We don’t like waiting and love to rush into things. Thanks to microwaves, fast-food chains, and high speed internet, we hate waiting. So, when God gives us a calling, all we want to do is rush straight into it. We get angry when God slows us down. But, sometimes that’s exactly what we need. God doesn’t care about how long it takes, he wants to make sure you are ready before he brings you to the place where he called you. God cares about the quality of your ministry, and because of this reason, God might make you wait.
The Story of Joseph
In the Bible, we see an example of God slowing down someone as they made great progress, just so they’d be ready when the time was right. God gave Joseph a dream when he was seventeen that one day his own family would bow down to him. Somehow he’d make Joseph into a great ruler. Joseph didn’t know how, and I’m sure he would’ve never expected what God had in mind for him. After telling his brothers his dream, they nearly killed him. But, because they had at least a shred of sympathy, they decided to spare his life and sell him as a slave so they could make money off of him. Not cool, Joseph’s brothers, not cool.
Perhaps as Joseph became a slave to the captain of Pharaoh’s guard, he thought “This is where I’ll rise up through the ranks to become a great ruler.” He did everything right, he lived a holy life, worked his hardest, and did in fact “rise through the ranks”. But, perhaps he wasn’t ready. For whatever reason, God allowed him to be falsely accused of adultery and thrown into prison.
Again, Joseph worked with excellence in the prison. He basically became the head over the whole prison, until one day Pharaoh had a dream and only Joseph could interpret it. Then, in a true Cinderella story fashion, the now thirty year old Joseph became ruler over all of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh.
God had a plan. He considered it more important for Joseph to face a few more years of difficult and unappreciated work than to make him a ruler at that time. God wanted him to have a quality character so he’d make an excellent ruler. God willingly sacrificed the length of Joseph’s time as a ruler to make sure he was ready.
You are God’s Ambassador
You are God’s ambassador, it’s true. If you believe in Jesus and have asked him to cleanse you of your sins, you are a new creation and a part of God’s army. Which means, we are representing him. Everything we do will reflect on how others view God. This means we can’t rush into things. We must be smart, wise, skilled, and dedicated to God. He will determine when you are ready.
Imagine you worked with the President of the United States and your job was to design a poster. You’d make sure that poster looked spectacular. If it looked tacky with poor editing, it would reflect poorly on you, but most importantly the person you represent. The same is the case with us and our wonderfully loving God.
In my case, I’m learning a lot of patience in this season as I try to get my books published. I keep going back and editing them as people give me critiques. Fortunately, each time my manuscript gets better. I don’t know when it will be good enough, but imagine if I published a terribly written book and told everyone who bought it that God inspired it and helped me write it? Either they wouldn’t believe me, or they’d come to understand that God himself is very unprofessional and a terrible writer.
What if rushing into a publishing contract ruined my whole future as a writer?
Are you willing to spend twenty more years being a good steward with small things in preparation for that big dream God’s given you?
Trust and Follow God if He Makes You Wait
It doesn’t matter how long it takes to get where God’s calling you to be, but it does matter how you will handle being where God wants you to be. Jesus changed the world with only three years of ministry. What do you think he was doing before then? I bet you he waited and remained faithful to God with the small things God gave him. God isn’t limited by the time you get to spend fulfilling the calling God gave you. Even if God makes you wait 79 years to prepare you for one year of living out your dream, you can be that one year will have a greater impact than if you disobeyed God and stepped into that calling earlier.
I know it’s hard to wait. Even as I’m writing this, I absolutely hate the idea of waiting twenty or seventy more years before I get my big break. However, I’d rather wait than rush it and be a bad example to others. Fortunately, we can trust God. He knows how long we must wait and develop before we are ready for what he’s called us to.
God is good. He’s not going to lead us on a wild goose chase for no reason. He has a plan. His plan might be completely different from your plan. It took thirteen years for Joseph to get to where his dream predicted, and at least another eight before his brothers fulfilled it. We should patiently wait and allow God to direct us so we’ll be ready for the calling he gave us.
How has God helped prepare you for what he’s called you to?
If you are in a season of waiting, you might be encouraged by my other post How to be Faithful to God While Playing the Waiting Game
If you are really having a hard time trusting God and his calling, I hope you will be encouraged by my post How to be Faithful to God While Playing the Waiting Game
