Does your heart grow weary and frustrated as you pace in the well-worn ruts of your “hallway of life?” Here is a quote that has deeply encouraged me during divinely-sanctioned limbo:
“Until God opens the next door, praise Him in the HALLWAY.” In other words, stop sulking and start shouting. If you are made of the same stuff as me, that statement probably seems not only unnatural but also impossible.
Why should you praise the Lord while stuck in the hallway of life?
1. Not just the good but the best things come to them that wait!
Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
2. Seasons of waiting develop courageous, one-of-a-kind type of strength!
Psalm 27:14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
3. Waiting provides the fresh, daily bread of divine provision.
Psalm 145:15 The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.
4. Waiting means that someone else is in charge of our life-God!
Psalm 33:18-22
Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;
To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.
For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.
Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.
This list of God’s other-side-of-the-closed-door benefits could go on and on! Does this moment find you waiting in the long shadows of an obscure passageway? For a job? For healing? For a child? For peace? For deliverance? For family reunion? For guidance? As difficult as it is to live in the waiting mode, we must not COPE but CELEBRATE the God who is responsible for our current corridor of locked opportunities.
Here are the lyrics of what is entitled “The Waiting”:
What will it be like?
When my world turns out like You planned
When will I get there?
Feels like I’m nowhere
My dreams are like dust in my hand
But I know This is the waiting
I anxiously wait
As I hold on to love that won’t ever let go
And in these times when my patience is tested
Won’t you remind me that I’m not alone
Here in the waiting
The waiting
All of the questions, secret confessions
Lord You’ll make sense of it all
And I know You’ll show up
So I’m letting go of these
This is the waiting
I anxiously wait
As I hold on to love that won’t ever let go
And in these times when my patience is tested
Won’t you remind me that I’m not alone
Here in the waiting
The waiting Oh, and I know
I know this is the waiting
And in these times when my patience is tested
You are the love that will never let go
Here in the waiting
The waiting
So I’ll be here waiting
Believing you’ll never let go
What other benefits have you discovered only come to us through persevering in divinely-appointed hallways?
harleysnode 
I’m in a hallway period in terms of ministry leadership. One of the unexpected benefits for me has been that I’ve had to discipline myself to believe that my value to God lies in His love for me, which is every bit as abundant and present now as it was when I had a title/position. I’m better for the struggle.
Thanks for the reminder!
That is great thought. To thrive in the vacant hallway, our identity must be in Christ alone. Thank you for carrying forward this concept.