Resilience ResetSample

Day 4: Honor the Pause - God's Waiting Room Has a Purpose

When David's business collapsed after fifteen years of building it from nothing, everyone had advice about his next move. "You need to get right back out there," his brother urged. "Don't let this setback define you." Friends forwarded job postings daily. His wife gently suggested networking events and updating his LinkedIn profile. But David felt something different in his spirit—a call to wait, to sit in the stillness, to let God do whatever work needed to be done before rushing toward the next thing. This created tension with people who interpreted waiting as giving up or lacking faith.

"I keep feeling like God is saying, 'Not yet,'" David told me. "But everyone else is acting like I'm being lazy or faithless. How do I know if I'm hearing God or just avoiding reality?"

The Difference Between Waiting and Avoiding: Scripture is full of seasons where God's people had to wait—and not just wait passively, but wait actively, trusting that God was working even when they couldn't see it. Abraham waited 25 years for the promised son. Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness before God called him to lead Israel. David was anointed king but waited years before taking the throne. Jesus spent 30 years in relative obscurity before beginning His public ministry.

These weren't wasted years—they were preparation seasons where God built character, deepened faith, and prepared His servants for what lay ahead.

What Happens in God's Waiting Room: The waiting room isn't empty time—it's sacred time. During seasons of pause, several important things happen:

• Identity gets reformed around who you are in Christ, not just what you do
• False foundations get exposed so you can build on something solid
• Character gets tested and strengthened through the discipline of trust
• Perspective gets clarified about what really matters
• Spiritual muscles get developed that you'll need for what's coming

After my church firing, a pastor found himself in God's waiting room for months. He'd gone from "Pastor" to "Mr." at a menial job, and the silence from heaven was deafening. But in that pause, God was detoxing him from a title He'd made into an idol and teaching him to trust Him beyond his previous role.

The Worldly Pressure to Produce: Our culture worships productivity and quick recoveries, but God's kingdom operates on different principles. Isaiah reminds us: "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'"

When others pressure us to "move on" quickly, they're often operating from worldly wisdom rather than biblical understanding of God's timing.

Learning to Wait Well: Biblical waiting involves:

• Seeking God's face through prayer and Scripture
• Examining your heart for areas that need attention
• Serving others as opportunities arise
• Building spiritual disciplines that will serve you when the waiting ends
• Trusting God's character when you can't understand His timing

Today's Waiting Room Practice: If you're in a season of waiting, resist the pressure to take action just to appear productive. Instead, ask yourself:

• What might God be trying to teach me during this pause?
• How can I use this time to draw closer to Him?
• What spiritual disciplines could I develop or deepen?
• What false foundations is this wait exposing in my life?
• How might God be preparing me for something I can't see yet?

Set aside time today for seeking God's direction through prayer and Scripture reading. Ask Him to show you whether this is a season for waiting or a season for action. Trust that His timing is perfect, even when it doesn't align with others' expectations or your own desires.

Application: Journal about what this waiting season is revealing to you. What are you learning about yourself, about God, about what really matters? Write down Psalm 27:14 somewhere you'll see it regularly: "Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!" (CSB)

Remember: God's waiting room isn't punishment—it's preparation. Trust the process, even when you can't see the purpose.

Prayer: Lord, You are sovereign over all seasons of my life, including this time of waiting. When others pressure me to move faster than Your timing and when I feel anxious about staying still, help me trust Your perfect schedule. Use this pause to prepare me for whatever You have ahead. Teach me to wait well, not passively, but actively trusting You. Give me patience to wait and wisdom to know when You're calling me to move. Amen.