Sticking to the subject of Spiritual Growth, which has been our overarching topic for this Bible Study series, tonight we are going to talk about the patience required for Spiritual Growth to happen in the first place.

One of the most difficult parts of the process of any plant or tree growth is the patience to wait for said growth to occur. Afterall, real life isn’t the way it is often depicted in cartoons where a character orders seeds, seeds get delivered, they get planted, it gets watered once and overnight a giant plant or tree grows. It can take generations for a plant or tree to grow to maturity.  

Consider the gif above. Take note that before the top of the plant that we can see with our eyes ever breaks through the top of the soil, there is so much more happening beneath the surface. When the seed first breaks open, the plant’s roots form and grow down, anchoring it into the ground. This is personified in us in Him. If we establish a good, firm foundation in the Lord, we can take root and withstand the forces that will come at us. Similarly, the body of the plant itself grows considerably before it ever breaks through the surface of the dirt as well. Representing what we are doing in these sessions – experiencing Spiritual Growth to prepare you all for the continued challenges life is going to bring to you in this world– not just as adults, but as Christians. Our prayer is that you grow like these plants with the roots, foundations, and stalks ready for what comes next.

Patience, it is said, is a virtue. Patience and trusting in God’s timing is something humanity has struggled with since day one. He knows this, that is why He prepares us for it scripturally, if only we take the time to read and understand.

Click on the verse arrow below to read it.

Christie and I are from the microwave generation. Before our generation, when you wanted to eat a hot meal, it was a bit more of a drawn out process. You had to heat up the stove or oven even to simply reheat leftovers. With the advent of the microwave oven you could reduce that wait time astronomically. That was also around the same time as drive-thru’s and a wider variety of fast food offerings so again, you could get what you wanted, when you wanted it.

The waning of patience then evolved beyond just food. There was a time where, if you didn’t want to go buy a full cassette or CD of your favorite musician, you would sit idly by listening to the radio waiting to hit record on the tape deck after the commercials ended and the DJ stopped talking, and your favorite song started playing. That’s where the term mixtape came from. Now you can pull up a song on Spotify, Pandora, or YouTube instantly and hear only what you want.

I call it the Veruca Salt phenomenon. Anyone familiar with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? The character Veruca Salt’s famous line is “I want the whole world, and I want it NOW!”

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you tried to force things into motion because you didn’t have the patience to wait for things to unfold the way the Lord may have desired? What was the end result?

Movies and TV shows aren’t safe from the Veruca Salt phenomenon either. One would have to wait weekly to catch a TV show – even on re-runs. Now you can binge watch 20 years of Law & Order in the span of a month. There used to be a thing called “Movie Phone” where you would call a phone number and listen patiently to the start times at the local theater to know when movies would be playing to plan an outing with friends, family, or a date with your significant other. Now you just google it. Then when you would get to the theater you would stand in line to buy tickets, hoping the showtime you wanted wasn’t sold out. Now you can buy the tickets online before you get to the theater. And that’s if you want to go to the theater at all, because you can just stream it instead from the comfort of your own home!

Those are just a few examples of where we are with our patience levels on a societal level. As I contemplated and prayed about what I would base my lesson on this week, the Lord spoke to me about something that is affecting each and every one of us that we have made one another aware of and that revolves around being patient and waiting on the Lord, which is even more difficult for your generations now than it is for ours or the ones before us. Thinking about the examples I cited – they were trained to wait. We started getting spoiled as a society in the mid 90’s when Christie and I were teenagers. Humanity started doing things on THEIR time and not HIS time. We stopped appreciating seasons. But the thing is, every season in life carries a specific purpose. Just as there is a time for sowing and a time for harvest, your current season might be one of preparation, learning, or growth. Embrace the purpose of this season, and trust that God is aligning your efforts with His perfect plan. Earlier the question was posed if you had ever tried to force things to happen and how did that work out. Now I want to ask you to think about a time the opposite happened.

Have you ever had a situation where you let God’s plan come to fruition? How did that work out? 

–DC