Tag: powerlessness

God’s sudden action can surprise you.

Last week’s post was about the frustration of waiting on God. This week we see in the life of Joseph that our waiting is not in vain.

The Word of the Lord tests Joseph

Psalm 105:19 says of Joseph, “Until what he had said came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.”

“What he had said” refers to what Joseph told his family: his two prophetic dreams that foretold his rise to power in Egypt (see Genesis 37). Psalm 105:19 calls these dreams “the word of the LORD” because they were a prophetic revelation from God.

Joseph told the first dream to his eleven brothers: “Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf” (Genesis 37:7). His brothers interpreted the dream correctly: “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?”

Another dream

He told the second dream to his brothers and father: “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me” (v. 9). Jacob likewise interpreted the dream correctly: “Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” (v. 10)

Through these two dreams from God Joseph prophesied about the future, and as he waited for them to be fulfilled, the dreams tested him.

The dreams tested Joseph because of the stark contrast between what they foretold and what he experienced for 13 years. They said he would rule; meanwhile, his brothers sold him into slavery, and he lived first as a slave in Potiphar’s house and then as a prisoner in a dungeon after being falsely accused of rape.

Once he had his prophetic dreams at age 17 his situation turned for the worse—and then worse and worse. He suffered severe hardship and pain. He was in a low position. And he was far from the family members who the dreams said would bow before him.

Questions that burn like fire

What is going on? he must have thought. The dreams I thought were from God promised me a position of authority. They promised me honor from the brothers who hate me and even from my father and mother. How can that possibly happen now? They don’t even know where I am. I’m a slave in a foreign land.

Such thoughts tested his faith. They tested his confidence that he could interpret God’s communication. At times he did not know what to think. The stark contrast between the dreams and his situation, mixed with pain and disappointment, tested his beliefs like fire.

In fact the Hebrew word for “tested” in Psalm 105:19, tsaraph, is the word for refining metal in fire. Waiting for the word of the Lord to be fulfilled tested Joseph like a furnace refining gold.

A heart of gold

But Joseph passed this trial. He did not lose faith or turn against God in bitterness because life had not gone as hoped. When Potiphar’s wife tempted him to commit adultery, he said, “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). He feared the Lord, kept a good conscience, and would not sin against him. In all his work for Potiphar and then the ruler of the dungeon, he performed well (see Genesis 39 and 40). Joseph had a heart of gold.

God’s sudden action

As Joseph waited in Egypt, God did not reveal anything further to reassure him the dreams would be fulfilled. God did not give an annual dream saying, “Everything is okay, Joseph. Just hang in there, and eventually you will see my word prove true.” Joseph had his initial dreams, and that was it. The Lord’s silence did not mean the promises expired, nor did the 13-year string of woes. Joseph held those prophetic dreams. We know he did not forget them, for Psalm 105:19 says they continued to test him. All he could do was clutch them in faith and wait for God.

But when the test ended, Joseph’s life suddenly, dramatically changed. “God acts on behalf of those who wait for him,” Isaiah 64:4 says, and Joseph’s life shows how true that is. God acts. Joseph awoke one morning as a prisoner in a dungeon and went to bed that night as the second most powerful man in Egypt (see Genesis 40–41). As God says, “I am the LORD; in its time I will hasten it” (Isa. 60:22, italics added). The God who works as slowly as glaciers move, for whom a thousand years are like a day, can also act quickly. God acts.

The pattern

But he has a time for your train to pull into the station, and a wise reason for the schedule. He knows what the test of waiting—with its refining fires—must accomplish. As you read Scripture, he might cause certain words to come alive, breathing hope and faith into your spirit. He might fulfill those words one week later, and each day leading up to it he might reassure you the answer is coming. Or he might not fulfill those words for 50 years, and you might not receive another extraordinary reassurance that the promise still stands, but then the answer dawns as quickly as the morning sun.

God has a unique time and way for each person, but there is a pattern. There is longing and promise, hope and faith, waiting on God, and finally fulfillment. The test requires that you persevere with trust in whatever way he works in you.

More to learn from Abraham

Joseph and his great-grandfather Abraham had to wait on God following that pattern, but their paths also differed. Abraham has much more to teach us about waiting on God through frustrating, unfulfilled desire.

See you here next week to learn from Abraham’s life.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

Waiting on God is frustrating but fruitful.

For years I commuted to work by train, and given that I live in Chicago several difficult trips will not be forgotten. During one blizzard I had to take a late-evening train. I parked my car at the station 10 minutes before the scheduled arrival. With the wind blowing hard, my walk from car to station was bitterly cold, so with relief I reached out my hand to the door of the station and pulled. The door was locked.

I walked over to a brick wall that broke the wind and huddled there shaking and counting the minutes. I was wearing a decent winter coat, but dress slacks and dress shoes. The arrival time came and went without a train, and my heart sank. What should I do? I could not wait in my car because the train could arrive and leave before I could run to catch it. Driving home in the blizzard would be hazardous and long. So I kept waiting, not knowing how long that wait might last. I was alone except for one couple on the other side of the building. The wind howled, the snow fell thickly, my hands and feet and face were numb.

Mixed news

After about 10 minutes an automated announcement came over the station’s loudspeakers, and what a relief it was to get information. The news, however, was mixed. The train was rolling but had been delayed by mechanical problems and would arrive in approximately twenty-five minutes. Twenty-five minutes sounded like forever, but at least I knew I was not waiting in vain.

I was now in survival mode. My nose was running, and I was out of tissue. I still did not want to chance waiting in my car because I was not sure I could trust the time given on the announcement. I walked up and down the stairs of the station to generate heat. I moaned. I wondered what homeless people do in times like these. I peered down the tracks again and again looking for a glow in the distance.

Hope

After about 30 minutes the automated voice began another announcement: “Attention Metra customers, a train will soon be arriving in your station.” Oh, thank you, Lord! Three more frigid minutes passed. Finally a growing light appeared in the west. The locomotive’s horn blared, and its warning bell clanged louder and louder as the train pushed through the accumulated snow and crept into the station. It stopped, the doors opened, and the conductor jumped out. I mounted the stairs and walked numbly into another world of light and warmth, where a few commuters were calmly reading their cell phones. I walked the aisle and found a seat, doing my best to act similarly calm, though I felt the raw emotion of someone just rescued. My wait was over. My train had come.

Many people are waiting for trains. They long for financial relief. Or they pray daily that God will give a spouse, child, or new job. Some hope finally to succeed in business or ministry. Others need healing. Some intercede for loved ones in trouble. What they have in common is the waiting, longing, hope, and need. How long until the Lord acts?

Waiting on God can feel pointless

One frustrating thing about waiting is, it seems pointless. We see every good reason for God to fulfill our desires immediately. Pain or hardship could end. Happiness could begin. Many could praise God as his glory is displayed. The Bible says many things to affirm such hopes, yet despite our efforts nothing happens. Why the wait?

This is a situation where at least part of the answer is that God is testing us. The trial has a pattern. It begins with our desire. Then the Lord awakens faith through his Word that he can fulfill that desire. Then he waits, and we must keep believing the promise, sometimes despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, perhaps for an unbearably long while. Then God acts. The test ends in joy, in gratitude to God, in a life transformed by the process. Indeed, the test is a defining experience.

A spiritual passage

The test of waiting is a spiritual passage. Although it feels as though little is happening, in reality huge spiritual things are getting done. We are crossing a long bridge to a wonderful place. We are moving into God’s highest purposes, which are always bigger than we imagine. We are in the process of promotion. Equally important, God is working through our wait for the good of others, and most important, he is working for his kingdom purposes. He is doing something much bigger than what you have in mind.

Two people in the Bible illustrate this trial and its rewards especially well: Joseph, the favorite son of the patriarch Jacob, and Abraham. Both lives teach principles that help us pass our own test of waiting on God.

We will resume next week in part 2 with a focus on Joseph’s experience in waiting on God and what we can learn from him for our own frustrating wait.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)