STOP Calling it Waiting on God
BLOG POST — EPISODE FOUR
STOP Calling it Waiting on God!
When Obedience Feels Slow
There’s a moment in every real walk with God where you wonder if anything is actually happening.
You’ve prayed.
You’ve adjusted your habits.
You’ve taken the step you were afraid to take.
And yet… nothing looks different.
No breakthrough.
No dramatic shift.
No visible reward.
Just quiet obedience and unanswered questions.
If that’s where you are, you’re not failing.
You’re exactly where formation happens.
The Lie That Makes People Quit
One of the most dangerous assumptions believers carry is this:
“If obedience were working, I’d see results by now.”
That assumption has quietly wrecked more faith than doubt ever could.
Because God rarely works on our emotional timelines.
He works on covenant seasons.
And covenant formation is slow.
Why God Works Underground First
Think about how anything real grows.
Roots before fruit.
Foundation before structure.
Strength before visibility.
God does the same thing in us.
Most of what He’s building happens below the surface long before anyone sees it, including you.
That doesn’t mean nothing’s happening.
It means something important is happening.
Faithfulness Isn’t Measured by Speed
We live in a culture obsessed with immediacy.
Fast results.
Quick fixes.
Instant validation.
But God has never measured faithfulness by speed.
Scripture doesn’t say, “Well done, fast and impressive servant.”
It says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Faithfulness looks ordinary most days.
It looks like praying again.
Choosing restraint again.
Showing up again.
Obeying again.
Even when nothing seems to change.
When You’re Tempted to Quit
This is usually where people drift.
Not because they hate God.
Not because they reject truth.
But because they’re tired of doing the right thing without seeing fruit.
Here’s the shift that changes everything:
Stop asking, “Is this working?”
Start asking, “Am I being faithful today?”
That question keeps you anchored when emotions lie.
God Is Not Slow
It can feel like delay.
But delay is not neglect.
Silence is not absence.
Waiting is not wasted.
God is precise.
And precision often feels like slowness to impatient hearts.
What you’re planting now may not bloom in this season, but it will not be lost.
One Quiet Decision That Matters
So here’s the question this episode leaves you with:
Where are you tempted to stop obeying simply because you don’t see results yet?
That place matters.
Because staying faithful there is shaping something far deeper than quick outcomes ever could.
Don’t Miss What’s Being Formed
Faithfulness done quietly still counts.
Obedience unseen is still obedience.
Seeds planted in patience still grow.
You don’t have to force fruit.
You don’t have to manufacture results.
You just have to keep sowing.
God will handle the harvest.
If this spoke to you, share it with someone who’s close to giving up simply because the work feels slow.
Up next: When Faith Requires Movement
Because at some point, obedience stops being comfortable.
Shalom b’Shem Yeshua
© 2025 Dr. Shawn M. Greener
True Word, Faith for LIFE!
STUDY GUIDE
What Do I Do Now?
Episode Four: When Obedience Feels Slow
Series: What Do I Do Now?
SUMMARY
Episode Four addresses a reality every faithful believer eventually encounters: obedience that feels unrewarded, quiet, and painfully slow. After taking the step, changing the habit, or saying yes to God, many grow discouraged when visible results do not follow quickly. Scripture anticipates this struggle and offers a radically different framework for evaluating faithfulness.
Using Galatians 6:7–9 and Mark 4:26–29, this episode teaches that God works through seasons, accumulation, and formation rather than instant outcomes. Obedience often reshapes the heart long before it changes circumstances. Faithfulness is not measured by speed, applause, or emotional reinforcement, but by perseverance rooted in covenant trust.
PRIMARY BIBLICAL TEXT (SIDE BY SIDE)
Galatians 6:7–9
NASB 2020
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. Let’s not become discouraged in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not become weary.
Complete Jewish Study Bible (CJSB)
Don’t delude yourselves. No one makes a fool of God. A person reaps what he sows. Those who keep sowing to their old nature will reap corruption from that old nature. But those who sow to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary of doing what is good; for if we don’t give up, we will reap in due time.
NARRATIVE AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Paul writes Galatians to communities under spiritual, social, and emotional pressure. False teachers have disrupted their understanding of covenant faithfulness, and believers are tempted to abandon costly obedience when results are not immediate.
In the Ancient Near Eastern world, sowing and reaping were long-term realities. Fields demanded patience, labor, and trust in forces beyond human control. Paul uses agricultural imagery to confront impatience and discourage quitting. “In due time” refers to an appointed season, not an emotional deadline.
God’s economy is seasonal, not instantaneous.
KEY HEBREW AND GREEK TERMS
Kopiao (koh-pee-AH-oh)
Greek verb meaning to labor to the point of weariness. Paul acknowledges exhaustion, not failure.
Kairos (KAI-ros)
Meaning appointed time. Not fast time, but purposeful time determined by God.
Pneuma (PNEW-mah)
Spirit. To sow to the Spirit is to align daily practices with God’s presence and purposes, even when results remain unseen.
SECONDARY PRIMARY TEXT (SIDE BY SIDE)
Mark 4:26–29
NASB 2020
And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up daily, and the seed sprouts and grows, how, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the stalk, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.”
Complete Jewish Study Bible (CJSB)
He also said, “The Kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground. He sleeps at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows, how, he doesn’t know. The earth produces by itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.”
THEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
Yeshua speaks to people longing for immediate deliverance from Roman oppression. Instead of promising instant revolution, He teaches patience, trust, and unseen growth. The Kingdom does not advance through spectacle but through faithfulness.
This parable dismantles control-based spirituality. The farmer’s job is sowing. Growth belongs to God.
THEOLOGICAL INSIGHTS
1. Faithfulness is not measured by speed
God evaluates consistency, not urgency.
2. Obedience reshapes the soul before circumstances
Internal formation often precedes external change.
3. God works through accumulation
Small acts repeated over time create lasting fruit.
4. Discouragement is expected, not condemned
Scripture speaks directly to weariness and urges perseverance.
PRACTICAL FORMATION PRACTICE
Five-Minute Faithfulness Pattern
One minute: Thank God for unseen work.
Two minutes: Read Galatians 6:9 slowly.
One minute: Ask, “What seed am I planting today?”
One minute: Take one faithful action.
Consistency matters more than intensity.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Why does obedience often feel ineffective in the short term?
2. How does agricultural imagery reshape your expectations of spiritual growth?
3. Where are you tempted to quit because results are slow?
4. What does sowing to the Spirit look like in your daily life?
PERSONAL REFLECTION
Where have you been measuring faithfulness by feelings instead of obedience?
What good work has God called you not to abandon?
FINAL EXHORTATION
God is not slow.
He is precise.
Seeds grow quietly.
Faithfulness matures fruit.
Do not quit.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Holy Bible, Lexham English Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
The Holy Bible, New American Standard Bible 2020. La Habra, CA: Lockman Foundation.
The Holy Bible, Complete Jewish Study Bible. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.
Heiser, Michael S. The Unseen Realm. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Moen, Skip. The Words We Missed. Seattle, WA: Ancient Hebrew Press.
Shalom b’Shem Yeshua
© 2025 Dr. Shawn M. Greener. All Rights Reserved.
True Word, Faith for LIFE!
Waiting on God, Faith in silence, Hope, Fear, Christian, Follower of the Way, Bible, Bible Study, Real Faith for Real People
Author / Host / Theologian
I am just a beggar who found Bread, helping other hungry beggars to find Him too. My life has certainly been complex and I and my halo has many dents. Heschel said; "Something Sacred hangs in the balance of every moment." I live like it. I teach like it.
As a person who survived a fatal 92 mph vs 51 mph head on crash, after dying and re-animating, and surviving several other brushes with death, my perspective is, let's say, unique. I haven't always been a theologian and I'm living REAL life, just like you... I have my hurts, habits and hangups too.
I've learned a few very important things along the way that I'm confident you'll find useful... butter for the Gluten free Bread so to speak.. Oh, you may chuckle or full on snort along the way, but you might also shed a few tears... Faith for LIFE... That's how it happens.
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