Placeholders are such essential design elements. When something is not yet ready, which is often the case, a placeholder holds down the place until the real thing is made available.
I think God uses placeholders too. Sometimes, while we are waiting for the real deal, God puts something or someone in the space. A job. An assignment. An opportunity. A relationship. A season. It may not be where we thought we would be, but it keeps us in position while God works on what comes next.
And perhaps that is why some seasons feel so confusing. We know this may not be the destination, yet we don’t know when the next thing will come. We watch others move ahead while we seem to be standing still. However, it is comforting to know that the Bible says,
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
Sometimes God is not saying “No.” He might be saying “Not yet. Hold still.”
Jesus understood this. His brothers urged Him to go to Jerusalem and “show” Himself. Their reasoning seemed strategic: If you have something important to demonstrate, why not go where everyone can see you? But Jesus answered, “My time is not yet come” (John 7:6).
The issue was not whether He would go. It was when would He go. He knew that timing was part of the strategy. And that strategic timing was hinged on something far more important: Dependence on God. We often think wisdom is knowing what to do. Often wisdom is knowing when to do what we know we need to do. Not to do that which we know we need to do, but at the wrong time.
Sometimes God is not saying “No.” He might be saying “Not yet. Hold still.”
But this raises another question. If we are depending on God, does that mean we should stop planning, strategizing, building relationships and looking for opportunities? Of course, no. God expects us to think, plan and act. The issue is not planning versus depending. It is planning while depending. We can knock on doors without forcing them open. We can build relationships without manipulating people. We can prepare ourselves without manufacturing our destiny.
God also warns us about abandoning His fresh supply for our own recycled solutions: “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13).
A cistern stores what has already been collected. A fountain keeps flowing.
We can do the same thing spiritually. We can depend on yesterday’s strategy, somebody else’s experience, an old formula or something that worked before. While God can use old ideas, His mercies “are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22–23). Perhaps He wants us to learn to come back to the Fountain; to ask Him what He is saying NOW and that includes questions of timing.
God does not merely want us to accomplish things for Him. He wants us to walk with Him. He wants us to ask “Lord, what are You doing? Where are You leading me? What do You want me to do?” That requires depending.
And something else it requires: patience. David was anointed king long before he became king. Joseph received dreams long before he saw them fulfilled. Abraham received a promise long before Isaac arrived.
God often works in the space between promise and fulfillment. After David was anointed King, it took 15 years before he sat on the throne. He allowed God’s timing, grueling as it was. Compare him with Jehu in 2 Kings 9–10. who had a similar secret anointing but went off immediately to kill the sitting king and any possible contenders for the throne.
The current assignment may not be the destination. The present opportunity may only be a placeholder. But temporary does not mean meaningless. Enjoy the placeholder role because something is happening that we cannot yet see.
Plan, but listen. Prepare, but wait. Knock, but don’t force. Pursue opportunities, but don’t manufacture destiny. And when it looks as though everyone else has moved on, remember: God may have put a placeholder in your space or in your hands because He wants to keep you in hiding until the appointed time. So, blossom in the moment.
Leave a Reply