Not yet…Wait!

by Rapha Abreu·August 15, 2023·4 min read

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I have a potted oxalis purple clover at home. It is a flower that hibernates at certain times, and during the day it opens or closes more depending on the incidence of the sun. I want to focus with you precisely on this period when the clover is silent.

Writing the last text on the blog, about burying and planting, I thought a lot about this flower and I’d like to talk about the details in its care.

Process

“…Is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.“

Psalm 1:3

I commented with you in the last text about the importance of understanding the right time to bury and plant, the difference between these two actions. But do you know the similarity between them? Both take place in darkness and silence.

When the clover arrives in the “hibernation” season, we cannot water it or put it in the sun. He needs to be recluse, as if there is nothing inside the vase. It is the moment when we really need to forget about it and, when it grows back, we take care of it again so that it is reborn even more beautiful.

Many times God will ask you to put something in the ground and you will think you are burying it, but perhaps that is part of sowing. The Lord always has 3 answers: the “Yes”, the “No” and the “NOT YET”. In the “Yes” He guides us to water and care for the seed now so that it will grow. The “No” is the Father’s call for you to bury it and not sow it anymore. But the “NOT YET” calls you to bury it now and only after God prepares you and prepares the seed will you receive the vessel again to water it again. In a better time, with more fertile soil and a seed and gardener prepared for it.

Allow yourself to be prepared

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
Psalm 90:12

I’ve had so many dreams. In some of them I clearly heard the Lord saying “Yes”, guiding me to work and making things happen. In others I heard the Father saying “No!”. In these cases, I had to give up and bury it to make room for other, even better things to be born. In some situations I had to bury certain things, even though I was suffering from that and, after a period, having even forgotten that dream, God placed the vase in my hands again. What looked like a “No”, was just the Father saying “Wait, sow other things now, this seed needs to hibernate to be prepared”.

Sometimes we suffer thinking that God is taking everything from us permanently. Some of those things you had to say goodbye because they really won’t come back and were just part of a past cycle. Others were present in old cycles, they left so that other parts of your life could be worked on, but they will soon return at the right time and in the right way.

Maybe if God didn’t take that away from you now, you would have conquered it just for a moment. But He delivers permanent promises, which last forever in a strong and healthy way.

Obedience

“Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever.”
Philemon 1:15

We see an example of this in the story of Jacob. In Genesis 29 God says that Jacob worked a total of 14 years to be able to marry Rachel. She was taken from Jacob, he went through everything he needed to go through, and at the right time, Jacob took her back.

I’m not telling you this to fill you with false hope in some matters in your life. I’m reminding you of this story so that you just trust in God.

You might even ask: “But how will I know if I’m going to get back what I’m burying?”. Here’s the crux of the matter: You don’t have to know, you have to OBEY! Either way He will do infinitely more than you expect.

If God told you to work, work. Plant, water, focus on it, live by the promise. If He asked you to bury it, take that action now, trust without asking what will happen to it later. Many times we don’t have answers because we wouldn’t be able to understand them.

Do not change the order of faith. It is not necessary to see to believe, but to believe to see. The only thing we need to face the word of God is to see it as order and trust. The Lord does not owe us explanations and revelations about the future. Obey and follow Him for Who He is, without questioning where it will lead.