The TASTE of Waiting: Just Like Bitter Herbs @ Work

I almost canceled the whole project...

We’d spent nearly two weeks inviting people to take part in a series of interviews. Emails, announcements, reminders, conversations after a meeting. Silence. Not a single “Yes.”

I started doing what most of us do in that awkward in-between: questioning everything.
Maybe the idea was bad.
Maybe I heard wrong.
Maybe God wasn’t really in this.

I opened my laptop, ready to rethink the entire strategy, when I finally noticed something I’d somehow missed: a message from two days earlier. Someone had already volunteered. The “no response” I’d been stressing over wasn’t actually true. The provision had come. I just hadn’t seen it.

Ever been there? Waiting, worrying, rewriting your whole life plan in your head, while God has already started answering behind the scenes?

The Taste of Waiting

Think of bitter herbs. Nobody eats them for the flavor. They’re sharp, strong, and uncomfortable on the tongue. But they help fight infection, support digestion, and build immunity. The bitterness is part of the healing.

Waiting on God often feels like that.
You pray.
You refresh your inbox.
You stare at your phone.
Nothing.

The silence can feel like rejection. Or worse, abandonment. But what if that “bitter” space is actually where your faith is being strengthened, your trust immune system growing stronger?

“Consider it pure joy… whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance” (James 1:2–3). Joy and trials in the same sentence sounds a bit like bitter herbs and healing in the same cup.

When God Answers Before You Notice

In my little story, God had already moved. I just hadn’t paid attention. How many times has that been true for you?

  • A job door opened before you finished panicking about money

  • A friendship appeared while you were sure you’d be lonely forever

  • A small “yes” showed up when you’d already decided everything was a failure

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14). Waiting is not passive. It’s active trust. It’s choosing to believe that God is working, even when the progress bar on your life looks stuck at 23%.

What If the Wait Is the Work?

Maybe the bitter part is not punishment, but preparation.

“Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31). Hope doesn’t grow in instant answers. It grows in the gap between “Amen” and “There it is.”

So ask yourself:

  • Where am I calling something “silence” that might actually be “not yet”?

  • What spiritual “infection” is God exposing in the wait: fear, control, impatience, unbelief?

  • If I believed God was already at work, how would that change the way I wait this week?

Bitter herbs don’t taste good, but they help clear out what doesn’t belong. In the same way, the waiting seasons can flush out our idols of control and comfort, making room for deeper trust.

God may have answered already. Or He may still be building something better than what you asked for. Either way, the wait isn’t wasted.

The question is: will you spit out the bitter herbs, or let God use them to heal you?


 

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