Rachel Whisman

While my neighbors, who are more like family, were away, they asked me to collect the ripe figs off their tree. As I was gathering them, I taste-tested a couple just to make sure they were all good (great post-run snack if you ask me). One was a little sour, even though it looked ready. Another was tart, so it could have used more time on the tree. Some were already rotten and needed to be thrown away. Then there were a few that were just right, and they tasted spot on. The correct combination of sweet and tart. In comparison to the others, still growing, it was blatantly obvious how much better they were than the rest. I thought, “This is what it should taste like.” 

Reflecting on my own life, I have become a little impatient with God’s timing. I want Him to hurry up on some things. I have some ideas on how to speed up the process, get results quicker, and bypass the waiting. However, as I plucked off one fig at a time and tasted a perfectly ripe fruit, God reminded me of the beauty of waiting. It’s not worth gathering fruit out of season. When you do, it tastes nasty or is not as good as it could be. Likewise, there is no merit in being impatient. God’s timing is not off, but mine is. God works in us individually and at different rates, all to accomplish His goal, to make us become more like Christ. 

In the end, it is not worth it. It is mainly not worth it because that is not how we should treat God. He deserves better than that. It doesn’t show Him the respect and love that is due to Him. His timing is all-wise and perfect, even when I don’t feel like it is. His Spirit is what enables us to be submissive to His plans. He will bring what He wants to bring to fruition in us in His timing, and that is worth the wait. 

“The ground of faith is not the sufficiency of the visible means for the performance of the promise, but the all-sufficiency of the invisible God, who will most surely do as He hath said.” -Charles Spurgeon