Tearful Sowing, Joyful Reaping

When I was younger, I believed missionaries were heroes of the Christian faith. Now, as an adult who works with missionaries, that belief has only grown stronger. Those who are willing to sacrifice home, comfort, family, and friends to travel cross-culturally and overseas in order to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to those in spiritual darkness are heroes of the faith in my book. Missionaries are to be honored and prayed for.

The thing about heroes however, is that they usually suffer hardship and endure persecution. Those called and gifted by the Holy Spirit to be global missionaries are training and preparing for a life of suffering, hardship, and persecution on the field. In light of this bitter reality, what our missionaries need is Holy Spirit encouragement drawn from the Word of Almighty God. What they need is strength from the Holy Spirit and a vision big enough to help them “endure all things for the sake of the elect” (2 Tim. 2:10).* I believe our missionaries can find the encouragement, strength, and vision they need to persevere on the field in Psalm 126:5-6.

Tearful Sowing

In this song of ascents, the psalmist writes, “Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy. He who goes out weeping, bearing a trail of seed, will surely return with shouts of joy, carrying sheaves of grain” (Ps. 126:5-6). When missionaries arrive on the field and begin their ministry, they’ll often find themselves “sowing in tears” as verse 5 says. Ministry on the field is hard, so what this difficulty might look like is extreme homesickness, struggling to feel at home with the people and culture of their host country, pressure and persecution from the people and government, physical sickness, demonic attacks, conflict within their missions team and family, and of course, the struggle with their own indwelling and besetting sins which we all face as Christians. In the midst of all this they will sow the seed of the gospel through their words. As the gospel, through the Holy Spirit, works in their own lives, they will live out the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control among the lost. This gospel-fueled lifestyle will also be a seed among the people. Yet, because of the hardship they will face, they will still find themselves often sowing in tears, whether physically or emotionally.

Joyful Reaping

What will keep these missionaries steadfast in their calling? What will keep them moving forward in their mission to seek those who are spiritually lost in order to point them to Jesus Christ, the only Savior of sinners? The answer, which is found in the rest of verse 5, is that they will “reap with shouts of joy.” In Isaiah 55:11, God promises His heroic missionaries that His “word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.” God sends His missionaries all over the world and assures them that His word, which proceeds from their mouth, will accomplish what He’s determined. His word will prosper in the land they’re sent to and what this prospering looks like is that all whom He has chosen in Christ, before the creation of the world, will be saved and discipled in the context of the local church.

Similarly, the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek.” Paul also writes in 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, “But we should always thank God for you, brothers who are loved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning to be saved by the sanctification of the Spirit and by faith in the truth. To this He called you through our gospel, so that you may share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (emphasis mine).

God will call His elect to salvation in Christ through the work of these heroic missionaries. God will do this through their work of verbally sharing of the gospel with others and through their living a life that glorifies and points to Him. Therefore, as Psalm 126:5-6 says, these missionaries who go out “weeping, bearing a trail of seed, will surely return with shouts of joy, carrying sheaves of grain.” Whether it happens in this life or the next, missionaries will return with shouts of joy as they see people saved by God through their ministries!

A God-Sized Vision

Missionaries are strengthened by the knowledge that their work for the Lord on the field is part of God’s cosmic plan. Their missionary efforts will play a part in the scene we see in Revelation 5:6-10,

Then I saw a Lamb who appeared to have been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And He came and took the scroll from the right hand of the One seated on the throne. When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song: ‘Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood you purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign upon the earth.’”

What’s amazing is that the way the Lamb gathers His global blood-bought people is by the work of Christians, including missionaries, going out in obedience to His Great Commission where He commands us to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20). This is a vision so large that it can sustain missionaries on the field as they tearfully sow and cause them to rejoice as they joyfully reap!

Missional Steadfastness

To all missionaries reading this, a word to you directly: You are loved, honored, and prayed for. Although you are tearfully sowing, know that you will joyfully reap as you see people come to know Jesus Christ through your efforts. Therefore, in light of this wonderful truth and promise in Psalm 126:5-6, “be steadfast and immovable. Always excel in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58).

*The Scripture verses throughout are from the Berean Standard Version.