The Waiting Season | Pastor Tina Notz | 8/16/2026

The waiting season asks the question nobody really likes: how long, God, and why? God answers with a deeper question: what is being formed in the waiting? The waiting season can lead to discouragement or development, bitterness or better fruit, failure feelings or a foundation that can actually hold the promise.

Psalm 27 says, “Wait on the Lord,” then says it again, because biblical waiting is not passive. Biblical waiting trusts, prays, obeys, stays faithful, leans into the Word, and lets God fix what human hands usually mess up. What feels like delay may actually be development, because the waiting season develops what the promise requires.

David shows that anointing does not mean instant appointing. David gets anointed as king, then goes right back to the sheep. Saul still sits on the throne, jealousy starts burning, and David ends up running, hiding in caves, carrying a death sentence on his back. Yet David refuses to kill Saul when he has the chance, because he will not touch what belongs to God. That restraint is integrity. God is not just preparing David for the throne. God is preparing David to handle the throne.

Moses shows the same thing. Egypt taught Moses education and leadership, but the desert taught humility, patience, obedience, dependence, and how to lead people through hard terrain. The desert became Moses’ classroom before Pharaoh ever became his platform. God often hides a person because something must be developed that cannot be developed in the spotlight.

The promise may be instant, but the preparation is not. David goes from anointing to wilderness to caves to testing to the throne. Joseph goes from dream to pit to prison to palace. The modern heart wants promise to fulfillment, platform without preparation, throne without cave, harvest without roots. God uses the hidden season to build faith, character, obedience, endurance, and total dependence.

The fruit of the Spirit must be developed, not merely wished for. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control grow as a person partners with the Holy Spirit. God is not impressed by talent, looks, sound, or gifting. God looks for fruit when nobody is watching, when people are hard to love, when thoughts need purifying, and when flesh wants to act a fool.

The womb becomes the picture of waiting. The womb is hidden, but it is not empty. The darkness is not inactive. The waiting is uncomfortable, but it is not wasted. God forms inward parts in secret, and no life is accidental to Him. Before a person is revealed, that person is being formed.

Isaiah 40 says those who wait on the Lord renew their strength. Spiritual weariness becomes a sign to lean into God, hide under His wing, and draw strength from His presence. The waiting season does not just test belief. It develops who a person is becoming.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Waiting develops what promise requires. [06:55] The promise often sounds beautiful at first, but the soul may not yet be able to carry it well. Waiting exposes whether the heart wants God or merely wants what God can give. Delay becomes mercy when it keeps a person from stepping into a calling without the character to sustain it. [06:55]
• 2. Character must handle the throne. [15:17] David’s cave was not wasted because the cave trained his restraint, worship, and trust. Saul’s throne showed what happens when gifting rises higher than obedience. God’s preparation aims deeper than arrival, because the real test is not getting the place, but handling the place without losing the heart. [15:17]
• 3. Hidden seasons are not empty. [45:38] The womb is dark, enclosed, and unseen, but it is full of formation. Spiritual hiddenness can feel like being forgotten, yet God may be building capacity beneath the surface. The quiet place becomes holy when it teaches dependence without applause. [45:38]
• 4. Fruit grows through daily surrender. [29:56] Patience, kindness, and self-control do not drop into a life as decorations. The Holy Spirit develops them through moments when flesh wants to snap, run ahead, or prove a point. The hidden test of maturity is often how a person thinks, speaks, and responds when nobody is clapping. [29:56]
• 5. Weariness signals deeper waiting. [49:31] Spiritual weariness is not only a problem to escape. It can become a call to wait on the Lord in a deeper way. Strength comes as the soul stops striving, leans into His presence, and lets God renew what human effort cannot repair.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [02:19] - The Waiting Season
• [03:16] - How Long, God?
• [05:58] - Biblical Waiting Is Active
• [07:18] - Saul’s Disobedience and People Pleasing
• [09:52] - David Anointed Before Appointed
• [13:30] - David’s Restraint Toward Saul
• [17:17] - Moses in the Desert Classroom
• [23:48] - Promise, Process, Testing, Fulfillment
• [29:18] - Fruit of the Spirit Must Grow
• [35:37] - Loving God Means Obeying God
• [38:09] - Developed in the Dark
• [45:38] - Hidden, Not Empty
• [48:28] - Strength for Those Who Wait
• [52:33] - Prayer for the Waiting Season
• [54:15] - Salvation Invitation

1. In Psalm 27:14, what commands are repeated, and what is connected to waiting on the Lord? [05:02]
2. In David’s story, what did he do after being anointed, and what happened between his anointing and his becoming king? [09:52]
3. According to 1 Samuel 24:6, what did David refuse to do to Saul when he had the chance? [13:57]
4. In Galatians 5:22-23, which kinds of fruit are named, and which of those were especially tied to the waiting season? [29:56]

1. Psalm 27:14 says to wait for the Lord and be strong. What does that show about biblical waiting? Why is waiting presented as something active rather than passive? [05:58]
2. David was anointed long before he was appointed. What might his return to the sheep, the caves, and his restraint toward Saul reveal about how God prepares a person for what He has promised? [15:17]
3. Moses spent years in the desert before being sent to Pharaoh. How might that help explain why God sometimes uses seasons that seem unrelated to a person’s calling? [19:35]
4. Psalm 139:13-16 uses the image of the womb. How does that picture help explain hidden seasons that feel dark, slow, or unseen? [45:38]

1. What kind of waiting season is hardest right now—an answer, healing, direction, a relationship, or something else? How has that season been shaping the heart for better or for bitterness? [04:33]
2. Waiting often reveals whether the heart wants God Himself or mainly wants what God can give. In this season, what would it look like to seek His presence more deeply instead of trying to force an outcome? [32:52]
3. David refused to take a shortcut that would have violated integrity. Where might there be a temptation right now to push, control, retaliate, or compromise in order to get somewhere faster? [16:00]
4. The fruit of the Spirit grows in very ordinary moments. Which part of that fruit list feels most needed right now—patience, kindness, self-control, gentleness, or something else? What kind of daily situation seems to test that area the most? [31:48]
5. Hidden seasons are not empty. Is there any area of life that feels forgotten, unseen, or stuck? What might it look like to believe that God is still forming something there? [47:50]
6. Spiritual weariness can become a signal to wait on the Lord more deeply. When weariness shows up, what is the usual response, and what would it look like to slow down and draw strength from His presence instead? [49:31]
7. The waiting season develops what the promise requires. If God answered everything immediately, what areas of character might still be too weak to carry the weight of that answer well? [06:55]