The weather has been kind of crummy lately – cloudy, drizzly much of the time, thunderstorms and then downpours. It brought to mind another spring when the weather had been similar.
I hadn’t been out to garden, or to look at my garden, much due to the weather. Then one night, in walking my children out to their car to go home, I took the time to check on my plants. Looking from our window was a disappointing sight as it did not appear that anything was growing at all.
Until I got a little closer.
In going into my garden, I discovered that there were flowers on several plants. The tomato, pepper, zucchini and cucumber plants all had buds. Several of the tomato plants even had very small tomatoes growing. Small but they were there!
The hope of a harvest was beginning to bloom inside of me as well. The beauty of this, was that due to the weather, I had really not done much of anything but plant. Those plants grew in their own way, in their own time.
In gardening, I must be diligent to do my part and the rest, well, much is up to The Gardener, who causes all things to grow.
Life is like gardening at times. We can hope and dream about something. At times, it seems like nothing is happening or maybe worse, not ever going to happen. This is one of the hardest of places to find oneself. Thankfully Scripture has something to say about this hard spot:
“Let us not lose heart in doing good,
for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.”
(Galatians 6:9, NASB)
Let’s look at an interesting word, “weary”, as defined in the New Testament Lexical Aids. It means:
- to give in to trouble
- to become exasperated by difficulty
- to be defeated in spirit, discouraged, or faint-hearted
- to despair
- to lose heart
Another source defines it as “to give up all hope of accomplishing one’s goal,” (from the Expository Dictionary of Bible Words).
This verse is for any of us who have ever felt exasperated, defeated, discouraged, or hopeless.
Let’s face it – life is not easy. But we must not give up. Basically this verse in Galatians is giving us a very simple command, “Don’t quit!”. The only way we will not achieve our goal, or see our garden grow, is if we quit.
In this verse we find the key to all this – “the proper time”.
“The word for “proper time” is kairos. The word is used to describe the opportune moment, the fullness of time, in which God sent His Son into the world” (from the New American Commentary, Galatians).
That proper time is often not something we can rationalize or plan.
That proper time is controlled by
the Sovereign God. “That proper time”
could be rendered, in God’s own good time.
May we hold on to God’s time knowing that His time is the perfect time!
“Things don’t just happen to us who love God,
They’re planned by His own dear hand,
Then molded and shaped, and timed by His clock,
Things don’t just happen – they’re planned.”(as written by Esther Fields)
Reflection:
Do you find it challenging to not grow weary and quit?
How do you encourage yourself to wait for God’s proper time?
Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay
This was such perfect timing for me, Joanna! And a testimony to God's perfect timing. Open to hearing Him even in the waiting times encourages me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lynn - perfect timing! It hasn't been the rain that has kept me from my garden - in one raised bed there are chinese jumping worms (apparently from a bag of Lowe's dirt) - and they have unnerved me. I need to dig in, literally, put on my brave, and go remove them from that bed. It's one of the things that risk leaving me weary - such a good, under-used word. After a busy season, when the quiet comes, I must be intentionally watchful to let weariness creep in and take over. I have time, finally, for this message today - and it's a needed one. I've missed your encouragement!
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