Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. –I CORINTHIANS 15:58
Chinese proverbs are common and often have stories behind them. The proverb “pulling up a crop to help it grow” is about an impatient man in the Song Dynasty. He was eager to see his rice seedlings grow quickly, so he would pull up each plant a few inches. After a day of tedious work, the man surveyed his paddy field. He was happy that his crop seemed to have “grown “ taller. But his joy was short-lived. The next day, the plants had begun to wither because their roots were no longer deep.
In 2 Timothy 2:6, the apostle Paul compares the work of being a minister to the gospel to that of a farmer. He wrote to encourage Timothy that, like farming, making disciples can be continuous, hard labor. You plow, you sow, you wait, you pray. You desire to see the fruits of your labor quickly, but growth takes time. And as the Chinese proverb so aptly illustrates, any effort to hurry the process won’t be helpful.
As we labor faithfully, we wait patiently on the Lord, who makes all things grow (I Corinthian 3:7).
Source: – Poh Fang – author
Psalm 119: 38 
Adding the word “all” in “makes all things grow”, without clarification that only God Give Growth, thus everything that grows is by Him, but without realizing that not all things grow – some things or many billions of people and things never grow,
may give a wrong impression , perhaps even humanistic(false or social gospel) ?
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