Wheat vs. Weeds

What do we do when prayer doesn’t change things?

Photo by Dev Asangbam on Unsplash

I was chatting with my Dad about his younger days growing up on a farm on Curaçao. It was fascinating to hear how early he had to get up and go about his daily chores, how he had to deliver farm produce to the different markets around the island and get back in time to go back to technical school. His tenacity to wake up at 4 am to start his rounds is so admirable to me. I sure am happy that when I grew up, the only thing I needed to worry about was if there was enough of my favorite cereal in the morning before I went to school.

While he was recounting his farming days, he told me a fascinating story about growing and harvesting wheat that struck a Biblical chord with me. During sowing time, they would go into the fields and scatter the wheat seeds into the grooves dug out in fertile soil just at the beginning of the rainy season, so the seeds would get plenty of nutritious water to grow. However, a famous tumbling weed also thrives and hides in the soil and grows with the wheat saplings. It can completely overwhelm the young wheat plants and nearly drown them out. If you pull the weeds out while the wheat is growing, it will probably damage the plants or kill them as they will get pulled out with the weeds.

The farmers create some space between the two plants by moving the weed branches away from the wheat, but they pull all plants out at harvest time. The weeds get thrown in the fire, and the grain is harvested and milled for production that will end up in our favorite bread loaves & cakes.

Photo by Francesco Gallarotti on Unsplash

Jesus, in the second parable of the weeds (Matthew 13:24–30), talks about his workers going out sowing out wheat seeds, but an enemy coming in and scattering weeds in the same soil. The workers ask the owner if they should pull out the weeds, but he advises them to let them all grow out and then sift the wheat from the chaff at harvest time. In our lives, situations will come the enemy seeds that are in our fertile soil. We’ve been doing the work to tend to the saplings and make sure they stay healthy. But the sin that so easily entangles us wants to sneak in and interfere with our growth in Christ. Some situations are within our control to trim the dead branches and leaves to bear new fruit.

However, there are times that our situations, even after much prayer, do not change. What do we do then? Do we prematurely try to harvest or go on weed extermination patrol even though we cannot change the situation? God warns us to be still and to wait on him as he is the righteous judge. Watch and see the salvation of the Lord the Bible says, but that can be hard when we see the wicked freely prosper among us. I’m not saying we can’t do anything or not stand up against evil, but I’m saying that when we’ve done all that we can do, we have to trust that the Lord is well aware of the situation and will act in due time.

So here are four things you can do while in the season of W.A.I.T.

1. Watch and Pray diligently as God is concerned about what worries us even when it doesn’t feel like it. His Word says to bring all our cares to Him, and He will give us rest (1 Peter 5:7).
2. Ask God to provide us with the wisdom and discernment to see what we can learn in this season of waiting. He says that He will surely give us insight when we ask him (James 1:5).
3. Intercede, aka pray for others. It seems counterintuitive to be praying for others while you are going through something, but the Bible says that with the same comfort that we are comforted, we can comfort others (2 Corinthians 1:4). When we pray with others, we show God that we are not only in love with our own problems and solutions but that we love others as ourselves by praying for them.
4. Trust that He knows your heart and that He is answering you by maturing you through whatever circumstance you are going through. Sometimes God doesn’t change the situation, but He changes you in the middle of it, ultimately changing the event. So lean not on your understanding but in all your thoughts & ruminations, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you through handling the pressures the best (Proverbs 3: 5–6).

I’ve been realizing the meaning of the words of Paul when he said that he was plagued with a messenger of the satan in his flesh, and when he asked Jesus to remove it, God said, His grace is enough for him.

It’s tough to be in a season when all you can do is pray, hope, and wait on the Lord but remember the Lord will not tarry with His justice which is swift. One day the wicked are here, and the next, they are gone, Proverbs warns. So let us not weary in well-doing and keep pressing on for the prize set us before us, letting go of the sin that so quickly wants to entangle us so that we can receive a bountiful harvest of righteousness.

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