We are still continuing on the theme of waiting on God. We've
discussed a few examples such as David and Paul, but in fact there
are quite a number of them, for example Abraham, Jesus, Joseph, to
name but a few.
Abraham had to wait for years and
years, before the Lord blessed him with his true heir, Isaac. He
did however take matters into his own hands in the meantime though
and had a child with Hagar, namely Ishmael. And we all know the
story about the rivalry between the two brothers and the nations
founded from them. How different things could have been if Abraham
had waited on the Lord's perfect timing!
Joseph is another example of
someone who had to wait for years before the prophecy over his life
came true. We all know how Joseph had two prophetic dreams about
his future at the age of seventeen. He dreamed that his brothers'
bundles of grain bowed down before his. He also dreamed that the
sun, moon and eleven stars bowed before him, representing his
family bowing before him. Now this angered his brothers and they
subsequently sold him into slavery. During his time in slavery, he
was thrown into a different culture, exposed to sexual temptation,
punished for doing the right thing, imprisoned for a long time and
forgotten by those whom he helped. All he had to hang on to was his
two dreams of a better future for him, which finally happened for
him at the age of 30.
We can learn a few lessons from his
life; first of all the Lord prepared him during the waiting period.
As a seventeen year old he was a bit arrogant and had youthful
pride towards his brothers. But the period he had to wait prepared
him for the enormous job he had waiting for him. He learned how to
trust the Lord and he lost all the pride that he had, which was
evident in the kind manner he treated his brothers later when they
came to beg him for food during the drought. He became a respected
leader with integrity and had a strong relationship with God.
The second thing is that Joseph had
only two dreams to hold on to regarding his future. Now here I am
personally very guilty. I have had dreams about the future that the
Lord is planning for me, but after a few months the impact of these
dreams start to fade for me and then I want another prophetic word,
either from someone or from God Himself. And then after a few more
months, I want another one and another one and so it goes on. I
constantly want affirmation of God's plan for me. It is something
that I need to work on, because the Lord doesn't need to repeat
Himself. We need to trust Him when He gives us a revelation and we
need to hold on to it. He doesn't have to repeat it, we need to
trust His Word and believe that He would do what He said.
The last person that I quickly
would like to discuss is Jesus. Jesus only started His ministry at
age 30. He had to wait patiently for the right time to start. He
knew that timing was important and didn't jump the gun. We do not
gain any information of His life between 12 and 30 in the Bible,
but I think we can assume that He was doing the duties expected of
Him as the oldest son and preparing Himself for the task that lay
ahead. He is a very good example to follow of 'someone' who waited
for the right moment to arrive and was more than ready for the big
task resting on His shoulders.
Your right moment will come,
believe in God and trust Him for the exact time to start.
Lord Jesus, thank you for the
wonderful example that You gave us. We are grateful that we can
trust in Your perfect timing, as we know that You know the best.
Amen