What Waiting Reveals

(The Spiritual Discipline of Waiting)
June 15 — Spiritual Disciplines | Discipleship in Real Life

Most of us do not struggle with action.

We struggle with waiting.

We want:

• clarity
• direction
• answers
• movement

We want to know:

• what happens next
• when it will happen
• how it will work out

And when those answers do not come quickly, something inside us begins to push.

To solve.
To control.
To force movement.

Waiting reveals how much of our peace depends upon certainty.

1. Waiting Exposes the Desire for Control

One reason waiting feels difficult is that it removes the illusion that we are managing everything.

There are situations where:

• effort cannot solve it
• planning cannot accelerate it
• control cannot secure it

And that reality can feel deeply uncomfortable.

Because waiting reminds us:
we are not as in control as we would like to believe.

2. Scripture Is Full of Waiting

Again and again, God forms His people through seasons of delay.

Abraham waited.

Joseph waited.

David waited.

Israel waited.

The disciples waited.

Not because God was absent.

Because formation often happens in the space between promise and fulfillment.

3. Waiting Is Not the Same as Passivity

Many people assume waiting means doing nothing.

But biblical waiting is active.

It involves:

• trust
• prayer
• attentiveness
• surrender

Waiting is not disengagement.

It is remaining faithfully present while refusing to force what is not yet ready.

4. Hidden Things Surface While We Wait

When answers do not arrive immediately, deeper things often rise into awareness.

Fear.

Frustration.

Disappointment.

Impatience.

Longing.

Waiting reveals these things not to shame us.

But to show us what God may be inviting us to surrender more fully.

5. God Often Works Beneath the Surface

One of the hardest truths about waiting is that much of God's work is invisible.

Seeds grow beneath the soil long before fruit appears.

Roots deepen long before growth becomes visible.

The same is often true spiritually.

God may be doing:

• hidden work
• unseen formation
• quiet preparation

that cannot yet be measured.

6. Waiting Deepens Faith

If every answer arrived immediately, trust would remain shallow.

Waiting teaches us to remain rooted in God rather than in outcomes.

Over time:

• patience grows
• humility deepens
• dependence strengthens

Not because uncertainty disappears.

Because trust matures within it.

7. God's Silence Is Not Absence

One of the great temptations during waiting is to assume:

"Nothing is happening."

But silence is not abandonment.

Delay is not rejection.

Uncertainty is not evidence that God has stopped working.

Often, the deepest work is unfolding where we cannot yet see it.

8. A Practice for June 15

Today, bring one area of waiting before God.

A question.

A longing.

An uncertainty.

Then pray:

“God, teach me what You are forming in me while I wait.”

Do not rush toward resolution.

Simply remain present.

The Invitation

June 15 reminds us that waiting is not wasted time.

It is sacred time.

A place where:

• faith matures
• hope deepens
• trust strengthens

You may not receive immediate answers.

But you can remain rooted in the One who holds them.

Because spiritual growth often unfolds not only through fulfillment—

but through the slow and holy work of waiting.

Monday through Saturday.

One faithful day at a time.