Tell me if this sounds familiar: you catch your heart being kidnapped by the idea that you can skip a couple unwanted seasons, fast forward your way through the difficult growing season, and arrive at the harvest when all is good and well.
I don’t know about you, but that’s where I keep finding myself lately.
I feel perpetually stuck in a season I don’t want to be in, and constantly longing to simply arrive at the harvest of that season.
Scripture has graciously reminded me of this truth though: God’s timing is often slower than we’d like, but far better than we could ever imagine.
It’s a sad, but obvious fact - we all think we can do God’s job better than He can. The reality though, is if we knew what God knows, we’d do exactly what He is doing and ask for exactly what He has given us. Isn’t that equally insane as it is relieving?
God’s timing is always good and always perfect. We see this all throughout scripture. Here are just a few:
Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.”
AKA: your life is right on schedule. Good things require God’s timing. Psalm 145:15 provides further encouragement: “You give them their food at the proper time.”
That means there is a good time and a bad time, a right moment and a wrong moment. Even more, James 5:7-8 tells us:
“Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.”
Patience and steadfastness are hard lessons to learn. That means there will be times in your life, in this lifelong journey of sanctification, when all you want to do is quit. There will be exhausted nights when it takes everything not to give in. There will be seemingly hopeless mornings when you doubt God’s good and perfect timing. But stand firm! Be formed into the person God has called you to be – characterized by a steady and unhurried patience and steadfastness. Jess Connolly puts it so powerfully: “You can’t practice perseverance until you want to quit.”
Here’s something else that has helped me keep an eternal mindset: stop living life through seconds and start living life through seasons. Sometimes that means you need to simply acknowledge that you’re in a season of sowing seeds. There isn’t a harvest in the spring, but there’s a diligence anchored in a hope for the harvest - a time to work hard and foster faithfulness.
Let’s make it practical: Maybe you find yourself in a season of longing for a spouse. That’s the harvest - that’s a season down the road. But this season, this current season God has you, is a time to become the spouse your future spouse is going to be looking for. Kill your bad habits, learn to love and serve selflessly by being an incredible friend, be a student of the Word, learn to cook, work with your hands, pay off your debt – do the hard things now that will make you an incredible, godly spouse down the road.
We tell you all this because your current season has a distinct purpose. Don’t waste your waiting! Here are a few ways to wait well in an undesired season:
1. Fight Today’s Battles so You’re Prepared for Tomorrow’s
You can’t get to the grand and noble desires that you want God to bring to fruition until you faithfully walk through the undesirable seasons of discipline and sanctification.
For example:
You might say, “God, put me in a leadership role at work so I can serve and lead people well.”
To which God might respond, “Now is an incredible time for you selflessly serve the people I have in your life at this moment.”
Or maybe, “God, bless me with a spouse I can love in a way that honors you.”
And God might respond, “This is an ideal time for you to take care of your pornography and lust problem.”
Proverbs 24:27 serves us well here: “Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.”
Do the things first that are most necessary. In doing so, you’ll be building a strong foundation for future capacity. Jesus tells us, "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much” (Luke 16:10).
2. Pray
So simple, yet so powerful. Specifically, ask God to reveal what He is teaching you in this season, humble yourself before Him and confess your doubts, and thank Him for His sovereignty and goodness (Psalm 145:17).
3. Continue to Do Good Now
Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Lean into your current season as a time to foster godly conduct, build holy characteristics and be sanctified in Christ. If you rush the process, you forfeit the harvest.
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