“The Lord is good unto them that wait for him… It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.” Lamentations 3:25–26
I am going to tell you the stories of two historical figures to make this point: God has you in His sights and is working things out… for you. Trust Him.
David
Imagine a young man with a deep knowledge and love for God, whose self-taught use of the harp was his only bright spot in a day filled with loneliness looking after his family’s sheep, striving for good pasture and undisturbed sources of water, and a life that was going nowhere.
Whether or not the shepherd boy who became known as King David had had dreams beyond the life of a lowly shepherd, we will never know. What we do know is that as physical circumstances projected, his life was not one of great promise.
In his family, David was not among the persons favoured for the promise of a great life; after all, on a day when all the sons of Jesse, were required to present themselves to meet with Samuel for an important assignment, even his father did not think it worth the trouble of bringing him from the wilderness to present him as a candidate.
In the community of Israel, when notable men were sent to battle against Israel’s enemies, David remained with the sheep and went to the battleground as an errand boy to send supplies to his brothers. To his brothers, as Eliab’s rebuke recorded in 1 Samuel 17 showed, he was a pesky boy who had no business rubbing shoulders with the important people in the land.
Did David have dreams of escaping the drudgery of his existence?
Perhaps, although it is certainly difficult to imagine that his ambitions went beyond very average for a young man of his day. But David’s humdrum lowly existence was not what God had planned for him.
God in His sovereignty had chosen the boy who composed psalms in praise, accompanied by his harp, to be king.
However, until God’s appointed time, all David could see as worth celebrating, was the next big coup when he came upon particularly green grass to feed his sheep, or still waters they could drink from, undisturbed.
Until it all changed one day.
In God’s appointed time, the events that unfolded, brought about the impossible: the lowly shepherd did become king.
The path to that lofty position required the building of spiritual muscle through events in the school of life: problem after problem, that gave David the requisite training to equip him to lead the entire nation of Israel.
God’s plan to make David king could not be thwarted. When He announced that David would be king and sent the prophet Samuel to anoint him, he had already arranged for the fight against the giant Goliath that would bring David into prominence. God also arranged for a circumstance that would cause King Saul to seek out David for his skill in music, which landed David – a shepherd, in the king’s palace. He then arranged for the unselfish Jonathan to befriend David, and to help him in his life at the palace to keep David safe.
In short, God had prepared the groundwork for David to ascend to the throne of Israel before David first heard of it – when he was hurriedly summoned from the wilderness to meet with Samuel. None of it was known to David as he faithfully took care of sheep in the wilderness, facing wild animals and threats that trained him for battle.
God’s sovereignty means that He has everything under his control. He makes plans according to His purpose and brings them to pass in His appointed time.
May I now also walk you through the journey of another man who also rose to prominence as engineered by God?
Joseph
Joseph was a man whose life changed course from favoured son to a slave in a foreign land, and a man sentenced to a life in the prison for a crime he did not commit.
How it happened, that Joseph moved from that abject position to become second in authority in the land of his enslavement, is the story of which folklore is made, only it did in fact happen. While Joseph was in prison, God arranged a series of events that would shoot him to unbelievable prominence. Guess how He did it? He used what no man can control: a dream, whose interpretation caused Joseph to be placed in authority to avert a disaster for Egypt.
From his home in his father’s house, God took Joseph into Egypt, and into a slave position where he would have to learn the Egyptian language in the house of his master Potiphar. Then through a false accusation, he was placed in a prison where he would learn the ways of the king’s court. Finally, God gave Pharoah a dream that only Joseph could interpret.
God was many steps ahead of Joseph. Through what appeared to be a life filled with tumult, pain, hardship and God’s silence, Joseph was always in God’s sights, as He made provision ahead of time to accomplish His purpose. God’s plan had the dual purpose of placing Joseph in the position where he could take care of many, including his family, as well as to commence what He had promised Abraham: that He would equip Abraham’s descendants to become a nation in the land he had promised to him (Gen. 15:13-16).
How are these stories applicable to you and your present circumstances?
God has assured you that His plans for you are intended to do you good, not to bring you to harm (Jeremiah 29:11). What you need to know is that no one, and nothing, can thwart what God in His goodness has planned for you. Job, chastened when God spoke to him of His great power and limitless resources, responded with this truth: “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”
The prophet Isaiah also exclaimed: “For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?” (Is. 14:27)
Be assured that in His providence, God will make provision for what you need before it unfolds in your experience, often before you even realise that you need it.
He works in silence, as He brings together what He purposes and plans for you, which you must bear in mind, is for your good. Suddenly, the blessing God has in store for you – which at this time appears to be impossible, will come to you, because he is even now putting pieces together, working to bring about that end He plans for you.
The God of providence is working in ways you cannot see, to bring things together so that like the shepherd boy who became king, you too can trust in the provident hand of God to bring you far more than you can ask or imagine. he is building up rain in a far-off place, until it suddenly appears, to provide you with the water you need on your parched, thirsty ground.
Do not for one moment believe the lie of the enemy that your dreams will not come to pass, or that you have believed the promises of God in vain, only because you see nothing on the horizon. Look at the horizon in expectation, but do not trust in what you see now. The rain will come, although the sky has no cloud.
God is preparing the rain. As Elijah said to King Ahab when he was informed that the only sign of a shift in the atmosphere was a cloud as small as a man’s hand (1 Kings 18:44), prepare for the deluge of God’s abundant blessing. In His timing. Wait for it (Habakkuk 2:3).
