Holding on, hanging in there, being patient, sitting in the waiting room—none of those come easy for me. And being put on hold on the telephone is particularly annoying—don’t you agree? So, today more than anything else I’m talking to me, and you can listen in, as I remind myself again that I have to hold on when I’m on hold.

When you think of someone in the Bible who was on hold, you most likely think of Job. Talk about holding on when he was on hold, nobody has ever endured more than Job did while waiting for God to move. In Job 6:8, 11-12 he says:

Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for. What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient? Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze?

And in chapter seven, he goes on to say:

My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope. Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again (Job 7:6-7).

His words may express your heart today. Like Job, you may be saying or thinking: Why hasn’t God granted my request? I don’t have the strength to keep holding on. After all, I’m just flesh! I’ve lost hope, and I’ll never be happy again.

For most of us, this feeling of hopelessness doesn’t show itself outwardly so much as it corrupts us on the inside. It takes the form of what Thoreau called “quiet desperation.” You keep going, saying the right things, and maintaining a semblance of normalcy, but on the inside you’ve truly given up. You’re going through the motions of a marriage or a job; you’re making people think everything’s okay with your children or parents, but in reality, you’re emotionally detached; there’s no more fight left in you, and you’re almost at the place where you really don’t care.

I want to share three simple truths that will help you hold on when you’re on hold. And the first one is: Trust in God’s Sovereignty. That simply means you continue to believe that nothing happens in God’s universe outside of God’s influence and authority. And you believe the same is true in your life. God is sovereign in your life. Therefore, you can trust that in his sovereignty, he will make all things work together for your good, even the evil and wrongs of others and the cruelty of this sin-infested world.

Believe me, I know it’s not easy to trust when you’re on hold, especially when it looks like your world is crumbling around you. I think of a friend who went through years of pain and suffering from an unfaithful husband and a broken marriage, death of two children, another child who walked away from God, and other significant losses. Honestly, she was a Job-story for today, and I often wondered how she made it through. Obviously, all those things left deep scars and hurt, but she turned it into opportunity for her to minister to others. She completed a biblical counseling degree, and now she has a voice to help others who are “on hold” because she has walked deep, dark roads. In God’s sovereignty and as only God can do, he turned her sorrow into dancing and has given her a broader, more effective ministry as a result.

So, if you can put your trust in God’s sovereignty today, regardless of your feelings, and simply repeat that you believe he is still in control, that is step one in holding on while you’re on hold.

Step two is to Trust in God’s Timing. Listen to these verses from Psalm 37:5-7:

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

God’s timing often seems so inappropriate to us. What possible good can come from waiting any longer? That’s how we see it. I can look back on my life and see how the waiting periods of my life were there for a purpose—a purpo...