God's Timing

"Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he was standing by the Nile." -Genesis 41.1

Joseph has been in prison under a false accusation for a long time.  At one point it looked like there was a glimmer of hope.  He had interpreted a dream for one of Pharoah's servants, the cupbearer, and he had been freed.  Joseph had asked him to remember him, and to tell the king he was innocent, but in two years he never mentions him.

Then Pharaoh has a dream and it all comes back.  He remembers and tells Pharaoh.  Joseph is sent for and freed.

If Joseph had never been sold as a slave he never would have been falsely accused.  Had he never been accused he wouldn't have ended up in jail.  If he hadn't been in jail he never would have met the cupbearer.  And if he had never met the cupbearer Pharaoh's dream wouldn't have been interpreted.

Had Joseph been set free with the cupbearer he may have headed back to Canaan.  Pharaoh would have had the dream but Joseph would have been gone.  But that isn't how the story happens.  Joseph is in prison another two years, and when Pharaoh has his dream he is right where he can be found.

Men, sometimes it feels like we're just stuck.  We have done nothing to be where we are, and the people we believe will help us forget about us.  But if we are in the center of God's will, then we can patiently wait for His timing.

Your prayer may be answered with God saying, "Not yet."  When that happens let us trust Him, and wait on his timing.  He has us right where He needs us, so at the right moment we can be found and used for the big picture. 

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor

Wait for God to Speak

"Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 'Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.' So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him." -Genesis 8.15-18

It rained, it flooded. Noah and his family had a floating zoo. And slowly the water begin to subside. The ark comes to rest on Ararat, and Noah begins to send out birds to see if they can leave the ark. Finally, a dove returns with an olive branch, and the next time doesn't come back at all. And then God speaks. He tells Noah to leave the ark, and that is when Noah leaves.

It must have been hard waiting. I've seen a live production of this story, as well as movies, and in every one of them you see panic. Noah and his sons are worried that they will run out of food for the animals, and even talk about having to kill some of them so that they don't starve. But part of me wonders if that happened. But once they hit dry ground again, I'm sure they were anxious to get out. They've been on this boat for close to a year. They've been with a bunch of animals in a floating barn, and it probably smelled like one. They lived in pretty close quarters so I'm sure at times they got on each other's nerves. But even once they got the sign that there was dry land and plant life on the earth, they waited for God to speak.

How often do we do that? How often do we allow God to dictate the timing? How often do we get an idea, and run with it, before we seek God's input? What if we waited? What would happen if in everything we did, we waited for God to give the ok?

Noah walked with God before the flood, before the crisis, and because of that it made trusting Him that much easier during it. And I believe because of that, he was able to wait on God's timing. Before we act, let's wait for God to say go.

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor