Not ripe yet

 

 

Bananas take time to ripen.  And those key words “take time to ripen” can mean only one thing, the dreaded W word:  wait.  There are those who attempt to speed up the process, but bananas pretty much take their own sweet time to mature.

I even googled “How long for a banana to ripen?”  And the answer was pretty much “we don’t know” in so many words.  It depends.  They say 24 hours to five days.  We are still waiting.

The pictured bananas are still deep in the process. 

The Bible speaks of ripening as what is ready for reaping or gathering, fit for use, attaining full development, perfection or maturity, prepared and ready for action.

And so we wait for the ripening things of life – such as prayer and changing relationships and hard situations and our own maturing.  Hurry, Lord, we want to say. What is taking so long?

And He reminds us of bananas.  Not yet.  Not ready yet.  Ripening takes time.  Ripening requires waiting.

That may mean His divine readiness of time, place, need, protection and direction.

Or my heart ripening into it. 

I may be the one not ready.

Waiting in God’s vocabulary is not a passive noun, but an active verb.  God says, “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning.” (Luke 12. 35)

                  And “Trust Me in this.  Even in the waiting.”

In the waiting, much is revealed.  Much is redeemed.  And hearts are changed.  Even our own.

It is not what we are waiting for, but what God ripens in us during the waiting.

 

But I trust in you, O LORD.

I say, “You are my God.”

My times are in Your hand.

                   Psalm 31. 15

 

Waiting doesn’t produce answers or hurry up the ripening.  Waiting builds trust.