So today we will be sharing from not just one particular verse, but I'll be going through
different stories in the Bible, and I'll draw different illustrations and biblical characters,
and we will draw them together and make a point of what I'm trying to share today and
which is about waiting. Waiting is part of our daily rhythm. Everybody waits, whether
young or old, student or not, married or not. It doesn't matter. Waiting is part of life.
We wait for our coffee, we wait for the bus, we wait for a phone call, we wait for an assignment,
we wait for an appointment. Waiting is part of life. And yet, beyond the everyday life,
we also carry a deeper weight. Some are waiting for a child to be born, some of us are praying
for a child, some of us are waiting for financial breakthrough, some are waiting for a right
job, some are waiting for ministry to kick off, some are waiting for a new change in
career. We all wait, right? So waiting touches every stage of life. It's part and parcel
of human experience. And so that's what I'm going to talk about, waiting, right? But when
you look in the Bible and think of this word, wait, I find it very interesting how the Hebrew
understanding of waiting is quite different from how we define waiting in English, right?
So waiting, in simple terms, waiting is just anticipating or expecting something with hope,
right? You're expecting something, you're waiting, you're anticipating something to
happen, right? But then when you look in the Bible and think about this word, Hebrew word for waiting,
the literal translation of this word is to bind together like a cord, right? Or the twisting or
winding of a strand or a cord. That's what it means, right? So it's like when you put two,
three wires together and then you begin to twist, you begin to wind like a cord. And so it's about
you tied up with your partner or something that you are tied against, right? And so if we think of
that, then it's about your life and God's now intertwined, right? So it's like now when God
moves, you move. When God sits, you sit. When God runs, you run, right? Because your life is now
intertwined with the life of God. And so when you think of that, then now you go back to Isaiah
40, those who wait upon the Lord, they shall renew their strength like eagles. Now we're talking
about that, right? So now even when your strength is weak because your life is now twisted and deeply
intertwined with God, that now the strength of God becomes your strength, right? And this is why
strength will rise, right? We were singing that song. So that's what waiting is about, right?
Waiting is never sitting idly and waiting for something to happen. Waiting has never defined
like that in the Bible. I've not come across a single story or a single verse in the Bible where
waiting is passive. Waiting sometimes is rest, sometimes it's prayer, but it's not inactivity.
It's not passivity, yeah? That's what I want to talk about, waiting. And so then
waiting can be transformative, but waiting can also be wasteful. We can waste our time,
we can waste our energy, we can waste and learn nothing during our wait, or waiting can be so
transformative, it can be so meaningful, right? And like I said, everybody waits, yeah? And I want
to share a few points about how we can squander our waiting or say terrible ways, terrible ways of
waiting, which I hope that we don't wait this way, yeah? So the first one is a frustrated waiting,
right? Frustrated waiting is a classic example is King Saul, right? He's supposed to wait for
Prophet Samuel to come and offer the sacrifice, he couldn't wait, yeah? There's a frustrated
waiting. Second one is a complaint, right? Complain waiting. The Israelites are a classic example.
Complain waiting is when you constantly vocalize your disappointment and spill out negativity,
right? The Israelites think that they are better off in Egypt, whereas in Egypt they were slaves,
and God is in fact bringing them to freedom, right, and to the promised land, and yet
in the waiting for the promised land they were complaining all the way, right? So that's the
second way to wait, right? Complain waiting. The third waiting is idle waiting, I-D-L-E, right?
Idle waiting is like when God has gifted you something and then you like the parable of the
Tenen, the guy goes and just buries his Tenen, right? So it's like idle waiting, right? Which is
terrible to wait. The fourth one is envious waiting, right? You compare yourself to someone
who is experiencing or who is in a different season, and then now you look at their fruits,
now you look at what's happening in their lives, and then because yours will come, but then you're
frustrated and so you become envious of someone's season, right? And so that's a different way to
wait. And the psalm is in Psalm 73, it's a beautiful psalm, right? It's a psalm of Asaf,
and he thought that the wicked are flourishing, they're prospering, everything they do seem to be
like, you know, clicking well, and he's frustrated with his own situation, but then until he enters
the sanctuary and he knows that these are just flourishing for a moment, right, and he knows
what's going to happen, their destiny awaits, right? And so now that changes. The fifth one is
angry waiting, yeah? Harboring resentment towards God and others, right? Jonah, when God changed,
because people repented, and so God, you know, relented his wrath on the people of Nineveh,
and Jonah is not happy, right? Jonah is not happy with God because he wants the wrath of God to fall
on these people, right? And so it's like angry waiting, yeah? And then the sixth one is hopeless
waiting. It's like when there's no hope in the waiting. I don't see any hope now. The things that
I've been waiting for, the job that I have applied, everyone, you know, rejected me. Now there's no
hope in the waiting, right? Whereas Jesus was the one walking with them on the road to Emmaus, right?
Then they were looking for a savior, not knowing that Jesus is with them, yeah? And the seventh one
is reckless waiting, reckless waiting. It's like forcing outcomes, right? Forcing outcomes.
Like God never promised Hagar. Hagar was not in the plan. Hagar was never God's design.
But Abraham and Sarah were promised Isaac, and what happened was that they forced the outcome of God
in a human way, right? And so what happened was that they birthed Ishmael, right? So that's what
reckless waiting is. And the next one is fearful waiting, right? Fearful waiting. When Caleb and
Joshua and 10 other spies went to spy the Canaan, they came and they felt like grasshoppers in the
eyes of the enemy, right? They belittled themselves. They spread that we're too small. It's not going
to be possible, right? There's fear. There is worst-case scenarios they're imagining those things,
yeah? And that's a terrible way to wait. The ninth one is passive waiting. You know, when you think
of those five foolish virgins, they know that the bridegroom is going to come. They know that,
and yet they would not prepare, right? It's passive waiting. They want the bridegroom,
but they're not willing to put in the work, right? They're not willing to prepare.
That's passive waiting, right? The last one is defeated waiting. It's like you have not been
defeated. You are still waiting for your breakthrough, but then in the waiting you
feel like you're defeated. You're already defeated, yeah? Many people wait in this.
I've been waiting for two years. I've been waiting for three years. I've been waiting for five years,
and we're still waiting, but you feel defeated in the waiting. And these are terrible ways to wait,
guys, yeah? And I hope that we don't go this route. But like I said, one can squander or waste our
waiting, or waiting can be so transformative. And so today, waiting matters. What you do during the
waiting matters. It's important, right? It's critical. Everybody waits. And one of the fruit
of the spirit is patience, right? And if you think of that word, patience, patience is impossible
to develop without waiting. If you never wait, then where will patience grow and develop, right?
It's impossible, right? When waiting is never part of your life, then it's impossible, right?
And so my focus would be this. Today, how can we position ourselves? What are some of the ways
we can develop, we can learn in order to wait well?
There are times when God
instantly answers our prayers, instantly heals, but oftentimes God will put you in a process,
right? Like for example, if I want to be a medical doctor, God can grant me a medical degree, right?
Like, you know, today we have this term, honorarium doctorate, right? So even if I don't have a PhD,
one university can grant me a PhD, right? Kind of like a doctorate, right? So it's a, it's called
an honorarium degree, right? And so by God's divine grace, I can have a medical degree, so to say.
But then, since I didn't go through the training, I will not have the skills required to operate a
human body, right? And so, yes, God will give, God will help me to be a doctor, but then when he
promises me to be a doctor, what he will do is that he will commit me to a process, so that over
this period of time, I will now develop the skills and the character and whatever that is required
for me to get trained so that when I have my medical degree, I'm ready, right? So here's the
thing, guys. You cannot quicken the process. When God commits you to a process, you cannot quicken
the process. But you can delay the process. Yeah, you can delay the process. When God promised the
Israelites that it's going to take them 40 days, they cannot change that. Because why? Because the
journey requires 40 days to travel from Egypt to the promised land, right? God's original design
was that it'll take them about 40 years, 40 days. It took them 40 years, guys. Did God delay it? No.
Then who did it? It's their rebellion and their disobedience, right? They complain. They said they
were better off in Egypt. They started craving for food in Egypt. Where they were? Slaves. So
they delayed the process.
One cannot quicken the process, but one can surely delay the process, right? If God wants to release
something in your life, you can joyfully wait. There are ways to wait. But then the problem is
that if you don't learn the lessons during the wait, there will be a delay. Yeah? So then,
there are ways to wait. Like, for example, some of the basic ones are you pray when you wait,
right? You hope when you wait. You don't give up when you wait. You learn to be restful when you
wait. You want to be hopeful in the waiting. These are part of waiting. But then, besides these
praying and hoping and not giving up, but are there other aspects where we can learn to wait?
I explored this and I find four things that I want to share today. There can be more,
but I want to share four things. And the first one goes like this. God said to Noah,
build the ark, right? Build the ark. Why? Because I'm going to bring judgment. Because the corruption
of humanity is so great that he wants to start in a whole new way. And so the command was,
build the ark. And if you read there, Noah was 500 years old, 500 years old when he had
Shem, Ham, and Japheth, right? Those are his three sons. So when he had those three sons,
he had, I mean, he was 500. But then the time in Genesis 7 when the flood came, Noah was 600 years
old. And in the Bible, it hasn't been specifically mentioned about how long the exact time it took
for Noah to build the ark. But then many scholars agree that it took about 100 years, right? It took
about 100 years for Noah to build the ark. And it's fascinating to see how long it took. And the
process wasn't easy, right? And long after that, what happened to Noah comes in the New Testament,
Matthew and Hebrews, they were like Paul wrote Hebrews. And so they are recalling about Noah,
right? And so Hebrews, in the letters of Hebrew, they are writing about Noah. Noah built it by
faith, right? Built it by faith. How? Wow. How? Why? Because in Noah's time, nobody had built
such a gigantic ark. Nobody, right? So it is something that had never happened in history.
You know, we gotta understand from that context, right? From that lens. Because we think that,
oh, God told Noah to build and then Noah built it. No. And it was something that God is bringing,
something which he had never done in history. And God is telling Noah to build the ark. And so
it would require tremendous faith for Noah to build the ark. Yeah? Because God is warning about
things that he had never done before and he's gonna do it. When it is gonna happen for the first
time, it's harder. When someone has done it, it's easier to follow, right? Here we are waiting for
Hebrides 2.0, yeah? Maybe it's even laughable for some, yeah? But for us, now we're believing.
We're expecting. We're seeing that the outpouring has already begun. And we will see in its fullness
soon, yeah? So there was no rain. There was no confirmation. The skies didn't clear, you know,
no change in the skies. And yet, he's supposed to build, right? And so if you now go to Matthew,
right? In Matthew chapter 24, if you read there, Matthew is also writing about Noah.
Yeah? Matthew is writing about Noah and he's writing that people were enjoying, partying,
and there were weddings, there was celebration, right? And until the time Noah entered the ark,
right? And verse 39, verse 39 says this, people didn't realize that what was going to happen
until the flood came and swept them all away. Because this is something that never happened
in history. People weren't expecting until the eleventh hour, right? They weren't ready and then
the flood came and just swept away. And here is Matthew, you know, recalling the days of Noah,
right? So it's important that we pay attention to what God had said in the waiting, right? What did
God tell you? And then what's your assignment? It's so critical, guys, because God told, you know,
Abraham and Sarah, that he's going to give them a child. The promise has been given. Their
assignment is to wait, not to do the human way. Yeah? God will have his way and God will do it.
I mean, God's will will be done God's way, but the devil will always try to bring God's way
in his way, which is like, he'll say that he'll bring what is true, what is God's will,
which is not a bad thing, right? But it has to be gone. It has to be done God's way.
Sometimes we get so caught up in the promises. When God said, I'm going to do this for you,
I'm going to do this for you, then we are hung up in that promise so much that we want that promise
to happen so much, so desperate that we become desperate of the promise. And that's a dangerous
place to be in, guys. When we are desperate for the promise keeper, for the promise giver,
it's great. But when we are stuck with the promise of what's going to come, it's dangerous. Yeah?
Sarah was caught up in the promise. Sarah wanted Isaac so much that she would bring in Hagar,
who wasn't part of the plan. Yeah? So she wanted Isaac, but the human way.
So it's important. Noah kept building. And like I said, we don't know the exact timeline, but it
took a long, long time for Noah to build the ark. And he worked according to what God had said,
what God had said, right? And so obedience will always sustain you and me in the silence.
Obedience will sustain you in the silence. The absence of a new instruction doesn't mean that
there's a change of plan. Right? Just because God had said that he'd build the ark, and then
God has been silent for so many years, doesn't mean God has changed the plan. Right? So the
absence of a new instruction does not mean that God had changed his plan. And this is important,
guys. Because when we go through this moment of waiting, and we haven't seen the breakthrough,
we feel like maybe God has changed plan. Maybe God has another plan for me. Maybe God has something
else for me. Right? And then now, you know, our hearts are torn apart. Right? Now we're caught
in between. But I would say that until and unless you receive a new instruction from the Lord,
stay true to what has been previously said. Yeah? So the last word or say, the last thing God said
is still the word until he gives you the next one.
And so, you know, faithfulness is measured by not by activity, but by
consistency in the obedience. Right? And so I would encourage us to write God-given assignment.
Right? When God had promised you something, it's important that you write them down. Because
sometimes we forget. Right? And it's good that we go back to what God had spoken. If someone had
prophesied over your life, if someone had spoken words over you, it's important that you write
somewhere. And so that you can go back. Right? And often return to it so that it'll center your
your decisions, your habits, your relationships. Right? Because the wait becomes purposeful
when you know what you're waiting for. The wait becomes purposeful when you know what you're
waiting for. Because oftentimes we're unsure of what we're waiting for.
That's the first one. The second one is wait without wondering.
Wondering. Wondering as in the blue a-n. D-e-r-i-n-g. Right? Wait without wondering. Narrow your focus.
Right? Because when you're waiting, it's so easy to be distracted. Because in the waiting,
we are not quite settled yet. Because you're waiting for something. Right? And so you are in
this place of camping but not settled. And so what the enemy loves to do during these times is
bring a counterfeit. Right? Bring something lesser.
And if you compromise, you'll settle for something lesser. Right? So the other day we were talking
about this in Lifehouse. But Lot, right? The nephew of Abraham, instead of camping closer
and closer to Canaan, he started camping closer and closer to Sodom. Right? And if you read
on and on, later on, he's not just camping closer and closer to Sodom, but later on you will find
Lot even sitting at the gate of Sodom. He's already inside. Inside Sodom. Terrible, eh?
Learn to focus. Right? When you are waiting and when you are not quite settled,
there's a trap. There's a trap of compromising. There's a trap of the enemy bringing so many
options. Right? If this doesn't work, try this, try this, try this, try this. Right? And now
you are spreading yourself too thin. Right? You're trying everywhere. Yeah? You're trying
to involve in a hundred things and that doesn't help. Hoping that somehow God will intervene.
Right? It's like, Lord, I want a God-fearing husband. Or say a God-fearing wife who is loving,
who is tall, who is dark, who is handsome. And then later on you say like, any man will do.
Yeah? I hope that doesn't happen, eh? Had Elisha not focused on his master Elijah,
he would have missed his double portion. Right? He had his laser focus on his master Elijah. Why?
Because God is going to release his double portion through that man.
You know, his master said, before I am taken away, what can I do for you? And he said,
I want a double portion of what you have. And he said, that's a hard thing. Why? Because if I have
two apples, I cannot give you four apples. Because two is all I have. And so he's asking
twice of what he has. You know, Elijah does not have a double portion. He only has what God has
apportioned him. And so the other portion has to come from God. Right? So he said, it's a difficult
thing that you've asked. But then he said, if you see me taken up, know that it will be given to you.
Right? Because he knows that will come from God. And so here's this assignment that if you see me
taken up, then you will receive your double portion. And you know what happens? Now, you know,
Elijah wouldn't give up. Everywhere Elijah goes, he goes. Yeah? And you know, one pastor said,
you know, Elijah wouldn't even let his master Elijah go to washroom alone. Yeah?
Yeah. Yeah. Everywhere he goes, he goes. Yeah, he follows. And that, that would be weird, eh?
If I want a double portion of Derek and follows everywhere Derek goes, yeah,
I wouldn't allow even in this washroom, you know? But then, you know, one day,
the crazy thing happens is that suddenly this chariot of fire, horseman of Israel came.
And then took away his master. And, you know, his students, so to say, you know, Elijah cries out,
my father, he's acknowledging something supernatural is happening. Right? And he says,
father, father, the chariots of Israel. And he saw his master. Right? I always, I always read it
this way. When I think of this story, I'm always thinking about chariots of fire,
chariots of fire came and then took his master away. But then, as you read carefully,
it's not the chariots of fire or the horseman of Israel that took his master away.
He went up in a whirlwind, not in the chariots. Eh? And so the assignment was this, it's a,
I'm sure it must have been a fascinating sight. Right? Comes chariots of fire. And the assignment
was not on these fascinating sight, which can be a distraction, but his assignment was to see his
master taken up. And yet this guy has this ability, eh? The ability in the midst of this fascinating
extraordinary sight that's happening around him, he still has the ability to gaze on his master,
on the assignment. Right? And you know what happens? He saw his master taken up, you know,
in a whirlwind and then drops the mantle, picks it up and goes to River Jordan and then slams it.
And he says, where is the God of Elijah? And then the water parts. Right? And the moment he crossed
Jordan, now we begin to see that now people begin to see the spirit of Elijah is on Elisha.
And he goes on and does twice as much as his master. Crazy story, guys.
You know, if you remember, if you remember the story in, I think it's in Second Kings, Second Kings, somewhere 13.
When Elisha told the king of Israel to shoot the arrow, right? And then this arrow, sorry, this,
this king hit the ground three times. And then the prophet was angry with him. Why didn't you
shoot more? Right? If you had hit the ground five, six times, you would have, you know, annihilated
your entire enemy. But because you have, you have hit the ground only three times, you will only have
temporary, three temporary victories. Right? I'm sure the king must have wanted to do a retest again.
Right? But the sad part is that he didn't know that he was tested.
Yeah. That's the hard part, guys. Oftentimes, God will test your heart.
Not, not about judgment, not about right and wrong, not, not about judging, judging what's
right, what's wrong. But oftentimes, God will test what's in your heart, what's in my heart.
And, and such kind of tests, you don't have time to pray, you don't have time to think about it.
But you don't even have time to do anything. Your heart just responds, eh? And that'll expose.
And so came this test for, for Elijah and it's a, and now he was tested, but he was faithful. He
kept on the assignment on the mantle. He received the mantle. And so the point of this is, is this.
The mantle represents the anointing, right? Dropped, fell to the ground.
So he was not, my point of sharing this is Elijah's waiting on the Lord is not
passivity. It's not inactive. It is a single narrow focus that won't give up. His eyes was
on the mantle, on the mandate of God. And it was intensely focused on the assignment.
And this team reoccurs in the Bible again and again. Yeah. Jesus himself says, if your eye is
single, know that your body will be full of light. Right? Your body will be full of light.
Many Christians have their eyes on so many things. They want God, they want something else too. Yeah.
And Jesus is saying, if your eye is single, know that your body will be full of light.
Here's an important point. The enemy will bring destruction to derail your direction.
The enemy will always try to bring destruction in order to replace or derail your direction.
You know, Elijah kept his focus, completed the assignment, received the double portion. Crazy, eh?
Next one.
When we are waiting, it's easy to assume that we deserve to be served.
Yeah. When we are waiting, we expect people to help us.
When you're in need of money, you expect people to help you. When you are sick, when you're waiting
for healing, you expect someone to do something for you. In the waiting,
we expect. But the crazy part is, in the waiting, can you serve?
In the waiting, can you serve? Yeah. Serve in the waiting. It's a crazy,
God-ordained strategy and way of developing and muscling you and me, right?
And when you look at the story of Joseph, you know, remember he had a dream.
It was an amazing dream. But then what turned out was terrible, right? He was sold as a slave,
now in prison. And you know what? In prison, instead of just sitting idly, even in prison,
he begins to serve. I really love that. Yeah. In prison, of all the places, right? He begins to
serve. Instead of waiting for him to be released and be out of jail first and then serve, even while
in such a setting, he serves. Serving in the place of restriction will have positioned him
for promotion. I really like that. Yeah. Let's take, you know, another example.
You know, yesterday I was reading this and I got so emotional about this. It just overwhelmed me.
I've never understood the weight of this. But in John chapter 13, when you read there, right?
Jesus knew that his time is coming. He knew that the transfiguration, the way of the cross is so
near. The hour has come. He knew that. And in that context, let me read it. In John chapter 13,
verse two on words, the evening meal was in progress and the devil had already prompted Judas,
the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the father had put all things under his
power and that he had come from God and was returning to God. And here's this. He got up
from the meal, took his outer clothing, wrapped a towel around his waist, and after that he poured
water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with a towel that was wrapped
around him. This happened on the night before his crucifixion. He knew the hour has come.
He was waiting for the ultimate act of love through the cross. And you know what he did?
He served. Crazy, eh? I thought it was a very appropriate time for the disciples to wash his
feet and honor him. It was the other way around. I just felt the weight of that when I was writing
this down. Wow. The son of man came to serve. Not to be served, but to serve. Crazy, eh?
There are certain things that my wife and I are waiting for, praying for. And oftentimes,
I expect people to jump in, help us. And this is a beautiful reminder how
we are to serve in the waiting. Yeah. God on his knees starts washing his disciples' feet.
Serving others isn't just an idea. If you are a son, you will serve. That's the crazy thing, eh?
If you are not a son, you will refuse to serve. Why? Because without being a son, to serve is
slavery. You will feel abusive, right? You will feel you are being manipulated. But then if you
know that you are a son, it doesn't matter, right? You know your place. You know your rightful place.
It takes, or say, it requires for a son to understand his identity in order to understand
his identity in order to understand servanthood.
Learn to give, eh? When you think that you should be receiving.
Learn to build the ark of God when you want an ark for yourself. Because why? Because in the
building of God's ark, God will build your ark. Yeah? And then the last one.
David was anointed when he was a teenager. He was quite young, right? And then it took him
quite a good number of years before he became the king of Israel. It took a long time. It wasn't
instant, right? And so in these in-between times, he tended the sheep, he served his brothers,
he served his brothers, served his father, dodged spears from Saul,
hidden caves. And you know what? His waiting season became a training ground.
He was training, yeah? You know, in the shepherd's field, he's learning how to worship,
how to do warfare. In the wilderness caves, he learned humility, leadership, endurance,
all these things, right? So God wasn't just preparing a king in the wilderness, but God is
preparing his type of a king, a kind of a king, right? That God wanted, a man after his own heart.
It's a different kind of shipping, right? And so this last point is formation in the hiddenness,
formation in the hiddenness, right? Because these days, everybody wants to be a celebrity,
everyone wants to go viral, right? Yeah? I want my song to be viral.
Yeah, yeah, go ahead.
Like using you, it's okay, but do you allow them to continue doing that or what do you do?
Yeah, do you allow people to manipulate you?
Yeah.
Or should you do something about it? Because you said it's okay, but how do you proceed?
No, I didn't say it's okay. Yeah, no.
No, I'm saying, I said, if we don't understand sonship, then when you serve others,
and when people tell you to serve, then it will feel like people are manipulating you,
or you're being enslaved kind of thing. Yeah, but I'm saying, if I know that I'm a son,
if I know that, say for example, say at home, say for example, when mom says,
Toni, go and do the dishes, go and sweep the floor, clean your room, then I'm not offended. Why?
Because that doesn't take away my sonship. So I'll gladly obey my mom when she tells me that.
But if someone from the outside just comes and tells these things, and if I don't understand
my sonship in the house, it's always misunderstood. In that context, I'm saying. Yeah? Cool, thanks.
So yeah, my point of sharing this is, formation in the hiddenness, right? Because we always want to
go out to the public too quickly. And I'm saying, even if there's a delay going into the public,
it's okay. Let God form you in the hiddenness, right? Because it's easy for a church like X39
to be like this, say like, hey, I've been coming to this. I should be in the leadership now. I
should do more. I should, I'm not recognized. It's like, I deserve more kind of thing, you know? Or
it can be here, it can be church, it can be workplace, it can be in the office, it can be
anywhere, right? But I'm saying, do not accept premature promotion. It's dangerous, guys. Let
God form you first in the hiddenness so that once you are out in the public, you have the character,
you have the skills, you have the wisdom, you have what it requires to fulfill your destiny,
your calling, right? Don't rush in promotion. Let God finish his work in you and then venture out,
right? Because the throne or say the promise without character will often turn into a curse.
And God, he will intentionally hide those and form in the hiddenness if he is to use them greatly.
Oftentimes in the scripture, Joseph had a prophetic dream, right? He saw his sheaves higher than
anyone else and then the sheaves of his brothers bowing to his. It was a prophetic dream, right?
It was a prophetic dream. It was a great dream, you know, a dream that is designed for greatness.
But soon found himself betrayed, enslaved, imprisoned, right? So there's a gap between
the dream and the fulfillment and this gap was marked by injustice on one hand and the silence
of heaven, right? Nobody seemed to be listening. God seemed to be silent, right? Because he had a
dream and the exact opposite happens. And yet I love how Joseph reacted in the prison. Instead of
being bitter, bitter towards God, Lord, what is this happening? Now I had this dream and things
should have been different, right? Instead of being bitter towards God and towards Pharaoh and
and all the jailers, instead of being bitter, he became better.
He became better, right? He started to interpret dreams. He started to, you know,
put things into action. And so God used every setback to forge resilience, wisdom,
leadership, right? And so by the time when Joseph was able to, you know, interpret Pharaoh's dream,
he wasn't just a dreamer. Those days have passed now, right? So by the time he interpreted Pharaoh's
dream, he's now ready to steward a nation. Crazy, eh?
Let's take another example. Yeah, I'll finish early.
One example in the New Testament.
Very little did we hear about Jesus, right? From age zero to 30.
We hardly hear about Jesus those 30 years until he lived for 30 years and those next three years
of his ministry, it exploded. Jesus lived 30 years in obscurity. Luke 2, you know, recorded a brief
statement that Jesus grew in stature, in wisdom, and in favor with God and men, right?
Luke recorded about Jesus that Jesus is constantly growing in the hiddenness,
growing in stature, in wisdom, and in the favor of God and men. What if you're growing that way?
Oftentimes, growth is not visible. Some growth are more visible, some are not.
Do not just look at the outer appearance, not just look at some tangible growth,
and say that you aren't growing fast enough. If your mind is forming, if your heart is forming,
you can't tell, right? But the decisions that you're making is better now. The things that
you're going about, your approach, your attitude. Earlier, somebody says this, it just triggers
your anger, right? But then now you're able to control yourself. Now you're more patient,
now you're more loving. Even the people that you don't appreciate or like so much, now you're able
to appreciate them. You're able to see in a different lens, right? And so it's important,
guys, that you allow God to form you in the hiddenness, right? And that's why you're able
to do that. You allow God to form you in the hiddenness, right? Do not despise these days of
hiddenness. Moses, he was hidden, and he was raised in a palace before he was exposed in the desert,
right? Because in the hiddenness, strength is forged.
Waiting seasons are not wasted seasons. Yeah? Like the imagery of what I shared
earlier. Waiting is about intertwining yourself, twisting like a cord with the life of God, right?
So that strength begins to rise. Like Noah, as we build in obedience,
here's this beautiful thing. If we learn how to build in obedience, God will build in us the
capacity to carry his promise. I really like that. God will give you the capacity to carry and birth
his plans, his purposes, his promises. It's beautiful, guys. So I hope and I pray that
let God shape your heart, deepen your roots, grow you strong enough to stand so that when the flood
came, comes, you'll be able to stand. That's the point of growing and maturing in the Lord, eh?
So that we are not tossed by the wind. And I want to end with this, delay is never denial,
right? Delay is never denial. And so I want to go back to how I started Isaiah 40, verse 28,
onwards, where it says, Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God,
the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary. And his understanding,
no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak, even youths,
grow tired and weary. And young men stumble and fall. But those who wait upon the Lord,
they'll renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow
weary. They will walk and not faint. We wait for the Lord and we do not wait in vain. Yeah?
Bless you guys.
Um, don't. Sorry.
Father, we thank you for your word that was spoken.
It's much required, Father, for some of us who are waiting.
How to wait in you, Father. How not to wait.
I pray, Father, that the words that you spoke and your spirit spoke through to me
will bear much fruit. Father, I pray that patterns start to change. I mean, that's the whole point.
Why else would you speak this to us tonight? That pattern start to change, where people who are
waiting or who used to wait a different way, Father, will start to see a difference in the
way their mind change. Because your spirit will start working in them, Father. Thank you for
bringing these truth, truths into light so we can now see it. The knowledge of the truth will set
us free. The knowledge of the waiting truth will now help us wait better in you. We can do this
two ways, Father. And your way is what we choose. So we bless you, Father, and we thank you. In your
precious name we pray. Amen. There will be somebody to pray for you guys, if you want prayer.
Cool. See you guys.