“After two whole years…” Genesis 41:1
Waiting. The bane of my existence and if I could be so bold in my claim, the bane of human existence. Humans do not like to wait. Simply drive around in Guadalajara traffic for a few minutes to find proof of this as the car horns pierce the air like arrows during a siege. Just the other day I found myself standing in front of the microwave waiting on some food to reheat wondering how one minute could possibly be so long. Oh, the human condition and waiting. The ironic thing is that if you were to ask me for one of the major underlying themes in the Bible, it would be something that God uses to address just this human intolerance of waiting…patience.
The opening of Genesis chapter 41 greets us with these four words, “after two whole years.” If you are following the story of Joseph with me in the last 13 chapters of Genesis, you know exactly what this means. Potiphar’s scorned wife has Joseph thrown in jail and even after his holy interpretation of the cup-bearer’s dream, his request to be mentioned to the pharaoh for release was forgotten. As a result, Joseph, the great servant of the Lord, was left and forgotten to sit in a damp, dark, Egyptian jail for two whole years. 730 days. 17,532 hours. So, if God had such grand intentions to use Joseph to save Egypt from famine, reunite his family, and forge the name of Almighty God in Egypt, why the long cool down period? Why did God wait 2 years to use Joseph? Why the lost time? Oh, this is the quadrillion dollar question that has haunted mankind since the garden. Why does God make us wait?
The other day I was watching an interview of a music star and I found it curious that he got visibly upset when the interviewer called him an overnight success. He quickly became agitated and said, “I’m not an overnight success. I’ve been working at this for over 15 years and just now is that 15 years of hard work being recognized.” So true. You see, development takes time. Improvement takes time. If you hope to get really good at something you need time to research it, learn it, practice it, use it, and have repetition in honing it. Practice makes better. So why do we think that the Christian life should be any different?
When you look at the mighty men and women of God in the Bible, God took time to train them. After murdering an Egyptian slave boss, God sent Moses to the desert to tend sheep for 40 years before calling him from that burning bush to go to pharaoh and command the release of God’s people. What happened in those 40 years? Was it wasted time? God had Abraham and Sarah wait 25 years for the son He promised them. Why wait 25 years? What happened in those 25 years? Was it wasted time? And right here in the story of Joseph we see the mighty man of God parked in prison for 2 full years, waiting. Was that 2 years in the life of Joseph wasted time? Folks, we see this practice over and over in the Word of God. God taking the time to grow men and women into exactly what He needs them to be. And that takes time. Time for God to develop our character, grow our faith, and transform us into the image of Jesus Christ.
You wouldn’t expect to earn a college degree in just a few days, weeks, or months, why would the follower of Christ expect to become a fruitful, obedient, perseverant servant of Christ in the same span of time? Today, don’t see waiting on the Lord as standing in front of the microwave waiting on nachos to reheat, see it as God granting you time in your life to grow and be sanctified in Christ. And folks, patience in the middle of this process does not mean laziness. Approach the waiting with patience but not with idleness. Don’t sit still and waste that time, get busy abiding in and serving the Lord in the midst of the waiting. You see, waiting on the Lord doesn’t mean inactivity, it means just the opposite. Waiting is time to grow in His Word, time to radically improve your prayer life, and time to practice, practice, practice sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with all those around you.
God’s work in our life is to conform us into the image of Jesus Christ, and that takes time. I pray today that you effectively utilize the waiting the Lord has gifted you.
May you patiently enjoy the wait ~ Dan
“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him…” Psalm 37:7a ESV
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