118. Lesson From A Bamboo Tree
One of the hardest thing for humans to do is “waiting”. Nobody wants to wait in line, everyone wants to blossom early. That is why the word “shortcut” exists but “longcut” doesn’t.
Life is a Marathon. It takes a long time for humans to grow, get an education and get a job to do what you finally want to do in life. Ministry too is a Marathon. It takes a long time to build a healthy church (or house church). It takes times to build a healthy culture and atmosphere. It takes a long time of waiting and prayer for one VIP to come to visit house church and to know Christ.
If God’s will for us is just performance, then what we are experiencing is not normal. But actually, God’s will for us is not just getting things done ASAP. It is also getting us changed – our characters, ambitions, and motives. While we make disciples according to Jesus’ commission, God also makes us into his faithful disciples, often through long seasons of waiting.
A good example would be Moses. “Prince Moses” was not fit for his use. After killing an Egyptian man and running away from Egypt, Moses spent 40 years, enduring in the desert as a “Shepherd Moses”. Then God finally found him fit for his use. After 40 years of waiting in patience, he was used mightily by God for the next 40 years. The moral of the story: Length of his waiting determined the length of his usage by God.
A bamboo tree grows very fast and it can grow up to 30 meters. A little bamboo tree takes only 6 weeks to become a huge bamboo forest. But many people give up on growing bamboo trees. Do you know why? “5 Years”. That’s how long you need to wait to witness any type of growth. First 5 years, there is no visible growth in Bamboo shoot “at all”. But you still have to give water and fertilizer continually. Those who withstand this agonizing 5 years of waiting get to see the abundant bamboo forest! From then on, it grows by as much as 1 meter every day!
Don’t give up because there hasn’t been much fruit in your life or ministry. When the right time comes, just like the bamboo tree, God will fill your life with abundance and growth. Until then, keep on trusting God and hold your ground.
