Life isn’t easy. Often, it is hard. We learn we have to pray to God, and if that doesn’t work, we have to plead. Then, say the people, and of course, the Bible, we must have faith that God will come through for us at some point.

Then we have to wait. Then we have to sit still and wait for God to start doing His thing in our lives. The question is, for how long?

Peter (not his real name) is a believer who really tries to live within the will of God. He’s been praying and pleading, but nothing happens. For 45 years! I understand why he’s feeling discouraged, because for how much longer, Lord?

Please forgive me, but what you preach isn’t happening in my life. I plead and plead with God over and over again, but I’m telling you, I’m all alone and nothing, nothing, happens. God forgot about me – the hell I’m going through won’t stop. From 1977 until now, I’ve read the Bible every single day. I’m on my knees every day, but nothing. Absolutely nothing …

I’m so afraid of sticking a too small plaster on a big hurt. I’m so afraid we’re putting a religious salve on a wound that is just too big. When you don’t feel the pressure of the world yourself, it’s easy to throw in a comment from the sidelines casually.

Perhaps these verses will help us get closer to the truth: ⁷Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master’s Arrival. You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. ⁸Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master’s Arrival. You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work.

The first instruction here is to take courage. Keep believing like the farmer that there will come a time when the Father will turn on the taps and bring the rain at the right time. We have no control over some things. The farmer cannot make the rain fall, so he has to wait patiently.

Yet something precedes the wait. The farmer did his part. He can’t wait for the rain to fall to make the seed germinate if the seed is not in the ground. The farmer must do his part too.

He needs to make sure he knows what he’s doing. He must get his implements ready. He must prepare the soil. He must sow and most likely fertilise as well. Only then can he wait until the harvest is ready.

We must do our part too. Perhaps James’ example of a farmer is incomplete because perhaps we still have to do something while we wait. When we wait, when we wait for God to make His part of the matter a reality, we must ask what else we can and must do.

The waiting process is often part of the preparation where our Father wants to shape and prepare us for the next season. We don’t know how much longer it will be, and that’s why I pray that our Father will give us the strength to wait and wait and wait, while, at the same time, we see where we can and should do something.

Scripture
James 5:7-12

Reflection
Are you waiting for something?
How long?
What are you doing?

Prayer
Father, it’s hard for me to wait so long. I understand I must find something to do in the meantime, but what? In Jesus’ Name. Amen.