Encouragement in the Back-Stage Seasons of Life

If you’ve ever been part of a drama or Christmas production, you know that more work takes place off stage than on. I’m not discrediting the performance, but this is just a reality.

Life is the same way. Although social media showcases the success stories, it doesn’t reflect all the behind-the-scenes work that made that moment possible. As a result, we can fall into the trap of believing we’re running on a hamster-wheel, and everyone else has “arrived.”

Right now, I’m in a back-stage season. My next book doesn’t release until December of 2022. But I promise, I’m hard at work, though I have little to show. Progress is happening, even though my readers have nothing to hold in their hands yet.

Back-stage work isn’t glamorous, but without it, the product or performance isn’t possible. If you’re in a back-stage season like me, I hope this post encourages you to persevere, even when no one seems to see you. The Bible shows us that God works behind-the-scenes, and even when we don’t see Him, He’s working.

Noah and the Ark

In Genesis 6, God saw the wickedness of His creation and was grieved by it. Only one man, Noah, found favor in His eyes. As a result, God commanded Noah to build an ark for himself and his family to “start over.”

Math is not my strong suit, so I researched how long Bible scholars estimate Noah worked on the ark. Answers in Genesis suggests anywhere from 55-75 years.

Now I realize that people back then had longer life spans, and Noah himself lived to be 950 years old (Genesis 9:29). According to the CDC, life expectancy in the United States is 78.7 years today. If we do some basic math and assume a median of 65 years for Noah to complete the ark, that equates to about 5.4 years of our lives today.

I think back to the first 6 years of my post-college career and how frustrated I felt being “stuck” in a job I didn’t love. The economy was in recession, jobs were scarce, and I was fresh out of school with little experience. Tedious as those years were, God grew me, matured me, and prepared me to step out in faith years later and start my teaching career.

Whether 65 years or 6 years or less, God’s preparatory timetable often seems to drag. Yet God had given Noah a clear assignment to build the ark, and Noah stayed faithful to the task.

Did you know God has called us to a clear assignment as well? Maybe He hasn’t spelled out the dimensions on paper for us (as He did in Genesis 6 for Noah), but His Word directs our way.

• “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV)
• “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

In whatever season we find ourselves, Scripture calls us to walk in faithful obedience to God. Back-stage preparations are rarely glamorous. Noah was even mocked for building the ark. But his work wasn’t in vain, and because of it, he saved his family.

So too, our back-stage work has a purpose, even if no one can see it yet.

Abraham and the Promise Child

Have you ever wanted something so badly, only to hear God say, “Wait”? You and me both.

Abram and Sarai longed for a child. In fact, God had even promised them one.

• In Genesis 12, God promised to make Abram “a great nation” (vs. 2) and give the land to his offspring (vs. 7).
• In Genesis 13, God told him that his descendants would be like “the dust of the earth” (vs. 16), meaning that no one could count them.
• In Genesis 15, God declared that Abram’s children would be as numerous as the stars in the sky (vs. 5).
• In Genesis 17, He changed their names to Abraham and Sarah to underscore His promise that they would be parents of not just one son, but of many nations (vs. 5, 15-16).

But the years went by without any fulfillment of this promise, and these two weren’t getting any younger. I can imagine their pain as they received baby announcement after baby announcement, and Sarah’s womb remained empty.

Finally, twenty-five years after God’s initial promise to them (and after their own attempts to force God’s hand), Sarah bore the promised son Isaac to Abraham, now 100 years old (Genesis 21:5).

I don’t know why God makes us wait back-stage so long for good things we desire, except for the purpose of refining our faith and deepening our dependence on Him. But Scripture assures us that our waiting is not a waste.

• “Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him.” (Isaiah 30:18 NKJV)
• “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

When everyone else’s turn seems to come and not yours, hang tight back stage. Remember God’s faithfulness in the past and trust His Word. How He answers your prayer may be different than you expect, but you can cling to this beautiful promise from Scripture:

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
And whose hope is the Lord.
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

Moses and the Forty-Year Waits

Bless Moses. Scripture calls him the “meekest” man on the earth, and I think the reason stems from all the waiting God made him do.

• At forty years old, he fled to the wilderness to escape Pharaoh (Acts 7:23-29). He then proceeded to tend sheep in the wilderness for forty years.
• At eighty years old, God called him back to Egypt to free the Jewish nation from Pharaoh (Acts 7:30).
• But after Pharaoh finally did let the people go, they vexed God so much that He made them wander in the wilderness for forty years before entering the Promise Land (Numbers 32:13). Guess who got to lead them those forty years? Moses.

The man earned a Ph.D. in wandering and waiting on God. His back stage was the desolate wilderness.

At first glance, the wilderness years appear to be a waste. But let’s take a closer look. When Moses was learning to be a shepherd, he was receiving hands-on training in humility. He had gone from a prince of Egypt to a lowly shepherd, a despised occupation. We know this from Genesis 46:33-34 when Joseph told his family to tell Pharaoh they were cattle herders, anything but despised shepherds.

Only when the soil of our lives is tender enough for God are we ready to move out from behind the curtain. Scripture shows time and again that God blesses humility and meekness.

• “Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.'”(I Peter 5:5b NKJV)
• “Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5)
• “By humility and the fear of the Lord Are riches and honor and life.” (Proverb 22:4)

Not only did Moses learn humility, but he also learned to shepherd the most stubborn of creatures: sheep. This practice no doubt served him well when he became leader of the stiff-necked Israelites.

Back stage is the place God softens us for service and prepares us for plans that only He can see.

Ready for the Curtain Call?

I wish I could tell you when your turn at the curtain call will come, but I can’t. However, more important than our hopes and dreams is another curtain call: when Jesus comes again.

We need to ask ourselves: Are we ready for His return, and will He find us faithful?

You see, it doesn’t really matter if we ever get the answer to prayer we want. Life isn’t about us, though frankly, I forget that a lot. It’s not about our curtain call. It’s about Jesus Christ’s coming back to claim His church.

Matthew 24:45-46 says, “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing” (NKJV).

In other words, we are God’s servants, each with a unique purpose. Each of us has a different calling, and whatever it is we are supposed to do, God wants to see us going about it. Whether big or small. Whether wildly successful or simply faithful.

Well, crew, the back stage isn’t a bad place to be. It’s no more and no less important than front and center. So whatever role God has given us to fulfill, let’s do it.

What is one step of obedience you know God wants you to take today?

~ Kristen