Jesus was always planting seeds of truth. As He walked with His disciples, spoke to a crowd, or encountered a need, he never missed an opportunity to help people see a larger reality. As Deuteronomy teaches parents to talk to their children about God’s commandments at home, or on the road, going to bed, or getting up, Jesus taught continually. Though we don’t have a record of everything He did or said, we know He often drew from nature to make His points. The conditions in the sky, fruit growing on trees, and the harvest season were all illustrations of the spiritual truth He taught.
God has given us examples in nature to help us see the things He wants us to know. The beauty in nature displays His creativity. The complexity of our world and its ecosystems displays His genius. The roar of a thunderstorm displays His power. The solar system reveals God is the God of order. The way day follows night, and spring follows winter teaches us that in the dark times we can always have hope for the future.
We can look at nature and know there is a God, and He is powerful. We can read the Bible and learn about His character, and see how He works in our individual lives. But, because we are human, we may have doubts about how He is working in a particular situation. His timing is seldom the same as ours, and when we don’t see anything happening, we wonder. Does He care? Has He forgotten?
God teaches us to pray about everything. The Bible teaches us God is always working. Just because we don’t see anything happening, doesn’t mean nothing is happening.
Another illustration from nature comes through our planting seeds or bulbs. We can plant a bulb in the ground, and nurture it with fertilizer and water. Then we continue to care for it by watering it and digging up the weeds that grow around it. Some aspects of its growth, like sunshine or temperature are out of our control. For a time, there is no evidence anything at all is happening. Yet it is. There are things happening below the surface that we can’t see, and know nothing about. All we see is the dirt. But we keep watering. We keep waiting. It’s a process. Then, after a while, a little shoot comes up. When it grows into a crocus, lily, or tulip, we feel that all the time and effort were worth it.
In the same way, in our hard situation, just because we don’t see anything happening doesn’t mean nothing is happening. Maybe there is a rift with a family member, or some other relational issue. We’ve prayed, we have tried to trust God through it, we have done everything we can think of to try to bring healing, but the rift remains. God is working. He does care. He has not forgotten us. There are things happening below the surface that we know nothing about. Our charge is to keep praying. When the opportunity arises, we are to keep planting seeds of grace and love in the other person. Keep trusting God through it. The outcome may not be what we envision, but we can trust God will do what is right. And when we see His plan come to fruition, it will all be worth it.
So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Galatians 6:9 NLT
How have you seen God work, after you thought nothing was happening? Please leave a comment below.
Blessings,
Phyllis
© 2026 Phyllis L. Farringer
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay