When God says wait
Jesus could have come and healed Lazarus when he was still alive. Instead,
He waited to raise him from the dead when he was already in his grave.
God could have made David become king the day after he was anointed.
Instead, He waited 15 years to rise to the throne, many of those years spent
fearing for his life, hiding out and running away from his own father-in-law.
God could have spoken to Moses in the desert about sending him to help free
His people from slavery 40 days after he ran away from Egypt. Instead, He
made him wait for 40 long years.
God could have gotten Joseph out of prison one year after he was sentenced
there. Instead, he was stuck in that dungeon for 10 years before he was finally
set free.
When God says wait
God could have given Abraham the son He promised him
when he was still a young man.
Instead, He waited until he was 100 years old and because of
physical reasons would have a more difficult time conceiving
at that age.
God could have given Hannah the child she wanted a few
months into marriage but she waited 20 years and got
Samuel the great prophet of Israel
When God says wait
God could have answered prayers and met the needs of
these men and women of God much quicker, but He didn’t.
He made them wait instead.
And He often makes us do the same.
He makes us wait for healing to come after we’ve been
praying for years and there is no sign of recovery.
When God says wait
He makes us wait to fulfill His call in our lives after He puts the
desire and passion in our hearts to serve Him in a certain
way.
He makes us wait to give us the desires of our hearts, whether
it’s a baby, a spouse, or a new job.
He makes us wait for direction when we are stuck at a dead
end and we don’t know where to go or what to do.
He could answer that same prayer that you’ve been praying
for years every night in a millisecond.
When God says wait
🙇That same prayer that has been bringing you to tears.
🙇That same prayer that the longer that it goes unanswered,
the more it makes you question whether He even hears.
🙇That same request of good marks, good character for your
children instead they are failing and they are behaving
badly
🙇You have been on your knees and fasting but seemingly
God is not coming through
When God says wait
He kept Moses in a desert for 40 years.
He kept Israel in the wilderness for 40 years
Joseph in a prison cell for 10 years.
Abraham without a child for 100 years.
Hannah without a child for 20 years
David on the run for 15 years.
Israel in captivity in Egypt for 490 years
When God says wait
👉And maybe He is keeping you right where you’re at for the
same reason He kept these men for so many years: TO BUILD
YOUR FAITH.
🚩To build your faith in a dungeon cell, during the valley in
your life where it’s too dark to see and too hard to believe.
🚩To build your dependence on Him when you are barren
and empty to see if He is truly all you desire and all you
need.
When God says wait
🚩To see how well you will trust and serve Him
when you are still stuck in the background
somewhere, doing seemingly nothing too
significant for Him.
🚩To build your trust in Him when the storm
keeps raging, the battle keeps going and
breakthrough and victory doesn’t seem near.
When God says wait
👀See… friend, sometimes the waiting period of our lives is
the most important time in our life.
It is during this period when nothing seems to be happening,
when prayers seem to go unanswered,
when God seems so far away that the most spiritual growth
takes place in our lives. That we learn to become more like
Him.
It is during this time that we build spiritual “muscle”. That we
grow in faith. That we learn to only depend on Him.
When God says wait
What are you waiting for today?
What longing do you have that seems so far from ever being
fulfilled?
What prayer do you keep on praying that seems to never
reach God’s ears?
I want to remind you that God is not deaf to your prayers.
He is not blind to your constant tears, to your desires, and to
your needs.
When God says wait
IF He is making you wait, there is a very good reason for it.
If He is telling you “no” today, maybe it’s because He has a
better “yes” waiting for you tomorrow.
If He is keeping you in the same place you’ve always been
today, maybe it’s because He’s helping build your faith
before you enter your Promised Land tomorrow.
If He is not healing you or bringing you victory today, maybe
it’s because you will have a greater testimony when He waits
to help you be an overcomer tomorrow.
When God says wait
Wherever you are at today know that God is right beside you
and that there is a purpose for you. Even if that purpose is to
wait.
He was there for Israel in the pillar of a cloud by day and a
ball of fire by night when they did not have water, when they
wondered in the wilderness for 40 long years.
He was with David after anointing when he was a fugitive, the
most wanted man in Israel, being hunted like an animal and
to make matters worse, by his father inlaw.
When God says wait
Don’t give up just because you don’t see anything
happening today.
Maybe there is nothing physically happening that your eyes
can see but there is definitely something happening in the
spiritual realm as you learn to rely on Christ.
Don’t allow your waiting period to make you hopeless about
what tomorrow will bring.
Instead, let it build your faith and give you even greater hope
for what God has prepared for you.
When God says wait
When people saw a barren woman in Sarah, God saw the
mother of all nations.
When people saw a poor young shepherd in David, God saw
a mighty king of Israel.
When people saw a poor prisoner in Joseph, God saw a
powerful prime minister of Egypt.
You are a great person in God's eyes.
With God, the later is better than the first. Job
When God says wait
He made some of the greatest men of faith wait.
Don’t be discouraged if He makes you wait as well.
He will come through for you, just like He came through for
them.
(Psalms 27:14) Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and
he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
When God says wait
Lets take a look at the results of patiently waiting upon the
Lord
Joseph from a slave and prisoner to priminister (second in
command) of Egypt
Lazarus from the grave to the living
David from a fugitive to the great king of Israel
Moses from a shepherd to the great deliverer of Israel
Hannah from a barren woman to the mother of the great
prophet of Israel
When God says wait
When God says wait
I want you to notice a section in PSALM 105:17 about Joseph:
(Psalms 105:17) He sent a man before them, even Joseph,
who was sold for a servant:
He sent a man before them, Joseph sold as a slave, bruised
his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons. The story of
Joseph... God sent Joseph to deliver His people. That was
Joseph's life mission. Joseph was sent of God. Now I believe
God sends every one of us. God is in charge. Joseph himself
did not fully comprehend it until he was 30 years old.
When God says wait
In Revelation 19:6, a very important statement is made. It says,
"The Lord God omnipotent reigns.
This one statement contains two of the greatest facts that human
knowledge can attain.
The fact that God exists. God is real. God is alive. He is our God
The fact that God is in charge of everything. Our God is in control
. He reigns over all things : whether they are dead or alive.
The fact that God exists is special to me, and God has a master
plan for everything.
When God says wait
He has a master plan for your personal life!
Now you might say that you haven't done a very good job of
finding my master plan.
Well, it's His master plan, and He will show it to you in His own
time and in His own way.
God directs the events of History, the course of nations and
God has a wonderful tailor made plan just for you
When God says wait
Young Joseph was not privileged to know the master plan.
In fact, it wasn't until he was about thirty years old that he
realized what God had in mind for him. Yet he knew there
was one and determined to fit into it.
I believe that. I think that God has a special place for
everyone of us.
God has a plan for your life. I read in the interesting book,
Christ's Object Lessons, page 327,
When God says wait
Here Christ has presented to the world a higher conception of life than
they had ever known. By living to minister for others, man is brought into
connection with Christ. The law of service becomes the connecting link
which binds us to God and to our fellow men. {COL 326.3}
To His servants Christ commits "His goods"--something to be put to use
for Him. He gives "to every man his work." Each has his place in the
eternal plan of heaven. Each is to work in co-operation with Christ for
the salvation of souls. Not more surely is the place prepared for us in the
heavenly mansions than is the special place designated on earth
where we are to work for God. {COL 326.4}
When God says wait
Joseph discovered his mission early in life, even though he had no
details he knew his life work would be under God's direction.
In John 5:30 Jesus makes a statement that ought to be true with every
one of us. He says, "I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father
which hath sent me."
He wanted God's will to be His will. And that's basically our prayer. If
you pray, "Lord help me to be a mechanical engineer." That might not
be His will. You might have to go several years of detour before you
finally discover what God's will is for your life. Once you find it, you will
never be the same. Joseph did the same thing. As a young man
Joseph submitted himself totally to God's plan.
When God says wait
(Psalms 27:14) Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and
he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
(Heb 11:1) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen.
(Heb 11:11) Through faith also Sara herself received strength
to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she
was past age, because she judged him faithful who had
promised.
When God says wait
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but
having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and
embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers
and pilgrims on the earth. (Heb 11:13)
But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly:
wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he
hath prepared for them a city. (Heb 11:16)
By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the
departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment
concerning his bones. (Heb 11:22)
When God says wait
By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be
called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; (Hebrews 11:24)
Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God,
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; (Heb 11:25)
And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of
Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah; of
David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: (Heb 11:32)
Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness,
obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, (Heb 11:33)
When God says wait
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea,
moreover of bonds and imprisonment: (Heb 11:36)
They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted,
were slain with the sword: they wandered about in
sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted,
tormented; (Heb 11:37)
(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in
deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the
earth. (Heb 11:38)
When God says wait
And these all, having obtained a good report through faith,
received not the promise: (Heb 11:39)
God having provided some better thing for us, that they
without us should not be made perfect. (Heb 11:40)
You are the heir to the heavenly kingdom.
Wait upon the Lord , He who is faithful will remain thus faithful.
For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and
will not tarry. (Heb 10:37)
