Walk Well Through the Open Door

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As we are nearing the gate of a new year, my thoughts lean toward seasons of waiting, seasons of new beginnings, and open doors with much opposition. Waiting can be difficult, especially when the years have been long, sometimes confusing, and preparation has been arduous. But God does not waste our time, even when His plans always seem to be just out of reach.

Joseph waited 13 years… through his brothers’ jealousy and hatred, through slavery and false imprisonment… before he finally saw his God-given dreams come true. But the Bible says the Lord was with Joseph in the waiting, showing him His faithful love and causing everything he did to succeed. It was Joseph’s enduring faith in God’s power to interpret dreams that opened the final door to the promise.

“Interpreting dreams is God’s business,” Joseph replied.

Genesis 40:8 NLT

Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years to receive their promised son… he was one hundred and she was ninety. They traveled through unknown lands, witnessed the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, made mistakes as they tried to take God’s calling into their own hands, and both at different times laughed in response to God’s impossible promises… Abraham in wonder and Sarah in disbelief. But through it all, God was with them, helping them in everything they did (Gen 21:22). It was Abraham’s unquestioning obedience to God and fierce faith in His provision that unlocked the greater blessings of His covenant.

All this happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing. Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping. His faith did not weaken. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever He promises. And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted it to him as righteousness [Romans 4:17-22, in pieces].

So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

Genesis 22:14

And finally, Moses… from proud prince to humble traveler.

Moses lived for 40 years as a prince in Pharoah’s house, “educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, powerful in both speech and action” [Acts 7:22]. He would need that information and skill for the last third of his life more than any other time. But at the end of those early years, Moses killed an Egyptian man in defense of his birth family, the Israelites, and fled to the desert to escape prosecution and certain death. It was at this time that his waiting began, but I’m not sure Moses would have described it that way.

For the next 40 years, God prepared Moses to lead Israel out of bondage and through the desert to the Promised Land… but Moses wouldn’t know it until he was eighty years old. Running from the past, living an alien existence in a foreign land, he became a shepherd in Midian, taking a wife and having two sons.

By the time he was eighty, Moses had already lived two distinct lives: one in the luxury, wealth, and power of Egypt’s royalty, the other in the humble, nomadic ways of a Midianite sojourner.

He worked as a shepherd of the sheep, learning to care for them and lead them well, just as he would one day lead Israel.

He roamed in a tent-based existence through the Arabian desert for those middle forty years, gaining compassion for the wanderer that he would desperately need.

The hard work and suffering of that time broke down Moses’ pride and self-reliance, and transformed him into the humble, faithful leader God created him to be. One who would lead God’s people with God’s own heart.

It was at the end of this time that God showed up in the burning bush.

Moses wasn’t quite as strong in speech as he once had been. His confidence may have been undermined by feelings of inadequacy and fear of failure, which is pretty normal for a human person, if we’re being honest. He even went as far as to ask God to send someone else!

But God was patient with Moses, addressing his every concern and partnering him with his older brother, Aaron, and older sister, Miriam, so he wouldn’t have to do the work alone. God patiently proved Himself to Moses… and He wants to do the same for us.

Moses traveled with the children of Israel for the last 40 years of his life. He cared for them, he bore with their weaknesses, he begged God for their lives on more than one occasion. He was a shepherd and protector of the sheep on their behalf. And all along the way, God was with Moses… working wonders through him and speaking with him intimately, as a man speaks with his friend. He was never able to enter the Promised Land, but he got to see the Lord like no other person on the face of the earth ever has.

Forty years submersed in the secrets and mysteries of a holy God, witness to His miracles, and counted as His friend. The faith of Moses persevered because he saw Him who is invisible. 

Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; He will neither fail you nor abandon you.

Deuteronomy 31:8, words of Moses

Walk Well Through the Open Door

“Lord, let me be standing in faith when they come.”

The hardship of waiting produces in us a treasure we can’t find anywhere else. The Lord chooses where we wait based on the experiences and skills we need to succeed in the promised season. He chooses how long we wait based on the exact specifications of His plans. Sometimes we are waiting on Him to say it’s time, sometimes He is waiting on us to finally submit to His process… and other times He is working on the hearts of others, preparing the way on both sides of the fence, setting the stage for everyone involved, not just us.

The important thing to remember is that He is with us all along the way. He will never leave us or forsake us, and it’s not our strength we must depend on, it’s His. We’re not shaping ourselves into an image acceptable to Him (or to others), He is squeezing us and stretching us and molding us into the image of Christ. That’s why it’s so difficult. It’s a death-to-self process.

How we wait matters. We must determine to have fierce faith in the God who is sovereign over all of our steps. We must hold ourselves to a high standard of being faithful in the small things and living with honesty, integrity, and self-control. And we must keep our eyes on Him, the Author and Finisher of our faith, so He can encourage us from the inside and give us a faith that endures.

God will never waste our time. If we are in a season of waiting, it’s because He is instilling in us the gold and silver of his wisdom and knowledge, and that takes time. We will reap a harvest of His promises if we don’t give up.

In your unfailing love You will lead the people You have redeemed. In Your strength You will guide them to Your holy dwelling.

Exodus 15:13, a song of Moses