The danger of watching the weather

We can sometimes be paralysed by waiting for the perfect conditions to do something. I found myself in that position a week or two ago when I needed to put fertiliser on my lawn. The packet said that the fertiliser should be applied to wet grass, but it must not rain within 24 hours or it would all be washed away and be useless. The weather forecast was a little vague; a 30% chance of rain. Is it worth the risk? Should I apply it and pray it doesn’t rain, or hold off until it is just the perfect day to do it?

There is a great verse in Ecclesiastes 1 that says:

⁴ He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. (Eccl. 11:4 ESV)

In context, the Teacher of Ecclesiastes is making the point that we will never find the perfect conditions to do anything. If we are just watching the weather and waiting for the perfect time, we won’t end up doing anything at all. It is only God who knows the future; we don’t know if tomorrow will be good or bad or indifferent.

The application of this goes way beyond sowing seed or applying fertiliser. There are two main directions we can apply this faithfully:

1. We should get on with serving Jesus now, not at some future time. Some people think that they will get more involved in church later on, when they finish university, when the kids are not so small, or when their work is not so busy. Let’s be honest: we’re always busy. If we really believe that we need to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength, we need to get on with the job already. Be intentional about your serving today. You don’t know what tomorrow might hold.

• Evangelism will never happen if we wait for the perfect opportunity. Yes, sometimes a person might come up to you and ask you to tell them about Jesus (it has happened in our church several times!), but that’s rare. More likely, your work colleague or neighbour has no idea they need Jesus. You need to pray and plan and seek to create opportunities to evangelise. It is not enough to be theoretically convinced that someone should tell other people about Jesus; we should make an effort to do it today.

I did take a risk and applied the fertiliser, and it didn’t rain. Else, perhaps, it would still be in the packet. Don’t leave your service to God in the packet. Don’t wait for the perfect time. Do it now.