The greatest tension in my walk with God has never been believing He is able. It’s been resisting the urge to get ahead of Him.
God has proven Himself too many times for me to question His faithfulness.
Not once has He failed me.
The struggle has never been whether He would come through. The struggle has always been in the waiting.
As an entrepreneur, I’ve been taught to move. Solve the problem. Find another way. Push through resistance. Create opportunities. Never accept “no” as the final answer.
Those qualities have served me well. In many ways, I believe they’re gifts from God. But they’ve also forced me to wrestle with an uncomfortable question:
When am I walking in the gifts God has given me… and when am I relying on those gifts instead of the Giver?
Life doesn’t stop while we wait. Decisions still have to be made. Employees still depend on us. Families still depend on us. Opportunities come and go. Waiting doesn’t remove responsibility. It changes how we carry it.
Isaiah writes,
“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength…”
For years I thought waiting meant standing still. Now I think it means something entirely different. Waiting is not inactivity. Waiting is alignment. It is refusing to let urgency make decisions that only obedience should make.
I’ve noticed something about the enemy. He rarely convinces us to stop believing God. He simply convinces us that we don’t have time to wait on Him.
“Make the deal now.”
“Force the opportunity.”
“If you don’t move first, someone else will.”
Fear always speaks the language of urgency. Faith speaks the language of peace.
There is an old saying:
“The early bird gets the worm, but it’s the second mouse that gets the cheese.”
The first bird may get the worm…but sometimes the first bird also gets the hunter. The first mouse sees the reward and rushes toward it. The second mouse waits long enough to recognize the trap.
The point isn’t that being first is wrong. The point is that wisdom refuses to let urgency become its compass.
I’ve learned there is a profound difference between preparing and forcing. Preparation is stewardship. Forcing is striving.
Preparation says, “Lord, I’ll be ready when You open the door.”
Striving says, “Lord, I’ll open the door if You don’t.”
That may be the simplest way I’ve found to describe the difference.
Looking back over my life, every meaningful breakthrough came after seasons where God was doing far more in me than He was doing around me.
The waiting wasn’t punishment. It was preparation. He wasn’t delaying the promise. He was developing the person who would carry it.
Maybe that’s why Isaiah didn’t say those who rush will renew their strength.
He said those who wait upon the Lord will.
Because waiting is where the great exchange takes place.
My agenda for His. My strength for His. My timeline for His. My control for His peace.
Faith isn’t proven by how fast we move. Faith is revealed by whether we can move immediately when God says “Go,” and remain perfectly at peace when He says “Wait.”
Because the goal has never been to get ahead.
The goal has always been to walk beside Him.