14 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ (Jer. 33:14-16 ESV)
Plants are Slow to Grow
God, through Jeremiah, a prophet, is speaking about the family tree of king David. He’s the David of David and Goliath. God is using the image of a branch, a tree, to talk about a descendent who will grow from the lineage of the family tree of King David.
Isaiah (chap. 11) uses the same image, describing a tree that is now a stump–David’s family tree–but then God causes a small shoot spring up from that stump.[1]That small shoot, that descendent of David, is Jesus.
The gospels of Matthew and Luke begin (Matt. 1; Lk. 3) by telling us that Jesus comes from the lineage of King David. When the angel appears to Mary, he tells Mary that she will give birth to a son who will come from the family tree of David (Lk. 1:32). The Christmas story is the story of how Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy in Jeremiah.
And to describe how Jesus would come, God uses this phrase in Jeremiah:
I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David…
The phrase “spring up” deserves our attention. God uses the same phrase in messianic prophecies in Zechariah (3:8; 6:12) and Isaiah (4:2; 11:1-5). It is an agricultural phrase. It’s used three times in Gen. 2-3 of the Garden of Eden and the plants God grew there. It means “to sprout.” The psalmist uses the same word to describe how God makes the grass on the hills “grow” (Ps. 147:8)..
When God searched for an image to describe the most important work he would engage in–the sending of Jesus, the raising up of the King of Kings from the lineage of King David–he used an image from agriculture.
And you don’t have to be a farmer or a gardner to know that one thing is generally true in the world of agriculture: plants are slowto grow.
I grew up in the Lincoln National Forest of the Sacramento Mountains. We were surrounded by trees. In fact there was a small wild pine tree just outside our kitchen window. I lived in that house from birth until fourth grade. And I never saw that pine tree outside my kitchen window grow. I’m sure it did. I’m sure it was taller when I moved out in fourth grade than when I was born. But its growth was achingly slow. You couldn’t see it grow. You didn’t notice it grow.
About half a mile hike from our home was a patch of wild raspberries. They were amazing to taste. We’d wait all year for them. You couldn’t just hike down and harvest them anytime you wanted. They only grew at certain times of the year. And they only grew for a certain season. And sometimes we’d hike down to the patch, and we’d find that they were all gone. The bears had eaten them. And we’d be heartbroken. Because you can’t just go back the next day and find new ones. It takes a long time for raspberries to grow. You have to wait. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like anything is happening. Sometimes all you see is this tiny little sprout that looks like it’s not going to amount to anything at all.
Plants are slow to grow.
Pace of a Plant
That’s the image God uses to describe how things are going to work with him bringing Jesus into the world. That’s the image God uses to describe the Christmas story. God uses the image of a small plant slowly growing from a stump. Why? I think it’s because God is telling us something important about who he is and how he generally works. And here’s what that is: God works at the pace of a plant. This is what he would do when it came to Christmas and with Jesus. Jesus was born to this woman, Mary, who became pregnant with him before she was married. Talk about a sprout! Then Jesus spent his entire childhood in Nazareth, this backwoods village where nothing important ever happened. And he waited until he was about thirty before he started his ministry. And then he hung out in his ministry with some of the most unsavory people around. And when he finally started, he wouldn’t get rid of the Romans like the religious leaders wanted. And he ended up being executed like a common criminal. Jesus’ entire ministry was a slow and agonizing path to kingship, and the kind of kingship that no one really expected.
Almost everything about Jesus was slower and more unassuming than they had anticipated. Three times John specifically records of Jesus that “his hour had not yet come,” (2:4; 7:30; 8:20) indicating that Jesus was regularly pushing against people’s expectations and against circumstances that were trying to rush him to do or say things. He moved at a pace that few were comfortable with.
But this, it turns out, is the character of God. God often moves at the pace of a plant. He waits until Abraham is 100 before he grants Abraham and Sarah Isaac. He waits until Moses is 80 before he calls him to lead his people out of Egypt. He allows Israel to wander in the wilderness for 40 years before leading them into the Promised Land. God is silent for 400 years between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New before finally hitting “go” on the birth of his son Jesus.
God works at the pace of a plant.
Greed for Speed
And we? We don’t. We have a greed for speed.
When I was young, I wouldn’t wait for Christmas Day to open my presents. I wanted to open my presents now. There was no wait longer than the wait for Christmas Day. The month of December felt like it was at least three months long. Christmas week felt like it was four weeks long. Time did not obey the normal laws of physics during Christmas. It was almost impossible to wait.
So, I often didn’t. For a few years each year my stepmother decided to put a sign on a closet in a spare bedroom in the house each December. Do you know what that sign said? It said, “Do not open.” Can you guess what I did? Of course, I opened it! Why? Because that’s where she was putting all the presents when she bought them or they came in the mail or after she’d wrap them. There’s no way I was going to wait until Christmas. I wanted my presents and I wanted them now.
Most of us don’t like to wait. We don’t do slow. We have a greed for speed.
In his book Skin in the Game, Rick Lawrence mentions a study conducted by the watchmaker Timex.[2]They measured how long we’re willing to wait for certain things. It’s not long.
Just how long are we willing to wait…
- before we honk at a car in front of us that’s stopped at a green light? 13 seconds.
- before we shush people who are talking in a movie theater? 26 seconds.
- before we ask someone who’s talking too loud on a cell phone to “keep it down”? 45 seconds.
We have a greed for speed.
Thom Rainer shares that the “honeymoon” period for new preachers is growing shorter. [3]It’s a period where there is a lot of grace and the church allows the preacher space to make mistakes and learn and grow. In previous years, the honeymoon stage lasted up to two years. It’s now much shorter–from 6 months to 1 year. In some cases there isn’t even a honeymoon period at all. Rainer argues that college football has a much larger influence on congregations than almost anything else. Like college football, churches today want instant success and a “quick fix.” And if they don’t get it, they will quickly change the “head coach,” no matter how long or short he’s been there.
Of course, it’s not just an American issue. In September (2018) we were returning from a mission trip to China. We had checked in and boarded the flight from Shanghai to Atlanta. After stowing our carry on luggage and settling in to our seats, we noticed a commotion across the plane from us. Several flight attendants were huddled around a passenger who was speaking in Chinese loudly. Then some security persons showed up. Then someone looking like the captain of the airplane walked up. They all dispersed. A few minutes later, there was an announcements “Ladies and gentleman, because of an unruly passenger, we’re going to have to ask all of you to disembark and wait in the gate area.” They disembarked all 300+ passengers and we waited for at least an hour in the gate area. We later learned that the Chinese passenger to whom all those flight attendants and security persons and the captain himself were talking was the cause of all of this.
It seems that her carry on suitcase wouldn’t fit in the space directly above her. So, the attendant asked if they could put it in an overhead bin a few seats behind her. She’d still be able to access it. It just wouldn’t be instantly accessible, directly above her head. She’d have to take a few seconds to walk a few rows back to get into it. But the passenger refused. She refused to allow anyone to move her carry on luggage. The entire airplane was disembarked and delayed more than an hour because she demanded instant access to her luggage.
Author Mark Batterson writes that when the Russian comedian Yakov Smirnoff immigrated to the United States, he said that the thing he loved most about America was the grocery stores.[4]He said, “I’ll never forget walking down one of the aisles and seeing powdered milk; just add water and you get milk. Right next to it was powdered orange juice; just add water and you get orange juice. Then I saw baby powder, and I thought to myself, What a country!”
God moves at the pace of a plant. But we have a greed for speed.
Compass or Clock
Stephen Covey captured this difference when he wrote about the difference between living by a clock and living by a compass.[5]I’m going to base what I’m about to say on what he wrote, though I’ve adapted it.
I want to apply this specifically to the way we approach our spiritual lives. It has application to all sorts of things in our lives. But I want to apply it specifically to the way we approach our life with God.
Because of our greed for speed, we live more by a clockthan a compass. One way you can tell that this is true is by listening to the questions you ask yourself or others ask of you. You are watching the clock when the primary questions asked about your spiritual life are these:
- “How fastam I growing?”
- “How quicklyam I changing?”
- “How soonwill I arrive at spiritual maturity?”
What matters most to those of us who watch the clock is haste and hustle. Getting there with haste. Showing lots of hustle.
One of the primary sources of discouragement in the spiritual journey stems from the clock. We despair because we’re not growing in prayer promptly enough or becoming a servant swiftly enough or overcoming anger rapidly enough. We are clock watchers. And clock watching inevitably leads to disappointment because none of us develops or grows as quickly as we desire.
But God is very different.Because God moves at the pace of a plant, God lives more by a compassthan a clock. To be clear, he can act fast and sure. Sometimes he does. But in general, his is a compass character.
And you can tell that you’re imitating that character by listening to the kind of questions you ask about your spiritual life. Here are compass questions:
- “Am I headed in the right direction?”
- “Am I making progress?”
- “Am I pointing at the right goals?”
What matters most to those of us who consider the compass is trend and trajectory. Trending in the right direction. Travelling on the right trajectory–regardless of how long it’s taking.
And Paul understood this. By the time Paul writes to the followers of Jesus in Philippi he has followed Jesus for about 30 years. Yet despite devoting himself to the Christ-curriculum for three decades, Paul is far from graduation. He explains it this way:
12Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:12-14 ESV)
Paul is transparent: “I haven’t obtained Christ-likeness. I am not yet perfect. I’ve not made Jesus’ teaching fully my own.” Even after thirty years Paul freely admits to falling short of the vision Jesus has for his character and his conduct. “If I were a clock-watcher,” Paul acknowledges, “I’d have given up. I’d have quit for my lack of quickness. My forward movement has been too snail-like to suit a clock-watcher.”
But the discrepancy between where he is and where he wants to be does not discourage Paul. Why? Because he is concentrating not on the clock but on the compass. Paul strains toward what is ahead. Paul presses on toward the goal. What matters is being on the correct course, not having an acceptable acceleration. What counts is the target before him not the ground behind him. Paul does not fret about how fast he is growing. Instead he focuses on the fact that heisgrowing—gradually and on an accurate bearing.
Our culture is oriented around quick and easy. We want to over overcome anger in one week. We want to become more kind in ten days. We desire spiritual triumph in as little time as possible. But true life-renovation is neither quick nor easy. It is slow and steady. What matters is the compass. Are we moving in the right direction, slowly and steadily?
Malcom Gladwell, in his book Outliers, writes about the slow work required to master something like basketball or writing or piano.[6]It doesn’t happen quickly. In general, he says, it takes up to 10,000 hours of practice. Since the book came out, the exact number has been debated. But the point is irrefutable. There’s no fast-pass to mastering anything. It’s slow hard work. You’re better off having a compass than a clock.
This is why God moves at the pace of a plant. And it’s why our greed for speed is so very unhealthy for us.
Trust and Try
Jeremiah’s prophecy is ultimately an invitation: We are invited to try and trust the slow ways of God.First, we are invited to try the slow ways of God. This is an invitation to put away the clock and pull out the compass. This is an invitation to stop being so concerned about speed and just focus on direction. This is a call to give yourself space to walk, not run, to breathe, to savor, to enjoy life.
When you get up tomorrow, would you try something? Would you say this to yourself? “I will move at the pace of a plant?” And see what happens. See what you get to enjoy that you wouldn’t have otherwise because you’re not rushing from here to there.
Second, we are invited to trust in the slow ways of God. Sometimes God works so slowly all we see is a stump. Yet God is slowly at work. This is a call to trust in God’s slow work.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote this poem, widely known in Ignatian circles:[7]
Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something
unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through
some stages of instability—
and that it may take a very long time. [Pierre Teilhard de Chardin]
What slow work of God do you need to trust in right now?
In his book AutumnKarl Knausgaardwrites letters to his unborn daughter to prepare her for her life. He writes one letter each day. One letter is about the willow tree outside the window. One day a rowdy little boy climbed the small tree and was so rambunctious that he split the trunk. Karl tied the trunk together and the tree lived. Today, as he writes, it’s November. The three large dark branches are bare. They are gnarled and covered in knots. The split in the trunk is still there and makes the tree look like it’s dead.
But, he writes to his daughter, thought it is “skeletal in winter,” in the spring it will be “filled with life” and “the branches [will] begin to grow” and will be “covered in leaves” turning it into “the feast of green leaves that is the willow in the summer, when the branches grow im ars own to the ground and the dense foliage cover the trunk like a gown.“ (201-202)
This letter from a father to a daughter about a tree that looks dead now, but, if we wait, will flood with life, is Jeremiah’s Christmas letter to us. This is the work of God. This is Christmas.
[1]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C-TcBm_W0AABWhl.jpg:large
[2]Rick Lawrence, Skin in the Game(Kregel Publications, 2015), pp. 105-107
[3]WHY PASTORS’ HONEYMOONS ARE GETTING SHORTER – RAINER ON LEADERSHIP #485 https://thomrainer.com/2018/11/why-pastors-honeymoons-are-getting-shorter-rainer-on-leadership-485/
[4]Mark Batterson, The Circle Maker, (Zondervan, 2011), pp. 134-135
[5]Inspired by Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill and Rebecca R. Merrill First Things First(Free Press, 1996), 15ff.
[6]Malcolm Gladwell Outliers(Little, Brown and Company, 2008).
[7]https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/8078/prayer-of-theilhard-de-chardin
