When God commanded Noah to build the ark, He never told him it would take many, many decades before the Word would be fulfilled. We read of how the Sovereign One confided His plan with the man of God to destroy all flesh with the earth (Gen. 6:13). We know that the Maker of all things showed the blueprint of the ark to Noah and commanded him to build it accordingly (Gen. 6:14-16). We also learn that God revealed to the quincentennial how he was going to destroy the earth (Gen. 6:17); and of the covenant that the faithful One made with the man who walked with God in righteousness (Gen. 6:18). Yet not once do we read that He told Noah how long this whole plan would take. We understand from Peter’s epistle that God is longsuffering and patient and would have impressed this spirit of mercy on Noah’s heart too, but I wonder if Noah would have ever thought it would take, as some believe, close to 120 years of waiting. I would imagine that Noah and his family would have been objects of scorn and ridicule throughout that time. An ark of mammoth proportions, built on dry land with no water to set it afloat seemed the most preposterous plan and foolish too. Yet Noah trusted God.
When Abraham was asked to leave his home in Ur of the Chaldeans and then from Haran, he was not given any promise of a son. He was only told to “go to the land that I will show you” (Gen. 12:1). Abraham obeyed. We read that when the patriarch left Haran, he was 75 years old (Gen. 12:4) and on entering Canaan, God for the first time promised to give the land to Abraham’s “descendants” (Gen. 12:7). Not then and not later did God tell Abraham that he would need to wait for almost 25 years to see the promise fulfill. We are given brief glimpses into the mind of the father of faith when he first tells God, “Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless… Look, You have given me no offspring…” (Gen. 15:2). The perplexity and hopelessness that grappled the old man at times can be seen when we read that he “fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’” (Gen. 17:17) I imagine that in the quarter of a century that needed waiting, the one whose faith was reckoned to him as righteousness would have gone through several periods of honest introspection and evaluation. Paul tells us of this when he wrote that the to-be-father-of-many-nations “contemplated” his own body and the deadness of Sarah’s womb, yet he never wavered in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God (Rom. 4:19-20).
Concerning Joseph, we are first told that he was a lad of 17 years (Gen. 37:2). It was around this time when he received the most ‘self-exalting’ dreams from God (Gen. 37:5, 9). Fantastic as the dreams were, God never told Joseph how long he would need to wait nor did He reveal the traumatic events that were to unfold. The chapters that follow do not do justice in revealing the agony and mental pain that the young man would have gone through thereafter. We are not told about his fear when his brothers first threw him into a pit that was empty and had no water (Gen. 37:24). We are not given a peek into the humiliation and dread that would have gripped him when his older siblings sold him to Midianite traders (Gen. 37:28). At no point did God tell Joseph that his ordeal would go on till he was 30 years old—not when he was sold as a slave to Potiphar (Gen. 37:36), nor when he was wrongly thrown into prison because of Potiphar’s wife’s treachery. In fact we are given to understand that Joseph was “forgotten” (Gen. 40:23). It is important to note at this point of time that God never revealed to Joseph any of His plans to make him the Prime Minister of Egypt. Joseph had to live each season in the place he found himself. What God did was show Joseph that He was always with him. The God of his fathers prospered the work of the young man’s hands and gave him favour wherever he went. If anyone would have heard him recount the dreams he had as a lad, they would have mocked him as a “dreamer”, just as his brothers did; but Jacob’s favourite son continued to believe God who had given him the visions. While the prison walls that surrounded him were a stark reality, I believe that the God of all encouragement spurred Joseph to persevere in hope and patience without losing heart—and this Joseph did. His faith in God did not waver.
Of Moses, we are given to understand that he was raised as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Here was a man who was given the finest education and upbringing that ever existed in the known world of that time. I do not think I would be stretching my imagination too far if I likened the first 40 years of Moses’ life to that of being raised in Buckingham Palace and studying at Harvard or Oxford University. We need to also remember that his mother influenced much of his early childhood and helped him understand his real identity. She would have talked to him about the promise given to his forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. She would have told him of the hope that the now-suffering Israelites had—that God would deliver them from their slavery and bondage. Moses revealed some of this mind-set in Exodus 2:11-14 when we read of his interactions with his fellow-brothers. These verses also give me the impression that Moses was already filled with a desire to free his brethren from Pharaoh’s oppression. The letter to the Hebrews reveals that God would have already placed this burden in his heart (Heb. 11:24-26). I imagine, that Moses may have, at that young age of about 40, considered that with all his fine education; influence with the top echelons of power; and his other skills; he could help free his people.
Yet, as we know, God’s ways are not our ways and so Moses spent the next 40 years of his life doing a job that was not just demeaning (considering his high status, education and upbringing) it was also downright humiliating. 40 long years went by. Imagine the long days and nights he would have spent staring up into the open sky while tending his father-in-law’s sheep. I wonder how many perplexing hours and days and months in those 40 years he would have spent wondering what went wrong. Here again, I believe that in God’s great school in the wilderness, not only would the great Teacher have taught Moses submission, obedience and humility, but also the need to persevere with all steadfastness. We know the rest of the story; for at the proper time, God raised him up to be one of the greatest men in the history of mankind.
Though there are other examples in Scripture, I would like to take just one more case-study—the man after God’s own heart. The prophet Samuel chose this young shepherd boy, David, over his brothers and anointed him as the next king of Israel (1Sam. 16:13). A little later, David displayed to all Israel what they had long forgotten—the power of the name of the Lord of hosts (1Sam. 17:45). They sang of him, “Saul has slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands” (1Sam. 18:7). Yet God permitted this shepherd boy turned hero to spend the next eight years as a fugitive in constant hiding. We gather that for about four years or so he ran from one hiding place in Israel to another; and from one cave to another. There was hardly a place that David sought shelter in, when King Saul got wind of the young man’s whereabouts and hunted him and his motley gang down. Eventually David, possibly in his frustration, sought refuge in enemy country, Philistine. He made king Achish believe that he was foe-turned-friend and lived in Ziklag, a town in Philistia for close to four years. In that period, he played with fire. On one hand David got the much needed respite he needed from Saul but on the other, he had to keep living a life of deceit, making the Philistine king believe that he was no longer for Israel but against them.
Throughout the eight-year period, God made David wait. During that time, the only wise Shepherd of Psalm 23 never revealed to the psalmist how long he would need to endure. Yet we read how wonderfully the God of all hope filled the Psalmist with faith and trust and hope and encouragement. True, David went through times of frustration. True, the one who slew Goliath poured his feelings in honesty before his Protector, but never did he ever lose hope. Psalm after psalm he praised his Maker. Song after song he spoke of the unflinching trust he had in his God whom he could not see; proclaiming that because of this trust, he would never be put to shame.
In almost all cases, we see that God revealed His plans only one step at a time. Yet each time the all-wise One expected that His faithful servants would simply trust and obey. What we learn from the Bible is that they did not disappoint God.
As readers, we sometimes tend to miss the fact that what is described for us in a few verses or at best a couple of chapters were actually long, hard, lonely years. These men were looked down upon and treated as fools. I imagine days or weeks of doubts and questions that they would have time and again battled. They were not oblivious to the reality that stared them in the face. On the contrary, I believe that they were fully aware of their challenges vis-à-vis God’s promises and purposes; and though reason would have tried to prove to them that all was lost, each one of these men continued to hope in the invisible God whom they knew as eternal, immortal, faithful, powerful, caring, good and wise. They clung to Him with a steadfastness that refused to let go. Despite the long years of waiting, they chose to trust God’s timing and wait with patience.
For several years now, God has been guiding me and my family to surrender all our decisions and choices completely and unhesitatingly with sincere faith and devotion. Around May last year, God gave us many promises while asking us to take some tough decisions. He encouraged us to be strong and very courageous and not be fearful. He repeatedly assured us saying, “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe” (Mk. 5:36). We waited and waited and did not see any of our hopes coming to fruition. There were days when each hour seemed interminably long. Days wore on to energy-sapping weeks. Weeks progressed to months—lonely, disrupted months. What made things worse was that instead of seeing a faint light at the end of the tunnel, we saw the darkness that enveloped us just getting thicker. Instead of seeing the first light of breaking dawn we encountered longer, colder nights. Perplexed, we speculated if we misunderstood God. We contemplated our decisions and wondered if indeed we had made right choices. Yet we knew that our conscience and motives were pleasing in His sight. All we desired was to walk in the perfect will of God. We kept saying to our Master in all sincerity how the most important thing for us was to submit to His leadership and leading. We were certain that even if we stumbled, the lover of our souls would not allow us to fall headlong but would uphold us in His mighty right hand (Psa. 37:27). We knew He would not let us to stray away from His perfect paths of righteousness. Yet what we received in return was a quiet assurance, “I am with you. Do not be afraid any longer, only believe. Be strong and very courageous. I am with you.” There was not the slightest indication of when the night would end. Not a word of how much longer we would need to wait. Each time we grew weary and were tempted to lose heart, the God of all hope and comfort strengthened our hearts and encouraged us to persevere with steadfastness and patience for just a little while longer.
I confess that there are days when everything seems lost and hopeless. Like Abraham who consider his own body and the deadness of Sarah’s womb, we too considered our own situations. I admit there have been times when I tried to look for solutions and come with a “Plan B”. Yet each time, I found God’s quiet assurance to wait with trust and hope. I am often reminded how Abraham and Sarah came up with a solution after waiting 11 years—Abraham was 86 years old when Ishmael was born (Gen. 16:16). The result was disastrous. David, tired of running, thought he had a better plan by staying in enemy country. The outcome was tragic. God’s quiet voice whispers to our spirit, “Even though you may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, remember that My staff, My presence; yes, My guiding hand is with you.”
Even when failure seems to pile over failure and defeat breaks down every inner reserve within you; when all seems ruined, hopeless and burnt down, and all you can hear is the taunt, “Where is your God?”—it is at such times we must recognise that the sovereign God of all glory; who rules in majesty and power; whose love never fails; and whose wisdom is flawless; such a One is with us and is able to resurrect even the dead, hopeless things and accomplish His purpose. Like the lyrics of a contemporary Christian song goes, “By Your spirit I will rise; from the ashes of defeat. The resurrected King is resurrecting me. In Your name I come alive; to declare your victory. The resurrected King is resurrecting me.” However, I am also reminded that one gets ashes only after all is burnt, lost and destroyed.
Let us not forget: Abraham’s body was as good as dead and Sarah was past the age of bearing a child. Against all hope, he hoped and at the right time, God fulfilled His promise. Joseph found himself lonely and forgotten. Nothing seemed remotely close to the dream God gave him. Yet at the right time, despite his weakness, God lifted him up. Moses was past his prime. At 80, he would have resigned himself to having “Shepherd of Father-in-law’s Sheep” etched as his epitaph. Still God raised him to be one of the greatest prophet and leaders of all time. 400 years and the Israelites seemed forgotten in their bondage and slavery. All that they witnessed was suffering and inhuman oppression. When the Israelites were down at their lowest, God remembered them and His promise to Abraham; and delivered them with a mighty hand.
Let us therefore not lose heart. Patience and steadfastness (Col. 1:11) is the key that reveals our trust in God. Songs of praise that proceed from such a waiting, broken spirit are the true songs that rise up as a sweet fragrance of worship to God. Needless to add, God is honoured and glorified. As for His promises, He is faithful to fulfill them, in His time. What He commands us to do however is, wait. Wait with trust and patience and persevering steadfastness.
