Don’t Lose Your Dream: You are on Your Way

Have you found yourself in a place in life and wondered how you got there or what you are doing there? Sometimes life just does not seem to add up. Perhaps you were raised up in a nice family, had a good education and expected that everything would work out well for you according to the standards of the world. Today you look at your life and wonder what went wrong or why things are not what you anticipated.  You wonder whether it is worthwhile to keep on striving when nothing seemingly seems to work. Well do not give up on yourself or life yet. The most important thing when examining your life is to first establish what your purpose is. You may just be surprised to find that things as they are actually make sense. This will help you persevere in the journey you are in. 

Not long ago I was reasoning with the Lord about my life. I surrendered my life to His leadership some years ago and left everything behind. It has been a journey full of obstacles and sometimes a lone journey. There are times that I felt like the Lord had forsaken me and truly questioned the meaning of my life.  The other day the Lord showed me that His ways of doing things is very different from ours. It is not God who fits into our plans but He works to fit us in His. Indeed He says “—My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, —for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” Isaiah 55:8-9.

When God calls you on a mission, He first needs to prepare you before He can release you to do that which He has called you to do. He places you in the school of life where you will be tested at every level. The only difference, unlike man, God will not pass you through to the next level until you have passed the test. In this school of life, God will first make you recognize that He is God and He does not share His glory with another. Speaking to Isaiah the Lord says” I am the Lord, that is My name; And my glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to carved images” Isaiah 42:8. He will teach you what faith is and how faithful He is. The writer of the book of Hebrews writes, “— without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” Hebrews 11:6. He will teach you obedience, submission and trust.

How then does God go about doing the training? By making you go through situations that manifest these attributes. How will you know of God’s sovereignty unless the idols that human beings create for themselves like money, power and religion fail you? You realize that unless a bigger power intervenes there is no hope. How will you know what faith is unless you get to a situation where there is nothing you can do but allow faith to finish her work? How will you know how to submit to God unless He puts you in a situation that demands submission on your part? God in His infinite wisdom knows the areas of our lives that we need to grow and so it is different for each person. But God is never rushed and neither does He take short cuts.

Most of the people that God used mightily had to go through a training that would have destroyed many. In most cases they were removed from their comfort zone and taken to a place where they were totally depended on God. Joseph is a case in hand; he was his father’s beloved of the twelve sons that his father had. He was also endowed with wisdom and was a dreamer. His brothers hated him because they were jealous of how his father treated him. Joseph’s dreams, which he shared with his brothers, did not help either because they revealed Joseph’s calling. The dream that God showed Joseph revealed that his family would one day bow before him showing he was destined to be a leader. He however needed maturing for he still exhibited youthful pride which was the cause of strife with his siblings.   

We can learn a lot from Joseph’s life on how God prepares us for His work. Joseph was betrayed and deserted by those closest to him. He was sold to a foreign land and had to learn to completely trust to on God. He was exposed to sexual temptation in his master’s house and subsequently punished for a crime he did not commit. In prison he was forgotten by those he had helped.  The important lesson in Joseph’s story is how responded to all his temptations. He did not spend much time asking why instead he looked to God for guidance in the situation. God’s favor was upon him and those who encountered Joseph were aware that whatever he did and wherever he went God was with him, Genesis 3:3, Genesis 39:21-23. When he was finally elevated to the highest position in the land the pharaoh said “can we find such as a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?” Genesis 41:38. Our attitude or how we react or respond to a challenge will determine the outcome.   If we submit to God’s leading even in the midst of injustice He is able to turn it around into good.

The other case is that of Moses. Moses was born at a time when Hebrew male babies were at risk of being murdered due to the king’s order. The “pharaoh commanded all his people saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river”’ Exodus 1:22. After Moses birth his mother hid him and nursed him for three months. When she could no longer hide him she put him in an “ark of bulrushes —and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank” while his sister Miriam stood watch, Exodus 2:3. This is how he ended up being adopted by the Pharaohs daughter and living in the palace. Moses was marked for God’s use from birth for everything that happened had to have the hand of God, in particular as regards him ending up to live in the palace as the princess son.  His mission in life would start here and make a determining change for his people.

God’s training for Moses started early but it is manifest when he kills a man thinking that no one was watching. When his own brethren challenged him with the knowledge he got scared and decided to flee the country. Moses it seems needed some schooling in humility and self control if he was to accomplish his purpose. He ends up with the Midians, a stranger in a strange land separated from his home and family. It would take about forty years before he would be ready for the work that God had called him to do. One can only imagine what Moses had to go through to be ready for the mission that God had chosen him for. Moses did not however give up but learnt to trust on God for his deliverance.

The lifestyle that Moses led as a shepherd tending Jethro’s, his father in laws, flock (Genesis 3:1) is such a contrast to his life as an Egyptian prince. As a prince, he had servants and had everything done for him; he was also the famous son of the Egyptian princess. As a shepherd in a foreign land he was unknown and had to do everything for himself. He now held a job that he had been taught to despise by the Egyptians.  The Egyptians looked down upon shepherds and nomads because they considered them uncultured and vulgar.  When Joseph’s brothers joined him in Egypt they were separated and ate alone even as Joseph ate alone “because the Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, for that was an abomination to the Egyptians” Genesis 43:32.

Yet God was breaking any pride that Moses retained by making him find acceptance with a people that he may under different circumstances have not had time for. This experience was preparing him for leadership. He was going to shepherd Israel from their place of bondage to the Promised Land. By living life as a shepherd and nomad Moses learnt the ways of the people that he was going to lead and about life in the wilderness. One can imagine what questions Moses must have asked himself. It is obvious that he was unaware that he was being prepared for a great mission. It is also apparent that he sensed God was involved in what was going on in his life.

What we can learn from Moses case is that God will use our experiences to mold us to to be right for the mission He has called us for. You may find yourself today doing a job you associated with something lower than you and wonder why. Learn from Moses that this is part of the schooling. Be a good student and you will not have to keep on redoing the test. You may find your self alone separated from loved ones or betrayed by loved ones and wonder why. All you need to do is to lean closer to the Lord and He will show why.

There are other cases like Daniel and Paul all of whom had to leave their comfort zone to be trained by the Lord. They all went through difficulties as part of their training but they also became great men of faith. Paul was much anointed and mightily used but to ensure he remained humbled God laid a thorn on his flesh. Paul prayed three times for the thorn to be removed but the Lord answered him “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness” 2 Corinthians 12:9.

So wherever you are today, do not focus at the suffering or difficulties you are in today but look “unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” Hebrews 12:2. You are on your way to your destination and God needs to finish His work on you before He can release His power in you.