the missionaries had left, the boy grew up and persuaded the village chief to let him build a school. The now grown-up boy ended up leading all of his students to Christ. In turn, the students won their parents to Christ. Eventually, even the chief came to faith. By 1963, there were 600 Christians in the village. The boy eventually became a leader of a Pentecostal church with 110,000 worshippers. What a harvest of souls from one seed which was sown in tears!

When Aggie got to see her father in Sweden, he was very sick and near death through the complications of alcoholism. Now 73, he explained to Aggie that he never meant to abandon her, but it was God who had abandoned them all, and he was in the state he was in because of that. Aggie was then able to share what she had discovered - that her mother hadn’t died in vain - that the one seed she had planted kept growing and growing until the whole village was saved. By the end of the visit, David had come back to the God he had resented for the previous 40 or so years.

Let’s rejoice that those who sow in tears will reap with joy. Let’s thank God for those who work sacrificially to share the gospel. Let’s praise God for all those who are coming to faith. Let’s pray that their faith will continue to grow, that they will be filled with the Spirit and be discipled. Let’s also pray for those who are yet to be saved - that we will be given the stamina to continue serving God’s purposes, empowered by Him to reach out to the lost. And let’s praise God for the revival that is coming and for the large harvest that will result.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, we thank You that You continue to empower us to be Jesus’ witnesses on earth. “Thank You, O my Father, for giving us Your Son, and leaving Your Spirit till the work on earth is done.” We confess that we sometimes find it hard to serve You, but may we be spurred on by the joy that is set before us, believing that You will take the little that we have and the little that we do to bring about a vast harvest of souls, people whose faith will last and who will go on to disciple others, just as they are being discipled. We believe that You are the God of revival. May we be full of hope and expectancy as we anticipate a fresh outpouring of Your Spirit upon our land. In Jesus’ name. Amen!