My children and I were watching an animated version of the
story of Joseph, one of the sons of Jacob in the Bible. Since the children are less
than 5 years old, I had to do a lot of explanation during certain scenes.
My older daughter has watched this movie several times. At
the scene of one of Joseph’s dream, where the sun and the moon and the stars
were bowing down to him, I explained it meant his brothers and parents will one
day bow down to him. Then my older daughter asked, “Why did he have to go to
Egypt and be washing the floor and enter prison before his brothers came and
bowed down to him?”
To this I replied, “Ajuju”, which I always reply her when
she asks me those deep questions which I must not hurry to answer. And then I
began to ponder.
Isn’t it like God to give a ‘dream’ which only comes to
reality in the fullness of time? Isn’t it the same God that made a promise to
Abraham concerning a son from his wife Sarah, and when the time was right, it
came to pass?
Let me not go too biblical. I am sure there are certain
times you have prayed and the answers to the prayer came when the Lord deemed
the timing right. I believe there are certain words, prophesies and promises
spoken to you that became manifest only in the fullness of time. The fullness of
time could be immediately, a day later, a month later, a year later or even ten
years later, or more.
And if you are in waiting, do not despair. Your fullness of
time will come. In the meantime, here are some things you can consider.
1. God exists outside of time. He is not bound by
nor limited by our time. While you, or those around you may feel that time is
going and soon it will be too late, when He finally comes through, you will
understand that His timing is perfect. The bible states that “Through faith
also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a
child when she was past age…” [Hebrews 11:11, KJV]. There was no medical
condition of this child (Isaac) which was recorded to have been due to Sarah’s
age, nor was it said recorded that she had issues during the 9 month journey due to her age. Indeed the Lord perfected the conception and childbirth despite Sarah’s
age.
2. God cannot lie. God is not a man, so He does not
lie. He is not human, so He does not change His mind. Has He ever spoken and
failed to act? Has He ever promised and not carried it through? [Numbers 23:19,
NLT]. Hence if He has given you a dream, shown you a vision, or given you a
word, it will come to pass. It does not matter when.
3.God does not need ‘big faith’ to work with you. Yes
the Bible says “But without faith it is impossible to please Him…” [Hebrews
11:6, KJV] but all He needs is a little faith. This is demonstrated in the
scripture, "You don't have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I
tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could
say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing
would be impossible." [Matthew 17:20, NLT]. Faith as small as a mustard
seed could simply be a confession that ‘Lord, I cannot bear this on my own. I
give it all to You because You are the only one who can help me through this
situation’. Or it could be that revelation in your heart when a word of God
comes alive in you, and you have that knowing that God is able, and your
situation is settled in Him. Little faith is sufficient for Him.
4. Prior to a breakthrough, it may seem as if the
situation heightens in magnitude, almost crushing you beyond what you can bear.
Imagine that Joseph had to go to prison before his breakthrough. Beloved, where
there is life, there is hope. No matter what comes your way, you will overcome “for
everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome
the world, even our faith” [1 John 5:4, NIV].
May your dreams come to reality.
Remain blessed.
The story of Joseph can be read in the
Bible Genesis 37, 39 – 48.
‘Ajuju’ is an igbo word that means ‘Question’.
