One of my biggest pain points in life is assembling IKEA furniture. The main reason being that I am sometimes not very patient and just want to quickly finish the process. I get tired of constantly checking the manual every few seconds and repeating the steps required. I must admit that there are times where I have rushed the process and quickly arrived at the finished product, only to realise that the finished product does not look like what the manual promised me. Maybe the table can’t stand on its own because it’s legs are still crooked or even worse, I find out that I have a whole piece of furniture and a few screws that were supposed to be included but I missed them.

My problem is usually not at the beginning or the end, my problem is being patient while I’m in the in-between stage. When I have started the project but it feels like I am still a long way away from the finished product.

Why does waiting on God’s promises sometimes feel like assembling IKEA furniture? God gives us a promise. We have a blue print of where He is leading us. We have even started making steps towards the promise but then it feels like it’s taking forever. That’s what I call an in-between season. The stage between promise and fulfilment. The stage between what God said and what you are yet to see. The stage where you are not quite where you used to be but you are also not quite where you want to be.

In our lives, the in-between season can often look like:

• Getting out of that relationship that was toxic but then experiencing years of singleness because you are trusting God for a Godly partner.
• Quitting that job and starting the business based on God’s instruction but then waiting for years before the business picks up.
• Graduating from that degree but then having countless job application rejections leading to an extended period of joblessness.
• Receiving a prophetic word that you are going to get pregnant but still going through numerous negative pregnancy tests.

I won’t even sugar coat it. In-between seasons are HARD! It feels like you have done all you know to do. You have obeyed God. You have fasted and prayed. You’ve had faith, sometimes even faith bigger than a mustard seed. Yet you keep asking, “Why am I still here Lord? Why has this mountain not yet moved?” I have definitely had my own share of in-between seasons where I’ve had these same questions. In fact, I am currently in an in-between season in a few areas of my life. Wouldn’t it just be easier if God gave us a promise and then once we blinked, it was right in front of us? Well, God is not a magician who grants our 3 little wishes. He is an Omnipotent Everlasting Father who is not confined by times and seasons and like we are and who knows why we need to go through every season we go through.

The Bible is loaded with stories of men and women who had to go through their own in-between seasons. For these people, it always felt like saying Yes to God’s promises was also involuntarily signing themselves up for years of waiting. There wouldn’t be enough blog posts to cover the stories of Abraham and Sarah, Joseph, David, the Israelites, Jesus and many others who went through in-between seasons. In fact, every Christian is currently going through an in-between season – the period between Jesus dying, resurrecting and returning to the Father and Jesus coming back to get His Bride.

As I explore the stories of these men and women, I hope to paint a picture for you of the do’s and don’ts of in-between seasons so that you can go through them while holding on to your faith and in Jesus.

What not to do:

Don’t take matters into your own hands.

I used to joke around with my friends and my family that if I’m still single for another few years, I would go on a dating show – The Bachelorette, Married at First Sight, something, anything!😂While this was just a joke, I would say that because I fully understand the frustration of having a longing for something and having to wait for so long for that longing to be fulfilled. Proverbs 13:12 in the Message version puts it so much better than I ever could – “Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick, but a sudden good break can turn life around.”

I know a couple who felt like this. In Genesis 12, God told Abram, who was 75 years old at the time, that He would make him into a great nation. One of the ways this would happen was by giving him and his wife, Sarai, a son. 11 years into their in-between season, Sarai convinced Abraham to sleep with her slave, Hagar who then gave birth to a son named Ishmael. This then started drama between Sarai and Hagar – talk about an Israelite reality TV show😂.

Isaac, the actual son who God had promised Abram was born when Abram was 100 years (Genesis 21). This was 25 years after God had made the promise. A whole 25 years! God never told them it would take 25 years so they had to wait for an indefinite period of time.

When we have been in our in-between seasons for a long period of time, it can become very easy to fall into the temptation of ‘helping God out.’ We feel like He is taking to long so why not take matters in our own hands. This is a dangerous place to be because we end up birthing counterfeit promises. Settling for knock-offs instead of waiting on God to give us the originals.

Don’t complain your way through the waiting.

The Israelites were professional complainers. They had a problem with almost every thing and had no problem telling Moses about it. In fact, one time they were so hungry that they started reminiscing about all the food they had left in Egypt (Exodus 16:2-3). It’s like that one friend who keeps wanting to go back to their toxic ex, forgetting all the reasons why they left in the first place.

I don’t know about you but I can be like the Israelites sometimes. I forget all the ways God has been faithful to me and I want to flee my current season and go back to what was familiar, even if it wasn’t good for me. Or if I choose to stay, I do so begrudgingly and complain all the way.

God resolved that none of the Israelites who had complained would get into the promised land (Numbers 14). Imagine spending years waiting for a promise but missing out on it because of your complaining? Complaining might look like just a subtle way of expressing yourself but it actually has dire consequences.

What to do:
Allow God to develop your character

Joseph had a dream that he would be exalted above his entire family (Genesis 37). However, he had to go through a long in-between season, where He found himself in a pit and a prison before He ever got to the palace (Genesis 37 and 39). He had no idea that while in prison, he would end up exercising his gift of dream interpretation, which would then bring him before Pharaoh who would make him in charge of the whole land of Egypt (Genesis 41).

Joseph had no idea that in his in-between season, God was developing the character and the skills that He would need for when the promise was fulfilled. In-between seasons may look like hidden insignificant seasons but they are often the perfect breeding ground for character, integrity and total dependence on God.

Strengthen yourself in the Lord.
David is a man who understood what it looks like to live in the in-between. David was anointed to succeed Saul as the king of Israel but it was not until he was thirty years old that he was enthroned as king. The in-between season for David was the period between being anointed and being appointed.

In his in-between season, David went through numerous hardships, including periods where He had to go into hiding to save his life. In one such period, David was in Ziklag, having sought refuge from the Philistines to hide from Saul,who was trying to kill him. The Amalekites, one of Israelites enemies, raided Ziklag, burned it and took captive of David and his men’s wives and everyone who was there. To make matters worse, his own men were planning to stone him (1 Samuel 30).

In this place of devastation, David could have easily forsaken his faith and trust in God and given up on becoming the next king of Israel. However, David chose to have a different perspective. He expressed his emotions to God, inquired of Him, strengthened himself in the Lord and then acted on God’s instruction (1 Samuel 30:4-8).

In our in-between seasons, it can be very easy to give up on God’s purposes for our lives. Because the promise seems so far away from being fulfilled, we can be tempted to let go of our hope and trust in God. However, David gives us an example of what to do. To find strength in the Lord. That might look like praying again about that issue, doing another fast even if the last 10 fasts haven’t seemed fruitful, reading the Bible when all you want to do is sulk, dragging yourself into Church when you’d rather stay in bed and have a pity party. It is often in our darkest seasons that we experience God’s light of hope shine the brightest.

In-between seasons are often the times where the devil will sneak up on us and attack us. He sows seeds of doubt, fear and anxiety in an attempt to discourage us from waiting on God to fulfil His promise. Borrowing from Dr. Anita Phillips (check out the full sermon), here are four situations that you may experience in the in-between seasons where the enemy may try to sneak up on you and make you compromise:

Hungry: Whether it is physical hunger or being hungry for an opportunity, platform or a promise to be fulfilled. When we are extremely hungry, we tend to get a quick fix to satisfy us. No wonder the devil presented Jesus with an offer to turn stones into bread (Matthew 4:3). With physical hunger it might look like going for KFC instead of a salad but emotionally it is even worse. It could look like sex, drugs, relationships, corrupt deals, you name it. All which distance us from God and derail us from the promises He has made concerning us.

Angry: When we’ve been waiting so long for God to fulfill a promise, we can slowly slip into resentment and anger. Anger towards others and/or towards God. It is in these moments that the enemy would tempt us to take matters in our own hands and try and get the promise fulfilled in our own terms. Be careful that your anger doesn’t cause you to sin against God (Ephesians 4:26)

Lonely: This is particularly related to relationships. I’ve read stories of many people who got tired of waiting on God’s promise for a spouse. They felt like their many years of walking in purity should have already resulted in God bringing their husband or wife. Unfortunately, many of us abandon our singleness and go into missionary dating – where you find someone who has majority of the qualities you are looking for but they are not a Christian so you start dating them and drag them into church hoping they would become a Christian and be the Godly man or woman you were looking for. Adam, even in his loneliness, never settled for an elephant or a giraffe as his mate. You shouldn’t too!

Tired: As the Israelites were leaving Egypt, the Amalekites waited for them to get weary and worn out and they attacked those who were lagging behind (Deuteronomy 25:17-18). This is the same tactic the enemy uses in our in-between seasons. When you are tired of waiting on God to fulfil His promises, you are more susceptible to falling for whatever quick fix that promises to get you to the promise easier and quicker. The enemy is famous for presenting counterfeit blessings before the real ones show up. Don’t fall for his lies!

These 4 situations form the acronym H.A.L.T. Halt means Stop! Anytime you find yourself in any of these circumstances and are tempted to give up on God’s promises, stop and remind yourself what God has spoken to you! I promise you that one day you will look back and be so grateful to God that He took you through this in-between season you are currently in.

Here are a few verses that may encourage you in your in-between season:

• Joshua 21:45 – Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.
• Luke 1:37 – For no word from God will ever fail.”
• Deuteronomy 31:8 – The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
• 2 Peter 3:9 – The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
• Genesis 21:1-2 – The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would.

Prayer:

Lord, thank You for the in-between season I am currently in. It is not always easy to trust You in this season, where all I want is to see the promise fulfilled in my life. Lord, please give me the strength and help me to hold on to you. To keep trusting and to keep believing that You are who You say You are and not one of the promises You have made to me will fail. I thank You in advance for the fulfilled promises I am about to walk into. In Jesus Name, Amen.