Myth of Control — Part 3 | When God Feels Slow
Most of us don't just struggle with control. We struggle with waiting. We pray, we seek God, and instead of answers we get silence. Instead of movement we get delay. And in that waiting, the questions start: Is God listening? Does He care? Have I done something wrong? In Part 3 of The Myth of Control, Pastor Dave DiSabatino teaches from Psalm 23:6 and the story of Joseph on what to do when God feels slow, why His presence is the focal point of the Psalm, and how to wait well in seasons that don't seem to end.
Series: The Myth of Control
Scripture: Psalm 23:6 | Genesis 37 to 50
Pastor: Dave DiSabatino
Date: April 26, 2026
Key Takeaways
We don't just struggle with control. We struggle with waiting. Faith is not tested in the smooth seasons. It's tested when God feels absent. When the answer doesn't come, when the door doesn't open, when the silence stretches on, that is where our trust gets shaped or shaken. The waiting is not the obstacle to faith. The waiting is the classroom.
The focal point of Psalm 23 is not the pasture, the provision, or the protection. It's the presence. The phrase "You are with me" sits at the exact center of Psalm 23 (27 words before it, 27 words after). This is not a coincidence. The whole Psalm is structured around one truth: God is with you. Everything else flows from that.
Joseph's story is the clearest picture of how God works when life feels unfair and slow. Sold into slavery by his own brothers. Falsely accused. Thrown in prison. Years of silence between the dream God gave him and its fulfillment. There were stretches where it looked like God had completely forgotten. And yet the same phrase repeats throughout: "The Lord was with Joseph." God's presence does not depend on your circumstances. Nothing in his story was wasted. Not the betrayal, not the prison, not the forgotten moments.
What looks like defeat may actually be a victory in progress. At the Battle of Waterloo, the first message that came through the fog read: "Wellington defeated." Hearts sank. But when the fog lifted, the full message read: "Wellington defeated the enemy." We are often reading God's story before the fog lifts. Like a master stonemason striking a rock with precision again and again, each blow intentional, each moment building toward the right break, God is not absent in the waiting. He is working. It is not the last strike alone that opens the stone. It is every precise moment of trusting.
How to wait when God feels slow. Wait patiently, because God's goodness often takes longer than we expect. Wait confidently, because nothing is outside God's reach (not the betrayal, not the prison, not the forgotten moments). Wait authentically, because God is not afraid of your honest questions, frustrations, and doubts (just don't stay there, keep coming back to His presence). Wait expectantly, because Psalm 27:13 says, "I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." And wait knowing that some things are not resolved until eternity, but God's love follows you even in the mess, even in the questions, every day of your life.
