4. Spiritual leaders that had to wait

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

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