Seed for Sowers

"Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!

He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,

Shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him."

~ Psalm 126:5-6

There are many ways that God's people invest in the future, and we are indeed called to invest in the future.  God's covenant with His children not only runs through the ages, it runs through eternity.  One of those many ways of investing in the future is through the education of children, and that's where my particular emphasis has been; specifically in Christian Classical Education.  

Christian Classical education has enjoyed a revival in America in the last 20-plus years, and it's revival hasn't been without a great deal of blood, sweat, and tears.  So, as I read this passage in Psalms, I am encouraged to continue persevering, for we are promised fruit for our labor.  However, we should also note that the seed with which we sow had to come from somewhere.  Indeed, we ourselves are the fruit of the labors of those who've gone before.  Skipping rapidly through the centuries, we can look as far back as Augustine to Gerhard Groote, and then Abraham Kuyper to see the faithfulness of those who've gone before.  So, as we labor and toil and suffer setbacks, remember that the seed we carry came from previous fruit; and that seed will again bear fruit to produce seed for future laborers.  Thus, is the Kingdom of God built;  thus the reason we strive so diligently to raise up Christian, cultural leaders.  May God bless the work of those hands.

The Call of Deep Unto Deep

In a recent blog, I wrote about the beautiful passage found in Psalm 42 of "deep calls to deep".  Two comments were posted there that are well worth your time to go back and read; one a devotional by Charles Spurgeon, and the other a poem by John Wright Follette.  The poem is absolutely beautiful and speaks so well of the mysteries of the passage "deep calls unto deep."  I'd like to reprint it here for you, and I hope it stirs the depths of your soul, as deep calls to deep.

The Call of Deep Unto Deep

by John Wright Follette

Down in the depth of my nature

Where the issues of life are born,

From that unknown mystical realm,

Surviving through ages of storm,

A call is forever rising -

But its language I cannot speak.

It was born ere I had being,

'Tis the call of deep unto deep.

Our mother tongue here is awkward,

For no words can fully express

The needs in the depths of nature,

In bondage to sin and distress.

Our hearts in their depths surely ache;

They hunger; they call; and they seek -

Then silently wait an answer

To the call of deep unto deep.

Down deep in the heart of our God,

In mystical regions sublime,

In the Godhead's holy council

Long before our world or our time,

An answer was fully prepared

Every pain, every ache to meet,

In Christ, God's only begotten,

Is answer to deep unto deep.

The Answer indeed was the Word,

The Word when expressed was the Son.

Oh language of God how profound!

In answer what more could be done?

The heart of our God is hungry,

His portion, His people to seek.

"I thirst," was cried by the Answer -

'Tis the call of deep unto deep.