I don’t wait well.
Long drive-thru lines, grocery stores with ten customers and one cashier, even slow downloads make me grumpy. The longer the wait, the more I struggle with patience.
I find it especially difficult to wait for something I want badly.
The grown up version of “I just can’t wait ‘til Christmas” becomes, “Why isn’t my career, financial situation, ministry, relationship, or ____________(fill in the blank) getting better? When will something change?”
I suspect you struggle in similar ways.
You desperately want your husband to get a new job so finances will improve, and he’ll be happier. You struggle with a prodigal child, a difficult marriage, or a challenging ministry, and you wonder when the breakthrough will come. You give and give and give, and pray and pray and pray, and some days you wonder if you’re just wasting your time.
Should you give up on the hope, the dream, the prayer?
James, the half-brother of Christ, penned words of encouragement for times like these:
“Be patient, brothers . . . See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient”
James 5:7-8
Since most of us aren’t farmers, we miss the profound significance of this metaphor. It speaks volumes of hope to those of us who are waiting.
Every day we plant a hope. We water it with effort and prayer—sometimes a lot of effort and prayer. Sometimes years of effort and prayer. And we wait. And we wait. And we wait.
Occasionally we see glimmers of what might be happening beneath the surface, but often we don’t see anything but flat, black earth. Sometimes things even seem to get worse, and we wonder, Is God at work at all in this situation, or is he off tending to more important business? And we grow weary.
What we miss by not being tillers of the earth is the necessary process of waiting. Did you notice that in the two short verses above, James used the word patient three times? Three times.
No farmer expects to plop a seed in the ground and come back the next day to harvest an ear of corn. He recognizes that time, warm dirt, and gentle rain will one day cause the seed to produce a harvest.
But not today. And not tomorrow.
He also knows that the flat, black earth isn’t a barren wasteland. It’s an incubator for growth and change.
How does this apply to our wait? A wise counselor once told me, “It’s your job to plant the seeds, but only God can make them grow.”
If you’re in the period between sowing and harvesting, please don’t despair.
And don’t give up. Continue to pray, sow, and water, and, I promise you, the latter rains are coming. And then comes the harvest.
“He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.”
Psalm 126:6
“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16).
What are you waiting for? If you’ll leave a comment in the comment box, I’ll add my prayers to yours, and together we’ll wait (patiently) to see what the Lord will do.
Does Your Prayer Life Need Refreshing?
We know Bible reading and prayer are vital parts of our faith, but what happens when our prayer lives become stagnant and our quiet times grow stale? We need something more than just familiar verses and the command to pray. In Refresh Your Prayers, Uncommon Devotions to Unlock Power and Praise, Lori Hatcher shares relevant, five-minute devotions that spotlight unusual prayer verses in the Bible.
Each devotion ends with a Power Point (a spiritual truth to empower your faith) and a Praise Prompt (a short prayer designed to magnify God and make your faith soar). The Live It Out section challenges you to apply what you’ve learned right now for immediate change.
If you’re tired of your all-too-quiet quiet time, Refresh Your Prayers is the answer.
The UNcommon Book on Prayer – Unusual Devotions to Unlock Power and Praise
Available now at Amazon.com.
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As a farmer, I can assure you that patience sometimes wears thin here also. As we watch the seeds we sow spring forth with new life, we praise God for the blessing. As the sun heats up and rains cease to fall, the fragile plants wither and die. We farmers lament the loss, but we recognize that through it all, God is still God and He will restore what was lost. The patience sometimes require us to wait until the next season, but because God has restored in the past, we are confident He will again. Still, the waiting is difficult. We beg and plead for His blessing, yet we are slow to praise and thank Him for the blessings He has already given. Our crop failed, but He provided. Our ponds dried up, but He brought extra work to pay the rising water bills. Am ever grateful that His patience with us remains longsuffering.
What beautiful and fully genuine encouragement, Lori. Thank you–I needed this!