What do you do with the throw-away years? You know, the years when you feel stuck and don’t know how to get out of your tough situation. It usually describes a time when you wish you were somewhere else doing something different.

It could be you feel you are in a dead-end job or you have a seemingly intolerable situation or maybe you are caring for someone else and can hardly take care of yourself.

Everyone experiences the throw-away years.

In the Bible, you find a number of people who were waiting for something else to happen. As Forrest Gump famously said: Life is what happens when you are waiting for something else.

Moses had forty throw-away years in the “back side” of the wilderness waiting for God to call him back to Egypt. Who would have known God would use that time to teach Moses how to lead the children of Israel through the wilderness?

David spent an awful time living in the wilderness running from King Saul. But those weren’t throw-away years. God used those years to teach David cunning and craftiness. David learned to fight and assembled a loyal group of warriors who never left him.

Paul spent a lot of time in prison incarcerated for doing right and serving God. How easy Paul could have felt sorry for himself or blamed God. He did neither and filled his days with witnessing to Roman guards and writing several books found in the New Testament during his time in prison.

In Philippi, Paul endured beatings and spent a tough night in jail. What a wasted night that must have been! God took Paul’s hardship and turned it into the salvation of the Roman jailer and his family. God strengthened the church and used it as a beachhead to take the gospel to the continent of Europe.

God will use any of our throw-away years for His glory. He works all things together for good for those who love and follow Him.

What will you do with your throw-away years?

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