Are there times we hear God then he seems to go silent on us? That instead, we seem to go through some form of wilderness?
While a microwave- maybe useful equipment in most kitchens-for its convenience and super speed- within which a similar result in normal heating may not yield- its use or misuse may yield quite the unpleasant and unhealthy result sometimes. Thus, while warming a sausage in the microwave may require a minute or two, you might not get a great result-should gas run out and you decide to finish your cooking using the microwave. Your sausages may turn into some kind of tasteless rubber mass. Even the cat will walk away with disapproval from the serving.
Isn’t that what these modern times have conditioned us to expect? That everything is to be done and dusted with rocket speed? Like trying to cook sausages with a microwave, might you have expected what God spoke to you about to be fulfilled immediately?
You see, sometimes God will give you a word of promise in your time alone with him. He did so with Joseph in a dream. He saw the sun, moon and 11 stars bowing to him. Joseph would rule over his family at some point in his life but- time-and not microwave timelines.
Knowing also that our lives are letters to be read, you may have a silent audience -larger than you might even be aware of. Those who are reading the letter of your life by watching you go through different seasons of your life. Yet God who authors your life may take a little longer on paragraph 2 before he can write the next paragraph of your story.
In 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 we read that,You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
Other times, God may speak a word of promise concerning you in the presence of others. David, described as ruddy with bright eyes, and a good-looking man who spent loads of time with his father’s flock in the wild -received a promise and in front of his family. He was the most unlikely candidate in Jesse’s home to be chosen as King. In fact, the father had even forgotten he was part of his sons. Prophet Samuel had to ask if indeed there was no other son. He was almost certain that God’s choice of a king was Mr. Very Good looks -Eliab until God whispered to him that David’s heart had won his heart more than Eliab’s appearance and height.
However, we see David go through a process that took years before that promise could be fulfilled. He started out with victory in slaying Goliath, the enemy of Israel with only a sling and a stone. God had started to teach him how to win his battles by total reliance on Him.
1 Samuel 17:45-David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
God took David through a lesson on submission to authority. He did not run ahead of God as he had many chances when he could have killed King Saul who had turned against him. Hadn’t he been anointed as King already? He however refused to touch God’s anointed one. What someone sows is what he reaps. In honoring King Saul, God ensured that when he became King, God fought for his honor even when his son Absalom declared a coup d’état -while king David was still on the throne.
God used the waiting season to train David how to consult Him for every move he made- to inquire of God on every battle strategy; God would always send him warnings ahead of time through his prophets. He also learnt to quiet himself in God to be able to hear for himself.
While your present circumstances may not agree with what God told you, if you look close enough? you might see God’s intricate finger prints in the letter of your life. That he has been preparing and imparting in you what you will need to function in the office of that promise-when its fulfilled. Perhaps he promised you that dream job or success in that business that you would start …add God’s promise to you to this list…
Having sent Jeremiah to a potter’s house God asked…Can I not do with you, Israel, [put your name] as this potter does?” “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you and I in God’s hand as he molds us into who he desires us to be- marring the clay sometimes until he gets us in the shape he desires (Jeremiah 18:3-..)
Has God kept you waiting after a giving you promise and perhaps seems silent…
Be faithful. Don’t allow any delayed promise to change your view of who God is.
Don’t also devise your own plan B to help God. Abraham and Sarah conceived Ishmael -when it seemed as if God had gone silent on the promise of a son. It didn’t change the fact that God would still bless them with Isaac. They would however have to deal with the consequences of their plan B.
Don’t be too eager to skip any lesson that God might be taking you through while you wait and in his silence.
Rest in the faithfulness of who God is-that he cannot lie to you and every promise He makes he keeps. He also ordains ever season. Be careful therefore not to be planting when it’s time to be harvesting. Or wearing a winter jacket and boots when its summer- embrace every season until God changes it. Trust God’s process.
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