Mrs. Price had a little vegetable garden. Everything was growing so well, and she was very happy with it. She had never had a garden before, and she was looking forward to the fresh vegetables she hoped to harvest. Already she had eaten radishes, some beets and crisp, tasty lettuce. Now she could see many pods forming on her pea vines, and her mouth was watering at the very thought of delicious, fresh peas.
One morning she went to the garden to check again on her peas. She found the pods were long, firm and rounded out, so she picked every one of them right then and went triumphantly into the house to shell them. But what a disappointment! There wasn’t one mature pea in the whole batch.
Mrs. Price didn’t know that peas don’t form until after the firm pods are large enough to give the tiny peas room to fully develop without being crowded. First the Lord forms the pods as a protective cover. Then He forms the peas. How careful our heavenly Father is of all He has created. He has created us too and protects us. Psalm 34:77The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. (Psalm 34:7) tells us “the angel of the Lord [encamps] round about them that fear Him, and [delivers] them.” And He has also promised to supply all our needs: “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:1919But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)). But we need patience to wait God’s time.
When Mrs. Price picked her pea pods, she didn’t know that if she had just waited a week or so longer, she would have had many plump peas to enjoy. Have you ever found it hard to wait for something? Children find it hard to wait for their birthdays, when they are looking forward to birthday presents. Teenagers find it hard to wait until they graduate from high school to follow the plans they have made. Grown-ups find it hard to wait until the house is paid for, so they can buy other things. We all need patience; we all need to learn to wait quietly for God’s time. It’s not easy to wait, but pushing ahead of God’s time leads to disappointment in one way or another.
Children need to learn to use patience, teenagers need to learn to use patience, and grown-ups need to learn to use patience. We are never through learning patience. The Lord sometimes sends circumstances into our lives to teach us the lessons of patience. The Bible gives us some instruction about this: “The trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, [lacking] nothing” (James 1:34).
ML-10/22/2000