Between the PROMISE and the ANSWER are the waiting times, and the process times. Temptations will come against us, our faith will be tested, our waiting times will be with uncertainties, but do not GIVE UP.
Not all good ideas are God’s ordained ideas. Most times in life God promises us specific things and such things may take longer time to manifest. We become anxious to have it. Some lose hope in the process; some take to shortcuts to get it done. But that is not God’s will for us, He wants to us wait patiently for the fulfillment of His promises at the appointed time. Most times, His own time may not be our own time Habakkuk 2:3, “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” He knows the best time for His promise to come to pass, so that it will be more glorious. He delays some of His promises till the appointed time so that the blessing will not take us to early grave.
God established His covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3, “ 2And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
He promised to make him father of nations, though he had no child when He was making the promise Genesis 15:1-6, “1After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. 2And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 3And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 4And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 5And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”
When the promise was delayed, his wife Sarah prevailed on him to have sexual relationship with her housemaid, Hagar the Egyptian. It was a pleasant idea in their sights. Hagar would have a baby and the whole house would have a child to call theirs. But that was not God’s ordained plan for Abraham. Hagar conceived and gave birth to Ishmael, with a different covenant. The idea altered God’s plans and purposes for Abraham Genesis 16:12, “And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
Potiphar’s wife enticed Joseph to sleep with her. It was a good idea, pleasant in the heart of man. At least it would have given him assurance of having his freedom very soon. Mrs. Potiphar would have prevailed on her husband to secure his freedom. But Joseph will only have temporal liberty because his secret affair with Mrs. Potiphar would be exposed one day. That would have denied him the original plan of God for his life.
God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to the world to save mankind from condemnation and eternal destruction. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
When He saw the pains to be endured by Him, Jesus Christ had an idea to quit. Jesus Christ eventually allowed God’s will to prevail when He was praying in the garden of Gethsemane. Because He subjected Himself to God’s will, He became the Saviour of mankind Matthew 26:39, “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
Indeed waiting can be one of the hardest things for us as humans, but we should hold on to His words patiently and put our trust in Him to the end. Between the PROMISE and the ANSWER are the waiting times, and the process times. Temptations will come against us, our faith will be tested, our waiting times will be with uncertainties, but do not GIVE UP.
People will come to us with good ideas, too good to resist, but never accept it. Do not accept his request to sleep with him before you can get the job; do not succumb to extra-marital affairs; do not create shortcuts that would later become deadly cuts. Do not create your Ishmael that will haunt you for the rest of your life. Your waiting time is not your wasting time. God is processing your testimony to make it more glorious.