Talk about Delay / Times of Waiting
DMV (Number Ticket)
Emergency Waiting Room
Allegiant Airlines (Airplane Ticket)
Fishing (Fishing Pole)
Delays: Some are self inflicted…some are a result of others…some are actually a part of God’s plan.
Delays / Times of Waiting are:
frustrating
discouraging
boring
lonely
unnerving
cause you to want to give up
mentally taxing
Steve Farrar - “Waiting is like eating gravel. Nobody in their right mind wants to do it.”
Proverbs 13:12 (NIV) - “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”
(LB) - “when dreams come true at last, there is life and joy.”
Hope deferred can cause our faith to waiver or cause us to lean to our own understanding and try to “help God” by creating our own path to what we’re hoping for.
Can you think of a time when you tried to hurry something up and you ended up messing it up?
Abraham & Sarah did that. They became impatient. The result was Ishmael. Their hope was deferred and the actions they took are causing problems still today.
Patience can be hard to have when you’re waiting for something or someone. But impatience always gives birth to Ismael…troubles…with a capital T.
There are countless verses about the benefits of “waiting on the Lord,” BUT…I’ve found quoting the verses to be a whole lot easier than the actual “waiting on the Lord.”
Sometimes it seems like God is running late. Seriously…sometimes we all wonder what’s going on. What’s the deal? Why is He making us wait? Why is He allowing this delay? I mean…with a single word (probably just a look or a thought)…He could make what we’re hoping for happen…but that’s not usually what happens…is it?
Remember on the old Bat Man & Robin show…there was a “bat phone?” Has anyone else ever wished you had a “hot line” from heaven to earth that provided instantaneous results?
But we all know…Delays are inevitable. Waiting is part of life.
A man was visiting a local department store with his wife. They had just purchased an item of luggage and a new cooler. As he was waiting for his wife to finish the rest of her shopping…he dragged the suitcase and cooler around while looking for somewhere to sit. Soon he saw an empty bench in the shoe department. As he sat down, the salesman asked if he could be of assistance. “No, thank you,” the man replied, “I’m just waiting for my wife.” At that point, a man seated on the bench across from him said, “I’m waiting for my wife too…but I never thought of bringing a lunch and overnight bag with me!”
In what situations are you most impatient? When is waiting the hardest?
Have you ever prayed for patience? “Lord give me patience and give it to me right now!” When you ask God to give you patience…you are really asking God to send you some delays / hassles.
Things don’t always happen as quickly or work out in the way we’d hoped they would. Even though it’s hard to believe…there are positive things about the delays that come into our life.
The Bible is filled with people who experienced delays. The person I want to draw your attention to today is Joseph. Joseph is a guy who spent a lot of his life waiting. It seems like his life was regularly “on hold,”…delayed…without any idea of how long.
Sadly…there wasn’t much Joseph could do about it…and even when opportunity presented itself…through helping the chief butler…nothing seemed to come of it…or so Joseph thought.
So what can we learn from the delays that come our way? I believe delays provide opportunity for us to learn the same valuable lessons Joseph learned.
(1) JOSEPH LEARNED TO TRUST IN GOD’S PERSON.
Our key verse tells us that “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” What causes our hope to be deferred? Our hope is deferred when we put our hope in the wrong thing(s). Whenever our hope is bound by anything tangible…it is at risk of being deferred.
You see…like Joseph…we live in a sinful world…and regardless of how detailed our plans might be…or how righteous our walk or worthy our goals may be…things don’t always go as planned. That’s why our hope must always be based on the unchanging nature and character of Jesus. Whenever we take our eyes off of Jesus and focus on our circumstances…our hope gets deferred.
There’s one basic thing that kept Joseph’s hope alive even though his life was filled with the most trying of delays. Joseph knew that God had not and would not abandon him. Joseph knew that the God he served was all-knowing…all-seeing…all-powerful…and entirely faithful. Though every delay…Joseph knew…that whatever lay ahead…He could depend on God. Men might fail him…but God would never leave Him.
Genesis 39:21 (NLT) - “But the Lord was with Joseph in prison and showed him His faithful love.”
Genesis 39:23 (NLT) - “The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed.”
Regardless of the delay…God is still with you…He hasn’t gone anywhere…and despite how things might look…GOD is still in control. If you’re life is on hold…if you’re in a waiting pattern…don’t lose hope…don’t give up…God hasn’t changed. The very same God who helped Joseph (so full of promises) through years of waiting in a prison…and every other person of faith who experienced delay in Scripture and throughout history…will walk you and I through our period of waiting too. You can count on it!
(2) JOSEPH LEARNED TO TRUST IN GOD’S PURPOSE.
Delay…times of waiting…when life seems to be on hold…are times when we learn that God is still working.
While Joseph was waiting…there had to have been times when it seemed to him that nothing was happening. Have you ever felt that way? Joseph…like us…may have felt like nothing was happening…But that wasn’t the case.
It was through the delays of life that Joseph learned that…even when it seems like nothing is happening…God is always active behind the scenes…working out His purposes for our lives and the advancement of His Kingdom.
What happened to Joseph is what happens to us. We experience times of delay…and things that we experience seem to be just a series of unrelated events…but in hindsight…we look back…and we see that God was at work the entire time. Even when the butler forgot all about Joseph…leaving him waiting in prison for 2 long years…God was in it all and using it all. God was putting into place His perfect plan. God was there all the time. Not just in the successes…but perhaps even moreso in the delays Joseph experienced.
Joseph…after all the delays…following all the years of waiting…looks back and realizes, God was in it all…”He sent me here for the saving of many lives.”
Anybody remember watching “The A-Team.” Remember what Hannibal Smith used to say? “I love it when a plan comes together!”
Friend…whatever it is that is going on in your life…the waiting…the delays…the trials…the good times and the tough times…are not a series of random unrelated events. It has nothing to do with Karma…but has everythign to do with God’s purpose for your life. God is at work…even now…using it all…to bring to fulfillment the plan He has for your life.
When you’re waiting…during the delay…do what Joseph did. Keep serving. Keep trusting. Don’t spend all your time complaining. When your life is on hold…keep on doing what God has told you and equipped you to do…until you hear from God otherwise. Stay faithful when life seems dark and when it’s light. God will use it all. God’s purposes and plans always prevail. What He has promised will happen. It may be delayed…but it is definite.
(3) JOSEPH LEARNED TO TRUST IN GOD’S PROCESS.
A preacher went into his church and he was praying to God. While he was praying, he asked God, “How long is 10 million years to you?” God replied, “1 second.” The next day the preacher asked God, “God, how much is 10 million dollars to you?” And God replied, “A penny.” Then finally the next day the preacher asked God, “God, can I have one of your pennies?” And God replied, “Just wait a sec.”
God’s ways are not our ways.
God will often not work according to either our methods or our timetable.
Example: A time when I couldn’t understand why we were doing something a certain way…but afterwards…understood why we went through the process.
We don’t really know exactly how long Joseph was in prison before the cupbearer and baker showed up. We don’t know how long they all sat in prison before these two jokers had their dreams. What we do know is that within 3 days of their dreams…God fulfilled what their dreams revealed.
Now think about this. If I was Joseph this probably would have been something I stewed about…at least for a while. Three days of waiting was all the cupbearer and baker had to endure…but for Joseph…it was another two years before God ever moved Joseph out of the prison and into the palace. And the thing is…it’s easy for us to say, “oh…but two years of prison was worth the rest of his life being spent in a palace.” Joseph didn’t know that. Joseph didn’t have any idea how long he’d have to wait. All he had was a promise…and at the time…it was more of a pipe dream than a possibility.
And…while it’s not fun…Sometimes…that’s the way it is for us. Sometimes we wait and we wait and we wait and we wait some more…and we have no visible reason to think anything is changing or happening.
Moses had to wait 40 years (tending sheep for his father-in-law) to see the fulfillment of God’s calling on his life.
Noah had to wait 120 years before he ever saw a single promised sprinkle fall on his windshield.
Elijah waited 3 1/2 years for it to rain.
For Jarius who’s daughter was dying…and also for Mary & Martha who’s brother Lazarus was dying…they waited until it seemed Jesus was too late. But He wasn’t and He never is.
Again…nobody likes to wait. Waiting isn’t fun. It’s hard. It’s confusing. It’s testing. It’s frustrating. It’s challenging. And…it’s a vital part of God’s process of fulfilling His plan and purpose in our lives.
Resisting God’s timing has serious consequences. Someone has said, “It may be difficult to wait on the Lord…but it’s worse to wish you had.”
Joseph had to learn…and it’s a lesson anyone who desires to walk with the Lord learns sooner or later: God uses TIME to work out His purposes.
A French engineer was traveling on board a ship in the Mediterranean when a fellow passenger contracted a contagious disease. This resulted in everyone on board being quarantined. This confinement and delay frustrated the engineer. To pass the time…he decided to read the memoirs of Charles le Pere…who had done a feasibility study on constructing a canal linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. As he read the autobiography…he began to devise a plan for the construction of the Suez Canal…which was completed under his leadership in 1869. Because this man’s life was put on hold…due to a delay he at the time despised…the entire world benefited.
Joseph didn’t waste time in God’s waiting room. Instead…He allowed God to use the time to prepare him for what lay ahead…and it benefited the masses.
CLOSING
TRUST IN HIS PERSON
TRUST IN HIS PURPOSES
TRUST IN HIS PROCESS
