Have you ever watched kids learning to garden? They plant something, then are so eager to have it grow that they keep digging it up to see if it’s growing. Sometimes we’re like that in our endeavors. If we’ve sown the seed and done what we needed to do, now it’s time to wait and let God do his part.
Yes, we can water and we can weed, but it’s mostly waiting. The growing part is up to God: I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow (1 Cor. 3:6). We have to trust that growth is happening even if we can’t see the roots. Pulling it up to check the roots will only disrupt the process.
Sometimes our impatience kills the very thing we’ve planted. If we are faithful, have listened to God and done what he has told us, there’s nothing else we can do. We can’t keep pressing; we just need to wait and pray. For some of us, that’s even harder.
36 Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. 37 “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. 38 And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.” 39 But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved. — Hebrews 10:36-39