It’s easy to believe when we’re getting good breaks, our health is improving, our child is turning around. The test comes when you don’t see any sign of what you’re believing for. You’re working hard, but doors aren’t opening. You’re praying, but the medical report isn’t improving. You’re doing the right thing, but your marriage isn’t getting better. You know God put the promise in your heart, but there’s no sign of it happening. If you saw a little improvement, you could see that what you’re doing is helping. But many times before a promise comes to pass, you have to go through a season of silence when you don’t see anything changing. This is when many people get discouraged and give up.
The apostle Paul says, “Let us not get weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9). It doesn’t say you might reap, or there’s a good chance you’ll reap, or that some of the time you’ll reap. No, God says that if you won’t get tired of doing the right thing, if you won’t let what you don’t see talk you out of what you know, you will reap in due season.
In the Scripture, the life of a believer is compared to an eagle. It’s interesting that for thirty-five days, parent eagles sit on their eggs to keep them warm. They never feel the baby eaglets kick, and the eggs never grow any bigger. There’s no sign of life. I’m sure a parent eagle could think, “I wish it would just move a little or grow a bit.” But day after day the parent sits, unmoved by what’s not changing. On day thirty-five, after no sign of life, suddenly the eaglet starts pecking on the shell and is hatched.
Quit being discouraged because you don’t see anything happening. Nothing’s wrong with the promise. Trust the process. While you’re waiting, God is bringing it all together in secret. Like the eaglet, some things have to develop in the dark, in secret. You have to believe when there’s no sign on the outside that what’s on the inside is really alive. That promise God gave you, that egg so to speak, is not going to move or grow. You may not see any sign of life until your due season, when suddenly the egg cracks open. God is saying, “Go sit on it. It’s still alive. Don’t let the circumstances fool you. You have to walk by faith and not by sight. Day thirty-five is coming!”