I am not a patient man. Waiting for something to happen, to see the result of some action I’ve taken is hard for me.

For instance, I worked up a patch of dirt in my backyard to covert it back to lawn. I dug it, tilled it, rolled it, raked it, and seeded it. As instructed on the seed/mulch/fertilizer bag, I began watering it twice a day. Now I can’t wait to mow it along with rest of the yard, but it’s only been four days. As you can see in the photo below, the sprouting grass is barely a half-inch high, and it’s a little sparse. 

While I’m fairly certain that patch of ground will one day be a nice addition to the lawn,  it’s a whole different thing when it comes to prayer and witnessing. I pray for someone who needs help, or share the gospel with someone, or invite someone to church or study group, and nothing seems to happen… crickets. Yet the Bible over and over tells me that it’s my job to plant seeds, and it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to move that individual, or change that situation. To get a guy into a study group may take multiple invitations, and invitations from more than one person, before the Spirit moves him to come.

It’s hard for me to wait. But God’s time is different from my time. My job is to keep on planting seeds, in-person or online.

1 Corinthians 3:6-7 (ESV) I (Paul) planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.