One of the best things that ever happened to me was when God opened my eyes to the importance of timelines in the Bible. This changed my life because it gave me a deeper understanding of how long things take to really work out in life.
In Genesis, Abraham was 75 years old and childless when God promised that he would have many descendants. Abraham did not have his first child until 11 years later, and his second child was born 14 years after the first.
Isaac got married at 40 years old to Rebekah, and he had to wait 20 years for children.
Jacob served his uncle Laban for 14 years so he could marry Rachel, and he spent an additional 6 years gathering the resources he needed to flee from his uncle.
Joseph spent 13 years as a household slave and prisoner before becoming the 2nd ruler in Egypt. While in prison, Pharaoh's cupbearer promised that he would speak to Pharaoh on Joseph's behalf. Once the cupbearer was released, he forgot about Joseph for 2 years.
Moses ran away from Egypt at 40, got called by God at 80, and spent 40 years leading a people who were constantly against him.
By paying attention to the different timelines in the Bible, I started to understand that if these great, God-fearing men had to wait for their dreams to materialize, I would also need to wait for my dreams to materialize.
I once heard a Pastor say that disappointment occurs when our experience does not match our expectations. Many of us feel dejected and give up when our initial attempts do not go viral, and we experience silence from the crowd and a rolling tumbleweed across our stage. So many YouTube channels have been abandoned, blogs orphaned, and stocks dumped because there was a divergence between our expectation and experience.
I believe it is better to embark on journeys with the expectation that they will be long and challenging but filled with rewards if we make it to the end.
I read an article last week about Edward G. Gardner, the co-founder of the hair care company, Soft Sheen Products. Before selling his company to L'Oreal, Mr. Gardner had built one of the largest black owned companies in America.
Below is a timeline of events from his life.
Mr. Gardner worked as a teacher, principal, and hair products salesman before starting Soft Sheen Products at 39 years old. In the beginning, people did not like his products but he continued to tweak it until he discovered the winning formula. He was not an overnight success. He had to wait for his dreams to materialize.
WALKING BY FAITH AND NOT BY SIGHT
It is natural for us to be influenced by the things we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. We spend our entire life leaning on these 5 senses to navigate the world so to break our dependency on them is not easy.
If we are not bearing the fruits that we desire, it is easy for our senses to fool us into believing that our life is heading in the wrong direction. I am sure the patriarchs of our faith felt the same way as they waited for the fulfillment of God's promises.
Even though the Bible says;
“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
Romans 8:28 NLT
We often forget this promise when we are going through our own wilderness experience.
It is important that we walk by faith and not by sight because the enemy is always trying to use our senses against us.
“For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.”
1 John 2:16-17 NLT
God wants us to relegate our natural senses to the back and move His promises to the front.
“For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame."
Romans 10:11 ESV
Even though life might not meet 100% of our expectations, we should always remember that if we are following God then we are on the right track, and everything is going according to plan.
We should keep moving forward and never quit. People only fail when they quit.
See you next week. God willing.
“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.”
Psalm 37:4-6 ESV
Comments