Being Patient is Hard

 

So be patient, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s return. Think of how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the ground and is patient for it until it receives the early and late rains. You also be patient and strengthen your hearts, for the Lord’s return is near.  James 5:7-8

In the past, my Mom has had me check an almanac to see when the last and first frost of the year will be so I know when to plant. Guess what? Those are just estimates. Turns out no one but God actually knows when the last frost will be. One year we were actually out in the garden in late April or early May transplanting tomatoes and peppers when it began to snow. Not rain, not hail, actual snow. No, it wasn’t even in the forecast. It was a brief, light snow that quickly vanished and most of our transplants survived just fine, but I can tell you we were more than a little surprised!

All God expects us to do is the best we can with what we have/know. Now if He’s given us the information that tomatoes should be planted in soil and we plant them in peanut butter, that’s on us. But if we plant them according to the best we know, then we trust Him for their growth, that’s up to God. Sometimes He’s going to bless us with an abundant crop, but sometimes He will give us seasons of drought and our crops will die.

Does that mean God is mad at us or we’ve sinned? Well, if you have unconfessed sin on your heart, then yes, that’s what it means. Otherwise, no, it’s just a season of learning and growth. He will provide in a different way. He will not fail to take care of us. It will just look differently than we expected it to.

The other thing I struggled with in the garden was the numbers on the seed packet. It told me that I should be able to harvest in a certain number of days. Turns out that is an estimate too and is affected by a number of things like weather, latitude, soil, etc. So, instead of being able to put a date on my calendar, I had to keep watching and waiting.

Here’s the Thing: That’s where Jesus wants us with Him too. He didn’t give us the date and time He’s coming back on purpose. If He did, we’d put it on our calendar and go about our business, figuring we’d deal with Him when the time got closer. Instead, we don’t know when He’s coming so we have to watch and wait, just like we do for the cucumbers.

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