Last week I interviewed for a Director of IT position that appeared to be a godsend. After wrestling with the challenges of modern-day unemployment for over 7 months, this opportunity had a different feel to it. The industry is a bit niche, meaning that this role would not viewed as a destination job for most, reducing the amount of competition for it. In fact, it wasn’t posted anywhere, not even on the company’s website, because the last two individuals who had occupied the role had both left for greener pastures, and the hiring VP was tired of getting burned. As many of you know, I’m a quirky, niche kind of guy, with no aspirations to hop from one lily pad to another, so all of this seemed to work in my favor. The recruiter who found my profile on LinkedIn told me that there was only one other candidate being considered. Prior to the interview, the VP asked for additional information about a specific aspect of my technical and leadership experience, another promising sign.
Two days after the interview, the recruiter called to inform me the VP had extended an offer to the other candidate.
Make a mental note of your instinctive reaction to that last statement, and put a pin in it. We’ll come back to it in a second.
When I told my friends, who had been specifically praying for the Lord to give me favor in the eyes of this VP, one of them asked me what I was going to do now. We all thought this was “the one”, but it wasn’t until the question was put to me in that manner that I realized the air of finality that seemed to hang over this particular dead end. “Well,” I replied, “I’m going to keep on doing what I’ve been doing.” What that meant was hitting the job boards again, pursuing networking, focus on writing, and continuing to wait.
Perhaps you’re familiar with the quote attributed to Albert Einstein that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I myself have quoted it on numerous occasions to inspire myself and others to tackle a problem from a different angle or with a different technique. As a matter of fact, as soon as I answered my friend’s question, I remembered Einstein’s words, and remarked to myself sarcastically, “Great answer, Sam. Keep doing the same things. You realize that’s insanity, don’t you?” However, upon further reflection I realized that repeating an approach is only insanity if you’re not happy with the result.
Now, think back to your response when I told you I didn’t get the job. Did you grimace? Were you disappointed? Did you think, “Aw, that’s too bad”? If we were having this conversation face-to-face, would you say something like, “Sam, I’m so sorry”? Or, would you say something along the lines of, “Glad to hear it, Sam. That’s great news!”?
If you post a reply here and tell me that your instinctive reaction was to be happy and not sad for me, I’ll believe you. I have to, because I’m asking you to believe me when I say that, as much as I thought I wanted it, I was glad I didn’t get that job.
You see, over the past several years, the Lord’s been working on teaching me about waiting, and in the last 7 months that training has become much more intense. On a daily basis, He’s been exercising my commitment to several truths that have become fundamental to my worldview. Among those are my belief that God is good because that’s all He can be, that He does good because that’s all He can do, and that waiting is good. I explain how I arrived at those conclusions and what they mean in the real world in my book, The Weight of the Wait, which, unironically, you will need to wait to read until it is hopefully published sometime in 2025. Suffice it to say at this point that not getting that job means I get to wait more, which means God has more to teach me about waiting, and both of those things are good.
Einstein said something else that’s probably less well-known than his insanity quote, but is equally insightful. He said, “Any man who can drive a car while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.” The same is true of waiting. If you’re trying to navigate life without enjoying the seasons of waiting, you’re not giving waiting the attention it deserves.
Learn to give waiting the attention it deserves. You can start by being glad that I didn’t get that job. Don’t offer me your condolences, sympathy, or support — not because I don’t need or appreciate them, but because they’re not the point. Don’t pray for God to give me a job. He already knows what I need, and He has promised to provide, so the result isn’t, and never has been, in doubt. Instead, pray that I will learn to wait well, leaning into waiting with the intensity of a passionate embrace, savoring and relishing every aspect and every minute of it. Then, ask Him to give you the same attitude in your own season of waiting.
Trust me — Einstein was right. Driving cars is highly overrated. Making out with a pretty girl is a whole lot better. And waiting, once you get to know her, is as beautiful as they come.
