The longer you wait, the harder it is to see
will later be clearer
Last year I felt that God was calling me to start something, but I told myself I couldn’t do it yet. In my mind I needed someone first before I said yes—someone I knew, someone I got along with, someone I could build something lasting with. I wanted the full picture before I took the first step—so I delayed. I was planning to start at the beginning of the new year. But despite all my planning, when December came I was in the exact same situation: I didn’t have a someone again. God has a way of bringing us back to the same place. It was the same exact obedience test 6 months later. Would I trust in my own ability to be cautious and make sure everything would work out? or just obey the call? Eventually, I stopped negotiating and chose obedience. The week after I got a message saying I had been paired with a person, and... the person was—someone I already knew, someone I got along with, someone I could build something lasting with. So I really didn’t need to know how everything would unfold. I simply needed to take the first step God was asking me to take. And the next one would come, then the one after that... And sometimes we also want confirmation after confirmation before moving. You see it even in the Bible—people like Gideon asking God for sign after sign. [Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised—look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water. Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.(Judges 6:36–40)] The point wasn't really the signs—it was that Gideon kept asking for more. We should all be thinking the whole time what this is crazyyy!!! That Gideon would asks God for confirmation then ask God to do the same thing in reverse. And God being so loving and merciful gives him the signs that he wanted. So Gideon didn’t really lack signs. He lacked steps. Because the reality is clarity grows after you act in obedience. The one thing I saw through that experience was that the longer I waited for everything to look the way I wanted before I obeyed, the more unclear the path became. And I started questioning: Did God really say that? Give me one more sign too. Another one. Another one. And that’s what delay does. Delay doesn’t make things clearer. It makes room for doubt. And that's one of the costs attached to delay. But when we obey, He begins to move. Clarity only grows after you obey the first step. That’s what I learned last year. And that I decided to take with me into 2026.
I remember talking to some trusted voices in my life last year and telling them, “I think I’m called here because God wants to use my life and story to bring people closer to Him; and also to steward our Sunday team with my amazing co-lead.” Then, staying here in obedience eventually led to the small group becoming a reality. Taking one step revealed the next one. That's how obedience grows clarity. Getting to lean on His understanding and stewarding what's in front of me every day. Right here. Right now. I learned obedience—not perfectly, not because I always get it right, but because I’ve seen His heart. In the end, He makes our path clear when we stop waiting for ideal conditions and submit our timing to the call. Because when we obey—in His timing—it makes room for peace and clarity.
Heart Call:
Obedience is a step, and clarity follows later. And we can always trust God will make our path clear.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” —Proverbs 3:5–6
“The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him.”—Psalm 37:23
How do you respond when God gives you
a call?
Do you find yourself being cautious or waiting for ideal conditions before you obey?
What step is He asking you to take in one area of your life today?
Photo Credits: Jakob Owens.