Patience, we heard this in Sheila’s sermon last week and we find it again in this week’s reading from Luke. I see patience with the gardener who asks the owner of the fig tree to “let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down”. I think we are like that fig tree and God is our wonderful gardener. God knows that if given that second chance, a little encouragement and even some stinky poop, we too can bear fruit. However, there is no deadline with God. Unlike this gardener, God has no timeline to get things right or else. You will never hear God say to you that you have 1 year to get it right. He does not set deadlines, because God is always patient and willing to give a third, fourth and an unlimited amount of chances. It’s okay… I don’t think he is keeping count.
But is this a test? Does God test each of us in our lives? I have given this a lot of thought and ‘I’ think he does not but then again maybe. The word test is defined as a series of questions or problems that is used to determine a person’s ability or understanding of something. More generally, test refers to a trial, experiment, or examination that is designed to determine the qualities or characteristics of someone or something. (taken from dictionary.com). If I use this definition and if I believe (and I do), that God knows who we are and what we know, then why would God need to test us? Maybe it isn’t about his test to figure out more about our knowledge about things, but instead a test for us to understand who we are, for us to see the strength of our faith.
All gardeners know that if too much fertilizer is used it can burn and eventually kill the plant. So what about God, can he give us too much?
Let’s go back to the fig tree and gardener. The reading says that the gardener was going to give the tree some manure or fertilizer, but what if he gave it too much? All gardeners know that if too much fertilizer is used it can burn and eventually kill the plant. So what about God, can he give us too much? I have heard the phrase “God will never give you more than you can handle”. This would mean that what we get in life came from God. Yes, God gave us all life, the world around us and the gifts that we have, but does God give us our illnesses, our wars or fires? Each of these can and do kill people. What about mental illnesses that result in suicide? Obviously that was more than one could handle. In First Corinthians verse 13 it says, “he (God) will not let you be tested beyond your strength” and like a lot of sentences from the Bible, they can be forgetting the second part of it; “but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it”.
If you have been paying attention, you will notice the word ‘test’ or ‘testing’ in this reading from First Corinthians and I can hear some of you saying, “but wait Sandra, the Bible says that God tests”. Yes, I saw that too.
The Bible is confusing some times. What part are just stories to help us to understand the Father, Son and Holy Ghost better and what part is actual fact? Not all of us believe in the story of Noah’s Ark or Jonah and the Whale. Can words be there that were not translated properly and we have to remember this particular letter was written by Paul, who had his own beliefs.
In my mind, God does not give us all the things that happen in this world. Some, like wars can come from people with no care for others, just themselves; fires can happen through faulty wiring or an act of arson and illnesses can happen. But, when we are faced with anything that has us struggling, no matter where you believe it came from, God is there. He may not answer our prayers in the way we may want or in our timeframe, but remember, God has no deadlines, and we need patience. He may send people on his behalf, but he is always there with an outreached hand if we are willing to just grab a hold of it.