In the Waiting

There is something powerful that happens in the waiting.

As I listened again to the story of Joseph in Genesis 39, a detail struck my heart in a new way. After being falsely accused and thrown into prison, Scripture tells us, “But the Lord was with Joseph…” (v. 21). Not only was God with him, but He gave Joseph favor in the eyes of the prison warden, so much so that Joseph was put in charge of all the prisoners. In the midst of betrayal and confinement, Joseph was still working, still serving. He didn’t sit in a corner and sulk. He didn’t spend his days lamenting over how unfair life had become. He moved and God moved with him.

What about us?

What are we doing in our season of waiting? In those heavy seasons of lament, when hope feels distant and promises seem delayed, what do our hands and hearts choose?

Maybe, like Joseph, someone’s lies placed you in a painful situation. Maybe you’re waiting on a word from the Lord that feels like it may never come. Maybe your heart has been broken again, and you’re quietly wondering, "How long, Lord?" The temptation in those moments is to stay still… but not the stillness of faith. A stillness of sorrow. A stillness that feeds discouragement. A stillness that leads to despair.

But Scripture shows us another way.

When Paul and Silas were thrown into prison in Acts 16, they didn’t sit in silence. They sang. They lifted songs of praise in the midnight hour. And heaven responded. Their worship stirred the spiritual atmosphere and drew the attention of every prisoner. It shook the foundations literally and spiritually. In their waiting, they were worshiping. In their chains, they were choosing God.

Throughout the Bible, we see that waiting is not passive. It is not the absence of action. It is often the birthplace of deeper faith. David, in his psalms of lament, always seemed to end with a phrase of praise. In the lowest valleys, he still acknowledged the goodness of God. Why? Because praise is the catalyst of our faith. Worship anchors us to the truth that God is near, even when circumstances are bleak.

Maybe Joseph serving in prison was his way of fighting for faith. Maybe Paul and Silas sang because they needed to hear the sound of victory before it arrived. Maybe David praised because it reminded him that God had not left him.

And maybe… you’re in a season where the very thing that will build your faith is the thing you feel least like doing: moving forward.

So today, I invite you: worship in your waiting. Honor God in the small, faithful steps. Keep doing what He told you to do, even if it doesn’t yet look like the fulfillment. Move because movement activates your faith! Movement makes room for God to show Himself strong.

He is with you in the prison. He is with you in the valley. He is with you in the midnight hour. His presence doesn’t mean the trial disappears, but it means you never face it alone.

So, like Joseph, like David, like Paul and Silas choose to praise. Choose to trust. And keep moving in your waiting.

God bless you.