Finding God in the Meantime
Suffering, Sovereignty, Free Will, Faith, and Relational Joy
“For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; weeping may stay the night, but with the morning comes joy.” — Psalm 30:5 (BSB)
We love the promises of God. We celebrate His miracles, rejoice in His deliverance, and testify to His faithfulness.
But what about the meantime?
What about the hours, days, months, years, and sometimes decades between the promise and its fulfillment?
We often celebrate the promise and rejoice in the provision, but underestimate the significance of the pause.
We read Joseph’s story in minutes, but he lived it for years. We marvel at Moses’ calling at the burning bush, but sometimes overlook the forty years he spent tending sheep in Midian. We celebrate Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, but can easily pass over the four days Lazarus lay in the tomb—and the anguish his sisters experienced.
The Bible can summarize decades in a verse, but the people living those decades experienced every single day.
Every sunrise. Every sunset. Every unanswered question. Every opportunity to trust or doubt.
Perhaps some of life’s greatest spiritual lessons are found not simply in the promise or its fulfillment, but in the sacred space between.
And perhaps the greatest provision during that pause is not something God gives us, but the presence of God Himself.
1. The Promise: God’s Faithfulness Is Greater Than Our Understanding
God’s promises are rooted in His unchanging character, not our changing circumstances.
“Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail.” — Proverbs 19:21 (BSB)
We make plans. We establish timelines. We pray, believe, and anticipate results.
Yet God operates according to His eternal wisdom, not our earthly calendars.
Peter reminds us:
“With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” — 2 Peter 3:8 (BSB)
Peter was specifically addressing God’s patience concerning Christ’s return. His words are not a mathematical formula for predicting God’s timing, but they reveal how differently we and our eternal Creator relate to time.
What seems unbearably long to us is never beyond His knowledge or sovereign control.
God is neither hurried nor surprised.
However, faith requires an important distinction: not everything we desire is something God has promised.
Faith does not mean insisting that God fulfill our preferred outcomes according to our preferred schedules.
It means trusting what He has revealed, submitting what we do not understand, and remaining faithful in the meantime.
The strength of our faith rests not in the certainty of our desired outcome, but in the trustworthiness of the One in whom we believe.
2. The Pause: The Years We Sometimes Overlook
Throughout Scripture, we encounter extraordinary examples of waiting, suffering, perseverance, and eventual provision.
Biblical account
The pause
The provision
Abraham and Sarah — Genesis 12–21
Approximately 25 years from Abraham’s call to Isaac’s birth
The promised son
Joseph — Genesis 37–50
Approximately 13 years from slavery to leadership, including imprisonment
Elevated to authority and used to preserve many lives
Moses — Exodus 2–3
Approximately 40 years in Midian
Called to deliver Israel
Israel — Numbers 14; Joshua
40 years in the wilderness
The next generation entered the Promised Land
Woman with the bleeding — Mark 5:25–34
12 years of suffering
Immediate healing when she touched Jesus
Jairus’s daughter — Mark 5:21–43
Jesus was delayed, and the girl died
Jesus raised her to life
Lazarus — John 11
Jesus waited two days before traveling; Lazarus had been dead four days when He arrived
Raised from the dead
Paul — Acts 9:1–19
Three days of blindness following his encounter with Christ
Sight restored and a new calling
Consider Joseph.
He received extraordinary dreams as a young man, but his journey included betrayal, slavery, false accusations, and imprisonment.
Imagine the ordinary mornings in prison.
Did he wonder whether God had forgotten him? Did he struggle to reconcile his dreams with his circumstances?
Scripture does not reveal every thought he experienced, but it tells us something remarkable:
“The LORD was with Joseph.” — Genesis 39:21 (BSB)
God’s presence was not dependent upon Joseph’s freedom.
Or consider the woman who suffered from bleeding for twelve years.
Twelve years of physical suffering, financial loss, and disappointment.
Then, in a moment of faith, she reached out and touched Jesus’ garment.
Her healing was immediate. Her suffering had been anything but.
And what about Jairus?
He desperately sought Jesus because his daughter was dying. Jesus agreed to accompany him, but the journey was interrupted by the woman seeking healing.
While Jesus ministered to her, news arrived that Jairus’s daughter had died.
Imagine the anguish.
The delay that appeared to destroy Jairus’s hope became the setting for an even greater revelation of Christ’s authority.
Jesus told him:
“Do not be afraid; just believe.” — Mark 5:36 (BSB)
And Lazarus?
John 11 tells us Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.
Yet when He heard Lazarus was sick, He remained where He was for two more days.
His love was certain.
His timing was deliberate.
Their grief was genuine.
Jesus eventually arrived and called Lazarus from the tomb.
But before the miracle, something extraordinary happened.
Jesus wept. — John 11:35
The sovereign Son of God, knowing what He was about to accomplish, entered into the sorrow of those He loved.
His sovereignty did not diminish His compassion.
His compassion did not compromise His sovereignty.
The pause is not necessarily a postponement of God’s purpose. Sometimes it is part of the unfolding of that purpose.
3. Five Dimensions of Suffering: Understanding the Night
One of the mistakes we can make when discussing suffering is assuming every hardship has the same cause or purpose.
Some suffering results from our decisions.
Some involves God’s loving discipline.
Some arises naturally from living in a fallen creation.
Some comes because we choose to stand faithfully for Christ.
And some remains mysterious, beyond our understanding or control.
Scripture provides a more complete picture through five useful categories.
These are not five mutually exclusive causes. A single experience may involve several dimensions, and all suffering ultimately occurs within God’s sovereign providence.
I. Consequential Suffering — We Reap What We Sow
Galatians 6:7–8
Some suffering results from our decisions, sinful actions, negligence, or unwise choices.
God has established a moral order in which actions have consequences.
The principle of sowing and reaping reminds us that our choices matter.
Forgiveness does not necessarily eliminate every earthly consequence of our decisions.
Yet God’s grace can redeem what our failures have damaged.
Our choices have consequences, but our failures do not place us beyond God’s redeeming grace.
II. Corrective Suffering — The Loving Discipline of Our Father
Hebrews 12:5–11
Sometimes God disciplines His children to correct, restore, strengthen, and mature them.
His discipline is not arbitrary cruelty.
It is the purposeful training of a loving Father who desires our holiness and spiritual growth.
Hebrews 12:11 teaches that discipline may be painful in the moment but can produce a harvest of righteousness and peace.
For those who belong to Christ, God’s fatherly correction must be distinguished from condemnation.
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” — Romans 8:1 (BSB)
The goal of divine discipline is not destruction but restoration.
III. Natural Suffering — Living in a Fallen and Decaying World
Romans 8:20–23; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Genesis 3:17–19
Not every hardship results from personal wrongdoing or direct divine correction.
Some suffering occurs simply because we inhabit mortal bodies within a creation subjected to corruption and decay.
Our bodies age.
Cells deteriorate.
Disease develops.
Accidents happen.
Natural disasters occur.
These experiences can arise through ordinary biological, physical, and environmental processes without requiring a specific supernatural intervention.
Paul writes:
“Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.” — 2 Corinthians 4:16 (BSB)
Our physical bodies are mortal and subject to deterioration.
Yet Christianity does not teach that the physical body is inherently evil.
God created humanity as embodied beings, and His creation was good.
Sin brought corruption and death into human experience, but Christ’s resurrection provides the foundation for our ultimate bodily redemption.
“For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.” — 1 Corinthians 15:53 (BSB)
Natural suffering may have an entirely natural explanation, but it is never beyond God’s sovereign knowledge or care.
We are not necessarily suffering because of something we did. We are all living within a creation that has not yet experienced its final restoration.
IV. Persecutory Suffering — The Cost of Faithful Obedience
Matthew 5:10–12; Acts 5:41; Philippians 1:29; 1 Peter 4:12–16
This category highlights a remarkable interaction between God’s sovereignty and our God-given responsibility to exercise free will.
Sometimes we knowingly choose to stand for Christ, proclaim truth, practice righteousness, or refuse to compromise our convictions.
As a result, we may experience rejection, hostility, injustice, imprisonment, or even death.
We do not necessarily choose the suffering itself.
We choose faithfulness, knowing suffering may be the consequence.
Jesus warned His disciples:
“If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.” — John 15:18 (BSB)
Peter and Paul repeatedly chose obedience despite knowing that opposition could follow.
And what an extraordinary response we find in Acts 5:41:
The apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Jesus.
They had been beaten.
Yet they rejoiced.
Not because physical pain was pleasurable, but because they considered it an honor to remain faithful to Christ.
Paul and Silas offer another beautiful example.
In Acts 16, they were beaten, imprisoned, and placed in stocks.
Yet around midnight they were praying and singing hymns to God.
They were singing in the middle of their night, before the prison doors opened.
Their worship preceded their deliverance.
Their joy was not dependent upon their release.
Persecutory suffering is distinct because the suffering arises from allegiance to Christ or righteousness rather than personal wrongdoing.
It also reminds us that faithful obedience can be costly.
The world may respond with hostility, but we must not confuse human hostility with God’s wrath.
And persecution does not always follow a conscious decision to invite danger. Sometimes it arrives unexpectedly simply because we belong to Christ.
Faithfulness does not guarantee freedom from suffering. Sometimes faithfulness is precisely what brings suffering.
V. Mysterious Providential Suffering — When the Reason Is Beyond Our Understanding
Job 1–2; John 9:1–3; Romans 8:28; Deuteronomy 29:29
Some hardships arrive without our choosing them and without a clear explanation.
Job did not choose his calamities.
The man born blind in John 9 did not choose his condition.
Their suffering unfolded within God’s sovereign providence, even though its causes and purposes were not fully understood by those experiencing it.
This category differs from persecutory suffering in an important way.
Persecutory suffering often involves our conscious commitment to righteousness despite opposition.
Mysterious providential suffering involves circumstances whose arrival, cause, or purpose may lie outside our control or understanding.
Yet God’s sovereignty encompasses both.
We must also resist the temptation to assign a specific divine purpose to every tragedy.
Sometimes we simply do not know why.
That is where humility must accompany faith.
God may allow the night without having caused it as punishment, yet He remains sovereign over what He accomplishes through it.
Five Dimensions, One Sovereign God
Dimension
Primary distinction
Our faithful response
Consequential
Suffering resulting from our choices or actions
Repent where necessary, learn, and make wiser decisions
Corrective
God’s loving discipline and training
Receive correction with humility and grow
Natural
Mortality and the ordinary processes of a fallen creation
Seek appropriate care, persevere, and hope in resurrection
Persecutory
Opposition arising from faithfulness to Christ
Stand firm, love our enemies, and rejoice in belonging to Him
Mysterious Providential
Suffering whose cause or purpose is not fully known
Trust God’s character and remain faithful
One overarching truth unites all five:
God can work redemptively through every form of suffering without being the author of sin or evil.
4. The God Who Knows, the Savior Who Understands, and the Spirit Who Abides
There is something extraordinary about the incarnation of Jesus Christ that brings tremendous comfort to those who suffer.
God is omniscient.
He possesses perfect knowledge of all things.
Nothing surprises Him.
Nothing is hidden from His understanding.
Yet through the incarnation, the eternal Son of God entered human history and experienced human life personally.
Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man.
He experienced hunger, exhaustion, rejection, grief, temptation, physical pain, and death.
He healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, and raised the dead.
Yet He Himself suffered.
He could calm the storm, yet He allowed Himself to endure the storm of human suffering.
Hebrews 4:15 tells us that we do not have a High Priest unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who was tempted as we are, yet without sin.
And Hebrews 5:8 tells us:
“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered.” (BSB)
How can the omniscient Son of God learn?
Here we encounter the profound mystery of the incarnation.
In His divine nature, Christ has always possessed perfect knowledge.
In His genuine human life, He experienced growth, learning, obedience, and suffering.
He did not become more omniscient through the incarnation.
Rather, He personally lived the human experience through His assumed human nature.
God did not need to become human to acquire knowledge of our suffering. But in Jesus Christ, God the Son truly entered our suffering and became our sympathetic High Priest.
What a source of connection!
When we pray about exhaustion, rejection, betrayal, sorrow, temptation, or pain, we are not speaking to a Savior unfamiliar with these experiences.
He has walked among us.
He has wept.
He has suffered.
He has endured.
And He has overcome.
Even more remarkably, the Holy Spirit continues to abide with God’s children, helping us in our weakness and interceding according to God’s will (Romans 8:26–27).
The Father knows our suffering in perfect wisdom.
The Son has entered our suffering through His humanity.
The Holy Spirit sustains us through His abiding presence.
The Triune God is not distant from our suffering. He is our ultimate source of comfort, strength, and hope within it.
5. Friday, Saturday, Sunday: The Greatest Promise, Pause, and Provision
Perhaps no event illustrates these truths more powerfully than the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Friday — The Darkness of the Cross
Betrayal.
Injustice.
Mockery.
Physical suffering.
Crucifixion.
To the disciples, everything seemed lost.
The One they believed to be the Messiah was dead.
Their expectations were shattered.
Yet what appeared to be the greatest defeat in history was the accomplishment of God’s redemptive plan.
Jesus declared:
“It is finished.” — John 19:30 (BSB)
Not, I am finished.
But, It is finished.
His atoning sacrifice was complete.
Saturday — The Silence of the Tomb
This is the day we often overlook.
The cross had occurred, but the resurrection had not yet been revealed.
The disciples were left with grief, confusion, fear, and unanswered questions.
Heaven’s redemptive plan had not failed, but they could not yet see its fulfillment.
Saturday represents those seasons when God appears silent.
When prayers seem unanswered.
When the promise seems distant.
When all we can do is wait.
Yet the silence of Saturday did not mean God’s purposes had been abandoned.
God was not absent simply because His followers could not see what He was accomplishing.
Sunday — The Glory of the Resurrection
Then came the morning.
The stone was rolled away.
The tomb was empty.
Christ had risen!
Death was defeated, the sacrifice vindicated, and the hope of redemption gloriously revealed.
Jesus had already told His disciples:
“You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.” — John 16:20 (BSB)
Notice the extraordinary wording.
Their grief would not merely be followed by joy.
Their grief would turn to joy.
The very event that caused their despair became the foundation of their everlasting hope.
Friday was real.
Saturday was a genuine season of waiting and grief.
But Sunday revealed that neither suffering nor death would have the final word.
Friday reminds us that suffering is real. Saturday reminds us that waiting requires faith. Sunday reminds us that Christ has already secured the ultimate victory.
6. Joy Is Relational Before It Is Circumstantial
This may be one of the most important truths we can learn about suffering.
We often associate joy with favorable circumstances.
A prayer answered.
A disease healed.
A relationship restored.
A financial burden lifted.
A long-awaited breakthrough.
And these are certainly occasions for rejoicing.
But biblical joy reaches much deeper.
Jesus told His disciples:
“I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” — John 15:11 (BSB)
Notice His words:
My joy may be in you.
Christian joy is not merely an emotional response to favorable circumstances.
It is rooted in our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Happiness is often circumstantial.
Joy is fundamentally relational and eternal.
Paul captures this remarkable reality in four words:
“Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” — 2 Corinthians 6:10 (BSB)
Not sorrowful or rejoicing.
Both.
We can grieve and still trust.
We can suffer and still worship.
We can wait and still rejoice.
This does not mean Christians must pretend to be happy.
Jesus wept at Lazarus’s tomb.
He experienced deep anguish in Gethsemane.
Paul openly described his afflictions.
The Christian life does not require denying our humanity.
Rather, it invites us to experience the sustaining presence of God within our humanity.
Joy is not merely waiting for us on the other side of suffering. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, joy can already be present in the darkness.
And sometimes that joy becomes most visible when circumstances offer little reason for happiness.
Like Paul and Silas singing in prison.
Like the apostles rejoicing after persecution.
Like believers throughout history who have endured suffering while clinging to the promises of Christ.
Their joy was not rooted in the absence of pain.
It was rooted in the presence of their Savior.
7. 100% Squared: God’s Sovereignty and Our Responsibility
Our previous Pondering Life reflections on sovereignty and free will fit beautifully into this discussion.
100% God’s Sovereignty × 100% Human Responsibility.
These realities are not competing percentages.
They coexist within the mystery of God’s relationship with His creation.
We cannot control every circumstance.
We cannot determine the length of every trial.
We cannot command God to act according to our timetable.
Yet we remain responsible for our choices, our obedience, our attitudes, and our response to the opportunities before us.
Persecutory suffering especially highlights our responsibility to choose faithfulness despite opposition.
Mysterious providential suffering especially highlights our dependence upon God’s sovereignty when circumstances lie beyond our control.
But both sovereignty and responsibility are present in every category.
Joseph’s brothers freely chose evil.
Yet Joseph later declared:
“As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good.” — Genesis 50:20 (BSB)
The brothers remained responsible for their actions.
God remained sovereign over the outcome.
And His redemptive purpose prevailed.
The cross itself provides the supreme example.
Acts 2:23 describes Jesus being handed over according to God’s predetermined plan and foreknowledge, while those who crucified Him remained responsible for their wicked actions.
Human responsibility was real.
Divine sovereignty was real.
And God’s redemptive purpose was accomplished.
We are not responsible for controlling God’s providence. We are responsible for faithfully responding within it.
8. Head, Heart, and Hands: Living Faithfully in the Meantime
So how do we live while waiting for the dawn?
Peter provides a beautiful answer:
“Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy.” — 1 Peter 1:8 (BSB)
That kind of joy is not naive optimism.
It is settled confidence in the character and promises of God.
It is singing when we don’t feel like singing.
Obeying when we don’t fully understand.
Serving when we feel empty.
Praying when answers seem distant.
Taking another faithful step when we cannot see the entire path.
These are not attempts to earn God’s favor.
They are responses to the grace we have already received through Jesus Christ.
Our familiar Head–Heart–Hands framework gives us a practical way to live out that faith.
HEAD — Know What Never Changes
God is sovereign.
God is good.
God is faithful.
His promises are trustworthy even when His timing remains mysterious.
We must distinguish between what God has clearly revealed and what we merely hope He will do.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” — Proverbs 3:5 (BSB)
HEART — Trust the One Who Holds Tomorrow
Faith does not require understanding every detail of God’s plan.
It requires confidence in the One who holds the plan.
We can bring our doubts, disappointments, grief, and questions honestly before Him.
Biblical faith is not the absence of emotion.
It is trust that perseveres through emotion.
And because joy is relational, we can experience fellowship with Christ even when our circumstances remain unchanged.
HANDS — Act Faithfully Today
Waiting upon the LORD does not always mean inactivity.
Sometimes it means working, serving, preparing, persevering, and obeying while entrusting the outcome to Him.
We cannot control God’s timetable.
But we can respond faithfully to the opportunities and responsibilities He places before us.
One prayer.
One act of kindness.
One courageous stand for truth.
One step of obedience.
One more day of perseverance.
And then another.
Small, consistent acts of faithfulness matter.
Our Head knows His promises. Our Heart trusts His character. Our Hands respond in faithful obedience.
Not to manipulate God into acting sooner, but to honor Him in the meantime.
9. When the Morning Does Not Come in This Lifetime
There is one more truth we must acknowledge.
Not every believer experiences earthly deliverance.
Hebrews 11 describes men and women of extraordinary faith who suffered persecution, imprisonment, and death without receiving the full fulfillment of what was promised.
Their faith was not defective.
Their God was not unfaithful.
Their ultimate hope extended beyond this present life.
Joseph was delivered from prison.
John the Baptist was not.
Lazarus was raised from the dead, but would eventually face physical death again.
Paul experienced miraculous deliverances, yet also endured extraordinary suffering.
The common denominator is not identical earthly outcomes.
It is the faithfulness of God through every circumstance.
Our ultimate morning is not simply a better tomorrow on earth.
It is the eternal restoration secured by Jesus Christ.
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.” — Revelation 21:4 (BSB)
That is the dawn toward which every Christian is ultimately moving.
A morning without another night of suffering.
A joy without expiration.
A life in the unveiled presence of our Savior.
And because Christ rose bodily from the grave, our hope includes the resurrection of our own bodies and the restoration of creation itself.
The suffering of this present age will not have the final word.
10. The Promise, the Pause, and the Provision
Sometimes God changes our circumstances.
Sometimes He changes us within our circumstances.
Sometimes He does both.
And sometimes we will not understand His purposes until we see Him face to face.
The promise is grounded in His character.
The pause is lived in His presence.
The ultimate provision is secured through His Son.
Yet perhaps the most remarkable realization is this:
The greatest provision during the pause may not be the removal of our suffering, but a deeper relationship with the One who suffered for us.
We often look for God’s hand to change our circumstances while He invites us to know His heart in the midst of them.
The Father knows our suffering.
The Son has experienced human suffering.
The Holy Spirit abides with us through suffering.
And nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38–39).
Whether the pause lasts three days, thirteen years, forty years, or the remainder of our earthly lives, we are never beyond His sovereign care.
Final Pondering: Don’t Waste the Waiting
Perhaps the most important question is not:
“Lord, when will my morning come?”
But rather:
“Lord, how would You have me live faithfully while I wait for the dawn?”
Don’t mistake God’s silence for His absence.
Don’t mistake His patience for indifference.
Don’t mistake His timing for neglect.
And don’t assume that because you cannot see His work, He is not working.
The darkness of our circumstances cannot extinguish the light of His promises.
We may not understand the night, control its duration, or know when the morning will arrive.
But we know the One who holds both darkness and dawn in His sovereign hands.
So live today with your Head grounded in His truth, your Heart resting in His love, and your Hands faithfully engaged in His purposes.
Because the God who is faithful in the promise and glorious in the provision is also present throughout the pause.
The Promise. The Pause. The Provision.
God is faithful in all three.
And joy is not merely something waiting for us at the end of the journey.
Joy is found in the One who walks with us along the way.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for Your promises, Your providence, and Your perfect timing.
Forgive me when I become impatient, when I mistake Your silence for absence, or when I allow my circumstances to overshadow Your unchanging character.
Give me wisdom to recognize the different forms of suffering I may encounter.
When I suffer the consequences of my choices, lead me toward repentance and wisdom.
When You discipline me, give me humility to receive Your correction.
When my mortal body experiences the limitations of a fallen world, remind me of the resurrection and the restoration to come.
When faithfulness to Christ brings opposition, give me courage to stand in truth and love.
And when suffering comes without explanation, teach me to trust Your sovereignty without demanding answers You have not revealed.
Thank You that Jesus Christ did not remain distant from human suffering, but entered our world, endured the cross, conquered death, and became our compassionate High Priest.
Thank You for the Holy Spirit, who strengthens, comforts, and abides with us.
When I am walking through Friday’s suffering, remind me of Christ’s finished work.
When I am enduring Saturday’s silence, strengthen my faith and sustain my hope.
And when Sunday morning comes, may all glory and praise belong to You.
Until then, give me wisdom in my Head, trust in my Heart, and faithful obedience through my Hands.
Teach me not merely to endure the waiting, but to grow in grace, love, perseverance, and Christlikeness throughout it.
May my joy be rooted not in circumstances, but in my relationship with You.
For my ultimate hope is not merely in what You may give me, but in Who You are and what Jesus Christ has already accomplished.
From You, through You, and to You are all things. To You be the glory forever. Amen.
The Promise. The Pause. The Provision.
God is faithful in all three.
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