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From The Pastor's Pen....
Taken from Day 18 of
Rooted & Rising Devotional
"Trust in the Waiting"
(Isaiah 40:28–31)
Teaching:
Spiritual maturity is often forged in seasons of waiting. God is never in a hurry, but He's never late. In the perceived delay, He's developing endurance, reshaping motives, and renewing strength. Trusting God means believing He's working even when we don't see results.
Isaiah 40 was written to a people in exile, far from home, wondering if God had forgotten them. In their discouragement, the prophet speaks powerful truth: "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom." This is a reminder that God's perspective is radically different from ours. What feels like forever to us is a moment to Him. What seems like delay to us is actually divine timing. God doesn't operate on our schedule, and His perceived slowness isn't indifference—it's wisdom.
Then comes the famous promise: "But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint." Notice the progression: soaring, running, walking. In moments of spiritual mountaintop experience, we soar. In seasons of active ministry and fruitfulness, we run. But in the long stretches of ordinary faithfulness, the daily grind, the mundane obedience, the seasons of waiting, we walk. And walking without fainting requires supernatural strength that only comes from hoping in the Lord.
Waiting is one of God's primary tools for spiritual formation. In the waiting, He reveals what we're really trusting in. Are we trusting God, or are we trusting in quick results? Are we depending on Him, or are we anxious to make things happen on our own timeline? Waiting exposes our impatience, our need for control, and our lack of faith. But waiting also develops endurance, deepens trust, and refines our motives. Think of Joseph, who waited thirteen years between his prophetic dream and its fulfillment, spending much of that time in slavery and prison. Think of Abraham, who waited twenty-five years for the promised son. Think of David, who was anointed king as a teenager but didn't actually sit on the throne until he was thirty, spending the intervening years fleeing from Saul. In each case, the waiting wasn't wasted time, it was preparation time. God was developing character, refining motives, and preparing them for the calling He had given them.
The hardest part of waiting is that you can't see what God is doing. You feel stuck, stagnant, forgotten. Your prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling. Your circumstances don't change. Your dreams remain unfulfilled. But Isaiah assures us that God never grows tired or weary. His understanding is beyond our comprehension. He's working even when we can't see it, moving pieces into place, preparing hearts, orchestrating details, developing us for what He has ahead. Our job in the waiting isn't to figure out God's plan or to force things to happen; our job is to hope in the Lord, to maintain confident expectation that He is good, He is faithful, and He is working all things together for our good and His glory. When we do, He promises to renew our strength. Not just once, but continually. We will soar, run, and walk without fainting because our source of strength isn't our circumstances, it's the everlasting God who never grows weary and whose timing is always perfect.
Illustration:
Think of a seed underground during winter it looks dormant, but it's preparing for harvest. Don't despise your waiting season. It's preparation, not punishment. If you could see beneath the soil during winter, you'd think nothing is happening. The seed looks dead, inactive, useless. But beneath the surface, crucial processes are occurring. The seed is absorbing moisture, softening its shell, sending down roots. When spring comes, the plant that breaks through the soil isn't starting from scratch, it's the result of all the hidden work that happened during the dormant season. Your waiting season is similar. You may feel like nothing is happening, like you're not growing, like God has forgotten you. But beneath the surface, God is at work. He's developing character, deepening your roots, preparing you for the harvest season ahead. The waiting isn't wasted; it's essential. Trust the process, even when you can't see the progress.
📌 Memory Verse:
🕊️ Lamentations 3:25 "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him."
Reflective Questions:
1.What am I currently waiting for, and how am I responding to the wait? Identify specific areas where you're waiting for God to move perhaps for direction, provision, healing, a relationship, a breakthrough. Are you waiting with hope and trust, or with anxiety and impatience?
2.What is God trying to teach me or develop in me during this season of waiting? Ask God to reveal what He's doing in this season. What character qualities is He forming? What unhealthy dependencies is He breaking? What deeper trust is He cultivating?
3.Am I trusting God's timing, or am I trying to force things to happen on my schedule? Examine whether you're peacefully submitting to God's timing or anxiously trying to manipulate circumstances, push doors open, or make things happen through your own effort.
4.How can I actively "hope in the Lord" rather than passively waiting for my circumstances to change? Consider practical ways to maintain hope during the wait: meditating on God's past faithfulness, worshiping, serving others, engaging in community, focusing on what you can control rather than what you can't.
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