Over the last couple of weeks, I feel that God has heard our cries about how long we've been waiting for Time2 and that he has been reminding us that it's all about his timing, not ours.
At church, we're 2 weeks into a new series titled "The Lost Arts Of....." Week 1 was "The Lost Art of Navigation" - talking about how we should navigate by the compass of God's word and that we often don't know where God is leading us, how He doesn't give us a destination and a map, but that He expects us to follow Him. I know that this is nothing new or earth shattering, but it's good to be reminded. It gives you that little nudge to stop worrying about where we're going and how long it's taking and to just believe that God will reveal the journey one step at a time. So we need to stop worrying about the destination and concentrate on the journey and not miss opportunities to serve and learn along the way.
Week 2 was "The Lost Art of Waiting" with a subtitle of Finding Purpose In The Pain, the preach was based on the story of Hannah (1 Samuel 1), where she is desperate for a child. What struck me about this, was that despite the suffering and pain she felt from not being able to have a child and the taunting of others, she didn't lose her faith in God, in fact it drew her closer to Him. She didn't abandon God, or just go through the motions, instead she was real and honest with Him, crying out and expressing all the pain and anguish. Too often we begin to doubt God because of the waiting, we begin to question what He's promised or even question His very existence, so instead of copying Hannah, tucking into God and really telling Him how we feel, we keep him at a distance.
In addition to listening to these sermons (you can click here for the LifeCentral Church YouTube channel), we've been discussing them in our Connect group on Zoom. It's been encouraging to hear how much this series has been speaking to us all in the circumstances we all face. The honesty and vulnerability that the group has shown has been so encouraging.
Then yesterday, I decided to watch the final session from an online conference we've been enjoying, where the talk was on the story of Joseph. The speaker (John Mark Comer) was talking about the gap between the dream and the reality and how during the waiting, we experience the whole spectrum of emotions, from elation to hope and anticipation, from faith through to impatience and despair. How when he was sold into slavery, it was the polar opposite of his dream, rather than people bowing down to him and serving him, he was bowing down and serving others! While in prison he was able to interpret dreams, but his dream eluded him!
In his dreams, Joseph only saw a snippet of his destiny, he didn't see the whole story. God needed to work on Joseph's ego, to take him from a place where it was all about him, where he was the ruler who his family bowed down to, to see the bigger picture. The story was so much bigger that just him becoming second in command of the Egyptian empire, it was about how God through him saved the Israelite's and kept His great promise to Abraham alive. The reality is to the dream, what a tree is to the seed! All the raw materials are in the seed, but it's only a fraction of the whole and when looking at the seed, you do not know it's full potential.
It took God over 20 years to prepare Joseph from the time he had the dream through the time of slavery, the years spent in prison, then to be Pharaoh's right hand man through the 7 years of plenty and the first couple of years of famine, before the dream came to pass. It must have been so difficult for Joseph during this whole journey, but God gave him a number of encouragements along the way. When it looked like he was being left in the cistern to die, he was rescued (encouragement) but then sold into slavery! Then he was sold to Potiphar, where he is recognised for his work and faith and is promoted (encouragement), then he's falsely accused of attempted rape and is thrown into prison. In prison he's again recognised and the warder puts him in charge of running things (encouragement), eventually he interprets the prisoners dreams which come true a few days later (encouragement), but the cup-bearer forgets his promise and Joseph remains in prison for another 2 years!
I just hope and pray that it doesn't take God as long to deal with my ego, or to prepare me for the Time2 vision!
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