Day 342: Lessons From Nature

1 Corinthians 2:9

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him."

Philippians 1:6

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Joshua 21:45

Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.

Today’s devo was inspired by the song Seasons by Hillsong worship, as I was listening to the song a couple of things stood out to me, but the biggest thing that stood out to me is how nature acquaints with not only patience but the promises of God. The lyrics are as follows:

“Oh how nature acquaints us

With the nature of patience...For Your promise is loyal From seed to sequoia”

I don’t know how many of you have ever seen a sequoia tree but they are huge. They are the largest, tallest, and longest living trees on the world. Some of the biggest trees you will ever see. The tallest one is 311 feet high, the oldest one has been living for 3500 years. These  trees are iconic and remarkable. But I am sure they did not end up this way overnight. They did not just sprout up to three hundred and eleven feet overnight. It took time, a long time. While they are the fastest growing trees due to how large they can be and how tall they get, it takes years for them to actually grow as high as they can. It can take thousands of years for them to grow as tall as they are. However, once they start growing they do not stop. The trunk gets wider and they tree gets taller. The foundation grows as the tree grows in order to support its growth.

I talk about these trees because in many ways they can represent us and also God’s promises to us. I love that the song says that God’s promise is loyal, “from seed to sequoia” as many times as I’ve listened to this song it took me a while to catch on the message of those lyrics. It’s interesting that they talk about the sequoia tree as it is the largest trees in the world. From a small seed grows this massive and beautiful creation. In the same way God helps us to grow from a small seed into something massive, something grand and beautiful. He makes us into something we never thought we would be. In the time that it takes to happen He remains loyal. His promises never fail. He remains who He is through it all. From the very beginning God has been there and He will be there for us to the very end, and when it’s all over we will be united with Him in heaven. He is there from the moment we are planted in Him, in the moments when the roots are growing, and we don’t see the growth. That first sprout He is there, as we grow taller and taller, He is there. The thing is He never stops being there and His promises for us and words towards us never change. It’s beautiful.

If you’ve ever seen a sequoia you will be taken by it’s beauty. These trees are so beautiful that you can make bridges out of them. You can drive through the arches of it’s trunk. It’s mindblowing how astounding they are. You never thought you would see something like that. This is how God’s promises are, so astounding that it blows us away. No eye has seen, no ear has heard the things that God will do for us. It will blow us away and leave us in awe.

There is a lesson that we can learn from nature. As the song says, “Oh how nature acquaints us, with the nature of patience.” There’s nothing that will teach you patience like watching a tree or a plant grow. There is nothing we can do to speed us the process we just have to trust the process of growth and wait. We can speed things up but the waiting makes everything so worth it. The waiting makes us want it even more, but if we are patient enough the waiting produces passion. Waiting on something makes you want it even more. My prayer is that the longer we wait on God the more passionate we grow for Him, the deeper we get with our relationship with Him. As we begin to see the value of who God is and the value of His promises. Sometimes waiting isn’t always a result of God “punishing” but it is the realization that God is working on something so great that we  have to wait a bit longer to see what it is.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond to what we discussed today. Respond in whatever way you feel led and let that response guide your prayer. Pray in whatever way you feel led, just take the time to talk to God.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 343!

Day 325: Patience My Love

Psalms 27:14
Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.
This past Sunday at church we talked about seasons, and sang a song called seasons. One of the main lyrics that stood out to me in this song was, “If you’re not done working, then God I’m not done waiting.” This struck a chord with me because it gave me a new perspective on waiting on God. When we are waiting on God we often wait as if we are waiting for our health. We wait because we sometimes think that God just wants to see how faithful we can be while we wait, and that is part of it. But sometimes we act as if God is only making us wait because He can, we act as of God is making us wait for no reason at all. But have we ever considered that the reason we are still waiting is because God is not done working? I must say that this never crossed my mind until this pat Sunday night when I heard this song. We often act as if we are only waiting on God to hand us a blessing when He is good and ready. But when God is done working that’s when it becomes ready.
I love the declaration that this song makes, “If you are not done working, then God I’m not done waiting.” That is to say, God as long as you are working on me and with me, I’ll be waiting. As long as you need to work I will be here patiently waiting for you to finish. Our problem is we want things prematurely, we want God to bless us when it’s not time or it not ready. We want God to use and send us before He’s done working on us. There is so much truth in the statement, “Good things come to those who wait.” I am taken back to the story of the prodigal son who did not want to wait for His inheritance but sought after and got it prematurely. He was not ready for such a blessing yet and we see that as he goes out and squanders all of his money. He comes back to His father with nothing but a lesson. He comes back knowing his mistakes. How many of us have tried to push God’s hand? How many times have we done something before we were ready. God is building us and molding us into the person He wants to be. He’s making us into the person He needs us to be in order to receive what He has for us. God loves us some much that even though He wants to bless us He wants to prepare us to be able to hold and sustain the blessings and riches He will hail upon our lives. It’s like He’s standing there saying, “Patience my love. I’m still working. Sometimes we're like little kids who want things that moment and we don’t want to wait but it’s like God is saying, “Patience, my child. I’m still working.” We just have to wait it out and receive what God is doing in us and for us in the meantime. We get so impatient with God sometimes because things don’t go how we think they should in the time frame we want them to be done. But I don’t know how many times I can say and stress that God’s timing is perfect! He has never been off, not even by a millisecond. He knows what He’s doing. Just trust the process.

All this to say, If God is not done working then we should not be done waiting!

Reflection
1. Have you ever been impatient with God?
2. Have you ever tried to push God’s hand?
3. Have you ever done something you weren’t ready for? If so what was the outcome?

Prayer Time
Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Talk to God about patience and ask Him to help you with it.
I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 326!