“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” (Eccl. 3:1*)
I was walking around the cornfields near my home. They were barren, empty, and devoid of life. The only sound in the gentle hills came from the wind. I felt like these desolate fields. I had no job, was living with my parents, and was waiting for anyone to respond to my search. I felt like a failure. Why did I leave my teaching position and return home after three years abroad? Had I misunderstood God’s guidance? Had I made the wrong decision? Like the unplanted fields, I was empty.
As I gazed at the field, I remembered a conversation I had with a farmer years ago. He stood at the edge of such a bare field, and I asked him if he would plant it soon. “Not yet,” he told me, “We must wait for the right time; otherwise, nothing will grow.” Now, as I stood alone by the cornfield, I realized that I was meant to be “empty” at that moment. I wanted job offers, but perhaps, like the field, I wasn’t ready. Perhaps if an offer came too early, it would produce nothing in my life.
It’s easy to think that waiting time is wasted time. But the Lord, like a farmer, knows there is a time for everything. Just as the empty field waits for the farmer, we can wait for God’s timing.
Link to the original article: https://www.upperroom.org/devotionals/en-2023-08-31
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* Bible verses are from New Translation of the Bible from Original Languages © Bulgarian Bible Society 2013