DEC 2 |The Sacred Boredom: Meeting God When Nothing Seems to Happen
What if the most spiritually significant moments of your life look exactly like... nothing?
No goosebumps. No breakthrough. No dramatic answer to prayer. Just you, staring at the ceiling, wondering if anyone's actually listening.
If you've ever felt spiritually stuck—like you're going through the motions but God seems distant—you're not alone. And here's what nobody tells you: that emptiness might be exactly where God wants you.
The Uncomfortable Command We Keep Skipping
Psalm 27:14 contains what might be the most ignored instruction in all of Scripture:
"Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD."
Notice something? The psalmist says "wait" twice. Almost like God knew we'd try to skip past it the first time.
We've been sold this idea that spiritual growth feels like something. There should be background music swelling, or at least a sense that something is happening. Our instant-everything culture has trained us to interpret boredom as a problem to solve. Phone's right there. Scroll. Distract. Numb.
But what if we've been running from the very thing God uses to transform us?
The Hebrew Word That Changes Everything
When David wrote this psalm, he wasn't sitting in a comfortable study sipping coffee. Scholars believe he wrote it while running for his life—possibly from King Saul, possibly later from his own son Absalom. Either way, David knew something about waiting that we've forgotten.
The Hebrew word translated "wait" is qavah. And if I just told you it means "wait," you'd nod and move on. But that misses everything.
Qavah originally described the process of twisting fibers together to make rope. Picture ancient craftsmen taking weak, individual strands and slowly, painstakingly braiding them until they become unbreakable.
That's what waiting does to you.
Not waiting like you're stuck in a DMV line—irritated, checking your phone, mentally somewhere else. Qavah waiting is active. You're being woven into something stronger than you were before. The boredom isn't the absence of God's work. It is God's work.
Why the Empty Feeling Might Be Holy
Here's what nobody tells you: some of the most formative spiritual work happens when you feel absolutely nothing.
Think about it. When you feel God's presence, faith is easy. Trusting a God you can sense? That's not really trust. That's just responding to evidence.
But when the ceiling feels like concrete? When your prayers seem to evaporate three feet above your head? When you show up anyway?
That's faith with teeth.
The mystics called this "the dark night of the soul." Not because God had abandoned them, but because God was weaning them off spiritual experiences so they could love Him for who He is—not for what He makes them feel.
Every desert father, every honest saint across two thousand years of church history will tell you the same thing: God often speaks loudest in the silence we're most desperate to escape.
Combat Language for Quiet Seasons
Look at how David frames this: "Be strong and take heart." That's combat language. Waiting isn't passive resignation—it's an act of defiance against everything in you screaming to fix it, force it, or fake it.
I spent years thinking spiritual maturity meant moving from experience to experience. Conference high to worship night to breakthrough prayer session. Like spiritual growth was a series of emotional peaks.
But real formation happens in the valleys between peaks. It happens when you choose to trust without feeling. When you pray without sensing. When you obey without understanding.
The waiting season isn't a detour from your spiritual journey. It might be the whole point.
Confidence in the Waiting
The psalm doesn't end with "wait and eventually you'll feel better." Look at what surrounds verse 14.
Verse 13 says: "I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living."
David isn't waiting hoping God will show up. He's waiting because he's already confident God will. The waiting isn't uncertainty. It's the gap between promise and fulfillment.
This is the already-not-yet rhythm woven throughout Scripture. Abraham waited 25 years for Isaac. Joseph waited in prison. Israel waited 400 years in Egypt. Jesus waited 30 years before his ministry even started.
Waiting isn't God's way of making you miserable. It's his way of making you ready.
What You Might Be Running From
Our culture has trained us to interpret boredom as a problem to solve. We've lost the ability to sit in the sacred nothing.
But maybe—and I'm just suggesting this—maybe the boredom you're running from is actually an invitation you keep declining.
What if God isn't silent? What if you've just never gotten quiet enough to hear him?
We fill every moment with noise, content, distraction. Then we complain that we can't hear God's voice. But God has never competed for our attention. He waits—ironically enough—for us to be still enough to notice him.
"Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10) isn't a suggestion. It's a prescription. And stillness feels like boredom to those of us addicted to stimulation.
A Simple Practice for This Week
Here's what I want you to try. And this is going to sound almost stupidly simple.
Find ten minutes. No phone. No music. No podcast. No productivity.
Just sit.
Don't try to manufacture a spiritual experience. Don't force yourself to feel something. Just practice being present to a God who promises he's present to you—even when every feeling says otherwise.
It will feel weird. Your mind will race. You'll want to check something, do something, be anywhere else. That's normal. That's actually the point. You're training yourself to resist the constant pull away from presence.
This isn't about emptying your mind or achieving some mystical state. It's about showing up. About being available. About practicing the truth that God is present even when your feelings insist otherwise.
The God Who Seems Silent
Here's the truth David discovered while hiding in caves, waiting for a throne that seemed like it would never come:
The God who seems silent is often the God who's closest.
And sometimes? The sacred boredom is exactly where he's been waiting for you.
If you're in a season where nothing seems to be happening—where your prayers feel empty and God feels far—can I just say something?
You're not doing it wrong.
You might be right in the middle of the most important spiritual formation of your life. Those weak strands are being twisted together. That rope is getting stronger. The transformation is happening even when—especially when—you can't feel it.
Be strong. Take heart. Wait.
He's worth it.
Key Takeaways
The Hebrew word qavah: "Wait" in Psalm 27:14 means to be twisted together like rope strands—active formation, not passive sitting.
Boredom as transformation: Spiritual emptiness isn't the absence of God's work; it often IS God's work of deepening your faith.
Faith with teeth: Real trust develops when you show up for God even without feeling His presence.
The biblical pattern: Abraham, Joseph, Israel, and Jesus all experienced extended waiting seasons before God's promises were fulfilled.
Practical discipline: Ten minutes of silent presence—no phone, no distractions—trains you to recognize God in the quiet.
What season of waiting has shaped your faith the most? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.
An Invitation to go Deeper….
If today’s message spoke to you, join the FaithLabz 30-Day Prayer Challenge and strengthen your connection with God’s unshakable love. You are never alone—let’s grow together!
