40

40

Waiting has a number.
In Scripture, it’s forty.

Forty days of rain before the world was made new.
Forty years in the wilderness before promise became possession.
Forty days on a mountain.
Forty days in a desert.

Always waiting.
Always forming.

We tend to see waiting as wasted time.

A delay. A detour.
Something to endure until real life starts again.

But the Bible tells a different story.

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14 (NIV)

Forty is never passive.
It is not God stalling.
It is God building.

Waiting exposes what we lean on when answers don’t come quickly.
It reveals whether faith is rooted or just convenient.
It burns away hurry and replaces it with trust.

Moses came down changed.
Israel learned dependence one day at a time.
Jesus walked out of the wilderness clear, steady, and resolved.
Nothing about those seasons was accidental.

So if I’m in a stretch that feels long, unresolved, or unseen, I’m not behind.
I may simply be in a forty.

I’m not forgotten.
I am not being punished.
I am being prepared for something ahead.

Because waiting, in God’s hands, is never empty time.
It is the slow work of becoming ready.

—

If this resonates, share it with someone who’s waiting right now.
Sometimes the reminder is the gift.

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