Did any of you have a mom that made the following statement to you? You were frantically looking for your wallet or your keys and your mom said, “It’s always the last place you look.” Think about that for a moment. It’s always the last place you look. Why would you keep looking for what you’ve lost once you’ve already found it? That is the stupidest thing you can say to someone who’s looking for something. (Please don’t tell your mom she’s stupid.) We’ve all heard this phrase, but there is no sense to it regardless of who says it to you.

The same is true of faith. If you already have something, you don’t hope for it. You already have it.

My go-to verses when it comes to faith are found in Hebrews 11. This chapter details some of the people in the Bible who have become renowned for their faith. This is how their faith is defined:

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. –Hebrews 11:1

Based on these two verses, we know this truth about faith.

Faith only exists in the absence of what you hope for

Faith is only alive when you are without that thing you hope for. I call it living in the unresolved. The unresolved is the space between goal setting and goal achieving. It’s the proving ground for faith. It’s when your faith matures. If you already have something, there is no need for hope. You don’t need to leverage your faith. You have it.

The rest of Hebrews 11 gives us examples of people who showed this kind of faith. Put a book‐ mark in your Bible and read this chapter this week. In the face of dashed hopes and broken dreams, these people did not shrink back. They didn’t give up. They made it through the unresolved times. It would take forever to go through this list, so let’s just look at a couple of these characters in Hebrews 11.

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.–Hebrews 11:8.

God told Abraham that he was going to make him into a great nation. Twenty-five years later, it was him, his wife, and one son. That’s a lot of waiting for a very small nation.

Jump down to verse 22. We find another familiar name.

By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones. Hebrews 11:22

Joseph’s story of his technicolor dream coat was told on Broadway in just short of three hours, but the resolution of his story would take a bit longer. Joseph’s brothers were jealous that his dad gave him that beautiful coat so they sold him into slavery, but he rose to become second-in-command of Israel.

Do you know how long from the time he was sold to the time he would take his role as second-in-command? Thirteen years. For thirteen years, he was either in slavery or in prison. Joseph spent thirteen years living in the unresolved.

Just about every person on the list in Hebrews 11 spent most of their life waiting for the promise.

Life is spent living in the unresolved.

Don’t you hate that?

Honestly, I wish my life was more like an episode of Full House.

Life is lived in the unresolved

If I lived on Full House, Danny Tanner would be my dad, Uncle Joey would tell me jokes, and all of my issues would be resolved in thirty minutes, including three commercial breaks and a song by Uncle Jesse. Life isn’t like that. There is always something unresolved.

Why is it that our Heavenly Father puts us through these extended times of waiting? Why do we have to wander through these long periods of unresolved issues? Theologian and author C.S. Lewis put it like this:

“I am sure that God keeps no one waiting unless he sees that it is good for him to wait.” C.S. Lewis

God puts us through these extended periods of waiting and hoping and running and hiding in caves for one reason.

The period of waiting and hoping is the only place your faith can grow

My guess is that, at this moment, you are living in the unresolved. Right now, there’s an issue that is bothering you as you drive home, pursues you when you have a quiet moment, and wakes you up in the middle of the night.

Where do you want to be when your situation is resolved?

Do you want to be anxious and worried and white knuckle life until it’s all put together.  Or do you want to learn to have peace and patience and joy in the waiting? God challenges us to wait on him. Our Heavenly Dad wants us to trust that he has our best interests at heart. He knows that if we pray to him, run to him with our problems, and stay the course that we will grow and mature.  He knows that life is lived in the unresolved and that is the place our faith will grow.

If you want to learn more about this Heavenly Dad who delights in you even in the waiting pick up a copy of my latest book, “You’re Picture is On His Refrigerator.”