For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up,
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
To spring up before all the nations. {Isaiah 61:11}
Why don't seeds immediately sprout into trees when they hit the ground? Why doesn't the rain immediately evaporate and fall down again? Why don't flowers unfold as soon as they bud? Why don't eggs hatch as soon as they are laid? Why do we have to wait nine months from conception until a baby is born?
The thing about God is, He could make things happen immediately. But He doesn't. That's because one of His beautiful attributes is patience. He loves gardening. He has all the time in the world (literally...He invented it).
God loves process. It's why He invented scabs.
If that grosses you out, you should probably stop reading here. You're going to hate the metaphor that's coming. But I know that everyone who is reading this has had a scab at one point or another. Don't act like you can't relate.
Scabs are ugly and itchy. They are the gross step between gaping wound and new, soft skin. A lot of times when we have one, we usually just want the process of healing to be over. We think, "Maybe if I pick at this just a little, the new skin will be ready underneath, and I can be done with it."
If you've ever done this, you know that usually the new skin is NOT ready. Often, we just end up prolonging the itchiness and ugliness by poking and prodding enough to pick the scab off. Then we have to start the process all over.
For some reason, it is difficult for us to leave well enough alone. Our wounds are just too fascinating to ignore.
All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. {Hebrews 12:11-13}
When we discover a spiritual wound, we usually don't heal right on the spot. Sometimes we enter a "season of growth" (to use the Christianese term) or a really challenging, stretching, uncomfortable period of life (to use layman's terms)....and we don't get to just pass through in a few days. It often takes a lot longer than we want. There's the process of scabbing--of something new and beautiful growing underneath.
If you submit to the process of growth, things will unfold just like they're promised above: you will be healed. Your heart will "yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness." But if you try to continue to run on a lame leg, or poke at it and bother it as it's trying to heal, chances are, you're going to end up putting something out of joint. If you try to control the process, you will make it last much longer.
This metaphor is getting out of control, so let me explain a little better.
The spiritual equivalent of picking a scab is to whine and complain about the process. Throwing a pity party is painful, but it's the kind of pain we like. I've thrown a few temper tantrums God's way, and I know you have too. I like to complain every step of the way, to everyone who will listen. I have a drama queen side, and it usually comes out when I feel uncomfortable or impatient. It delights to play the victim. There's some type of sweet sense of control that we feel when we complain about what God is doing.
But let me tell you, my friend: picking at a scab one too many times doesn't just prolong the healing process. It creates scars.
God has given me several promises regarding my life. I've been struggling to understand why He doesn't just do what He's told me He's going to do. I'm too American to wait. I like to receive a word and act on it. But if it's God's dream...it's God's process. The verse says that HE will cause righteousness and praise to spring up--not me.
I like goals. I like checklists. I especially like checklists of goals with things marked off. Checking things on a list is deliciously satisfying to me. It makes me sparkle inside. I'm smiling just thinking about it. I like finish lines. I like projects that I can finish quickly. It's why I don't garden. I don't like process, because the most essential ingredient of process is time. And, like it or not, I can't control time.
So I can't leave my scabs alone.
But now I think I've finally learned that, by putting me through process, God is building my strength and training me. He is forming His image in me so firmly that it will be unshakable when I reach the crazy destiny He has in store.
I'm learning that the process is actually shorter when you stop wasting time in immaturity, picking at wounds and being melodramatic, and just sit and wait for Him to heal them. The fruit comes more naturally and more quickly when you just allow Him to grow your character, rather than just "working on it" yourself. We are partners with Him in our growth, but we are not the ones in charge of the timeline.
Walking with Jesus is a process. You will ALWAYS be growing. And here's the worst (or best) thing about it: you'll never be finished. You will ALWAYS be in process.
Because God invented photosynthesis and seasons and the incredible detail in the formation of snowflakes. How much more does He care about you?
But now, O Lord, You are our Father,
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all of us are the work of Your hand. {Isaiah 64:8}
He has made everything beautiful in its time. {Ecclesiastes 3:11}
That means you too.
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