Living in the Gap

by Lexi Morris

“The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord."

Lamentations 3:25-26

Recently I read this quote, “Don’t let the gap between God’s promises and God’s timing make you doubt Him". 

The gap. 

It’s a place where decisions are made. 

The place where restlessness settles in.

The place where hope seems silent. 

A gap in the literal sense is a pause or interruption, a lack of something needed, or the distance between things. 

Spiritually, it could be said that it’s the distance between where you are now and where you want to be. 

It’s the space between the prayer and the answer. 

The promise and the fulfillment. 

The burden and the blessing.

The tomb and the empty grave. 

Tomorrow, Good Friday, represents what we know as the crucifixion of our Lord. Circumstances looked dark as Christ hung on Calvary, but we know that wasn’t the end of the story. I imagine Mary living in the gap, or the “Saturday”, between Friday and Sunday – sitting in the silence and carrying the heartbreak of watching her Son be crucified. Grief must have gripped her heart and the distance between the crucifixion and the resurrection felt too long to endure. 

The disciples also lived in that gap. They saw the miracles, witnessed the healings, and walked alongside Hope himself. Yet all the sudden, the very thing that Jesus had prepared their hearts for still felt unexpected. Jesus told his disciples, “And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry,” – Matthew 17:23. They were given the promise, but the three-day wait must have felt unbearable. Their hope seemed sealed behind the tomb. 

Maybe this is where you find yourself today, living in the Saturday between the cross and the empty tomb. The silence is loud and the waiting is long, but Sunday is still coming. 

But the gap does not mean that God has forgotten you. It does not mean that the promise has been denied. My pastor once said, concerning the darkness of Calvary, “God does His best work in the dark.”

Christ hung in the darkness on the hill of Calvary. The sun refused to shine and the grave looked like it had won. Then, Christ was laid in a dark tomb for three days, where silence filled the space and the promise seemed distant. Yet it was in that very darkness that God was doing His greatest work. What looked like defeat was actually victory. What appeared to be the end was the beginning of salvation.

The same is true for the gaps in our own lives. The gap seems never-ending. The gap feels dark and distant. But the gap doesn’t discount His promise. It proves that even in the waiting, He is still working.  

Lamentations 3:25-26 reminds us, “The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord."

Keep believing even when your prayers seem delayed. Keep hoping even when your desires seem unfulfilled. Keep looking, with the anticipation of Mary, for the promise that God has given you, knowing that the resurrection is coming.