Waiting for Change

Introduction

We are starting a new series this month called “the Until”

This series is about waiting.

I think so often we spend alot of time talking about the different seasons in life, the difficult season, the season of abundance, the season of breakthrough.

But there’s one season that we don’t talk about too much - what about the season of waiting?

We can be so tempted to think that the season of waiting is “the empty bit” the “hold fast and wait for God to deliver you” season - and while that isn’t entirely wrong, I think that waiting seasons are very undervalued in our lives.

To the point that I actually think one of the most wasted seasons in our lives are season of waiting. What do we do when nothing seems to be moving, when nothing seems to be happening - when the Lord tells us to wait, or worse, when the Lord is silent in our lives?

And so this morning I want to kick off our series by talking about the season of waiting, specifically - waiting for breakthrough. What happens when we’re waiting for the Lord to bring us into a new season of growth, into a new season of flourishing? What happens during the time in between when the Lord is quieter than we’re used to, when things seem mundane and don’t seem to be moving.

Let’s Pray.

Segment 1: An Introduction to Joseph

I want to do a bit of a character study today - I want to take a look at the character of Joseph

A lot of people read about Joseph and think that it’s a story about rags to riches, in other words it’s a story about breakthrough. And this is true - it absolutely is.

But what I think is so overlooked in the life of Joseph is that his story is actually also a lesson in the art of waiting on God.

And so we start with who Joseph is - Joseph is a familiar character in scripture; he is the 11th out of 12 of Jacob’s sons, and he is the favourite son. Jacob doesn’t even try to pretend he’s not; and his brothers absolutely despise him for it. He’s spoiled by his father Jacob and develops a bit of a big mouth for it. When Jacob is seventeen God gives him a dream - in short he sees his whole family bowing down to him. And makes the mistake of telling them twice - and so this is where we pick up the story: He’s seventeen - holding a word from God, and he walks out into the fields to check on his brothers who despise him.

Genesis 37:23–28 “23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. 24 And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. 25 Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.”

So Joseph walks out to check on his brothers - who promptly beat him up, strip him of his clothes and throw him into a well or a pit.

And I want to start here because many people fail to realise that this occured right after Joseph received that word from God. Right after God gives him a prophetic word for his future; he’s almost immediately thrown into a pit and sold off into slavery.

I think that sometimes we expect that receiving a word or direction from the Lord, or receiving a promise for future breakthrough means that we get a clear path to that breakthrough.

But what we often fail to acknowledge is that between now and our season of breakthrough - there is a season of preparation for that breakthrough.

In other words, God doesn’t just prepare a breakthrough for you - he prepares YOU for the breakthrough.

We all know that Joseph ends up in the Palace (sorry spoiler alert), but we like to skip over the preparation that God does in the prison.

I find in life that whenever God releases a word of breakthrough over a person, there is always a season of preparation just prior to that season of breakthrough.

And it’s agonising because who doesn’t just want to walk into the blessing season? Who doesn’t want to walk straight to the mountaintop? Everybody wants to get straight to the point. Everyone wants to skip the season of preparation.

But as we’re about to see - Joseph didn’t just get the palace AFTER the prison, He got the palace BECAUSE of it.

Segment 2: Potiphar’s House

Genesis 39:2–4 “2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had.”

So Joseph gets sold into slavery in Egypt and ends up working for a man named Potiphar. And earns the favour of the master so much so that he is put in charge of the entire house.

And this segment of the story is overlooked but it is instrumental. We know that Joseph ends up governing Egypt from the Palace and runs a national level food storage and distribution program that saves not only Egypt but many of the surrounding tribes too.

But don’t forget - at this point of the story, Joseph is a Hebrew teenager who has no experience and doesn’t even speak any Egyptian. - we forget these very practical problems when we read Joseph’s story.

How does he go from being an inexperienced, spoiled Hebrew teenager - to a powerful and competent Egyptian governor?

The answer is actually right here - in Potiphar’s house. In the season of waiting.

Joseph runs this household for 13 years. He learns the Egyptian language and gets to know the nuances of Egyptian culture, he learns how to oversees the staff, manages the owners accounts.

Sure - it’s not the place that Joseph wanted to be, but that doesn’t mean that God wasn’t working there.

This is so important to note - because how many of us find ourselves in a season of waiting, in a job that we don’t like? In a season we didn’t choose? In a role that we perceive to be below us? At some point in our lives everyone finds themselves in this season of waiting - you’re not in the place you want to be, you’re not doing the things you want to be doing, you’re not with the people that you want to be around.

But it would be a mistake to assume that just because you’re not where YOU want to be - that God isn’t working where you are.

And I say this is important because - I don’t believe that God wastes seasons, every season that God puts us through has purpose - even beyond what we may perceive.

And it’s such a tragic mistake to despise a season that God is trying to use to grow us. Because in doing so we reject the growth that God wants to bring to us through the waiting season.

What if the job that you have right now is actually the place that God has put you so that you learn the quality of humility? What if the ministry that God has you holding up right now is the place where God is trying to teach you commitment? What if your season of WAITING for the breakthrough is actually God PREPARING you for the breakthrough?

There is always purpose in the waiting. God doesn’t waste any season.

ILLUSTRATION: Waiting for the holiday to end as a kid

You know when I was a kid I would do this really weird thing when it came to holidays - I’m not sure if anyone else here does this. Whenever I was going to have a good time, like we were going to go on a holiday, or I was going to a friends house, or going to anything that I enjoyed. I would do this thing where I would DREAD the ending of the holiday so much that it would actual ruin pretty much the entire holiday for me. Like I would DREAD the ending of the holiday so much that I would literally go on holiday and pretty much spend the holiday counting down the days left until we had to go home.

And I know my dad in particular noticed it, because one day he told me this story about a “person he knew” who ruined their holiday because they were too worried about it ending. Parents are so smart hey, do you know that I only realised that there was no other “person he knew” he was talking about me as I was writing this sermon like 30 years later?

But it’s an insane thing right? That I would actually ruin a holiday because I was so sad that the holiday was going to end eventually.

And yet in a weird way this is exactly what we do with our life - we’re so busy looking to the NEXT season, that it ruins the season that we’re CURRENTLY in.

When all you can see is where you AREN’T - you’ll miss what God is doing where you ARE

We’re so busy wanting God to get us OUT of the season of waiting that we stop seeing purpose and meaning in the waiting.

But this isn’t what God intends for us at all - God uses seasons of waiting in order to prepare us for the seasons of thriving.

Segment 3: Potiphar’s Wife

And this is the thing that we have to know - God cares about HOW we conduct ourselves in the season of waiting.

Scripture tells us in Luke 16:10 “10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.”

The way that we carry ourselves in seasons of waiting reveals much about how we’d carry ourselves in season of thriving.

Think about the Israelites in Exodus 32:1 “1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.””

This is a prime example of a waiting season gone wrong - the Israelites are waiting for Moses to come down the mountain with the 10 commandments, but because they were WAITING longer than expected, they decide to build other gods to lead them forward instead.

It may sound slightly extreme - but the truth is that we can be guilty of this sometimes. We’re in a season of waiting, and it’s just been longer than expected, we’re getting tired of waiting - and we’re getting more desperate to move on from the season; maybe we even begin to think that God has forgotten us, or abandoned us.

And so we fabricate our own solutions - just like the Israelites fabricated that bull; we build our own solutions to prematurely end the waiting season in our lives. And in doing so - we prematurely end the work that God is doing in us.

And this is perhaps why the waiting season is so important - because if a person can’t be trusted in the waiting, how can they be trusted when they’re winning?

If a person can’t cling to the word and promise of God during seasons of waiting - then how can they possibly be expected to cling to it during seasons of breakthrough?

Success doesn’t raise character - it reveals it

One who is dishonest in little will be dishonest in much - God reveals and refines our character through the season of waiting.

Take a look at what happened to Joseph - who is minding Potiphar’s house when Potiphar’s wife makes several sexual advances on him. Joseph responds by saying this:

Genesis 39:8–12 “8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” 10 And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her. 11 But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, 12 she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house.”

In this Joseph models perfectly how to handle our season of waiting.

He chose to value integrity in his season of waiting.

He chose to trust that even though he wasn’t where he WANTED to be - that the season was still sacred, and should be treated as such.

He didn’t deconsecrate the season just because it wasn’t where he wanted to be.

And that’s important because God doesn’t just look at the path that we choose to walk, he looks at HOW we choose to walk it.

In other words - there is a right way to wait! There is a right way to walk through a season of waiting.

Joseph kept his eyes fixed on God throughout this season of waiting “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”

And on top of this Joseph understood that if he wanted to remain in God’s will, then he would have to walk it God’s way.

Even if that meant that things would get worse for him personally - and they did, he chose to bear that rather than deconsecrating, rather than treating the season of waiting as not sacred.

When you look at the story of the Israelites who fabricated their own way out of the season of waiting vs Joseph who maintained his integrity even when it cost him - we see one thing: there is a RIGHT way to wait. There is a RIGHT way to walk through the season of waiting.

If we want God’s will then we have to walk it God’s WAY.

Segment 4: The Prison

Joseph’s rejection of Potiphar’s wife landed in prison. As if things couldn’t get worse for him.

But Scripture tells us that even in the prison - God was with Joseph. Genesis 39:20–21 “20 And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. 21 But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.”

Because Joseph continued to walk with the Lord through his season of waiting - the Lord was with Joseph, His presence followed Joseph.

Just because you’re in a season of waiting doesn’t mean you don’t have God’s favour.

Can I speak to some people here who may be discouraged? You may feel abandoned because God has you in this season of waiting - maybe you feel like you’re being punished or you’re being overlooked or forgotten.

But even in this season of waiting it was clear that Joseph had the favour of the Lord. Despite what it may have looked like - scripture tells us that God was with Joseph.

Let’s not mistake God’s favour for comfort.

Just because we aren’t comfortable, and we aren’t in a place that we want to be in - doesn’t mean that we don’t have the Lord’s presence or favour.

In fact it, personally, it is in seasons of discomfort where I have encountered the Lord’s favour and presence in a far more tangibble manner.

Just like Joseph was not comfortable in the prison - he had shackles and irons attached to his feet and neck, it’s not where he wanted to be, he’s not with the people that he wanted to be with, and yet Scripture is clear that the Lord’s favour was still with Him. The Lord was still moving in that season of waiting.

Just because we can’t see God moving, doesn’t mean He isn’t

And this is taught most powerfully in what happens during his time in the prison. Joseph meets Pharaoh’s cupbearer who is also imprisoned there and interprets a dream that he has, revealing that the cupbearer would be released in 3 days. Joseph’s only request - “remember me and speak of me to Pharaoh that I may be released from prison, because I’ve done nothing wrong”. Joseph’s interpretation comes true - the cupbearer is released in 3 days! And I want to read what happens after that:

Genesis 40:23–41:14 ESV

23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. 1 After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, 2 and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. 3 And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. 4 And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke… And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. 8 So in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh. 9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “I remember my offenses today. 10 When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, 11 we dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own interpretation. 12 A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. 13 And as he interpreted to us, so it came about. I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.”

Did you catch that? The chief cupbearer forgot Joseph for TWO WHOLE YEARS. For two years Joseph went forgotten in the prison. It would have been so easy for Joseph in the moment to believe that God had forgotten, that God had stopped moving or had abandoned him.

But here’s the thing - if the cupbearer had not fogotten Joseph and had just raised his case to the officials - best case? Joseph would have walked out a free man that day and nothing else would have occured.

But it was on the morning, 2 YEARS LATER, that Pharaoh had a dream and the cupbearer remembered Joseph. And that is the only reason Joseph got an audience in front of Pharaoh, the only reason he could interpret Pharaoh’s dreams correctly, and the only reason that Pharaoh made him the governor over all of Egypt.

Can you see that even that TWO YEAR delay, even the cupbearer forgetting was a part of God’s plan for Joseph?

When it seemed like God wasn’t moving or doing anything, God was still completely in control, God’s timing was perfect, God knew EXACTLY what He was doing. Not a moment is wasted when the Lord is in control.

Just because we can’t perceive God is moving, doesn’t mean He isn’t.

You know if there’s anyone here who may feel like you’re in that season of waiting, you may feel like God has forgotten you, that He may have abandoned you or forsaken you, that it’s been so long you don’t even really remember what you’re waiting for.

Can I just encourage you this morning my family, that God has a purpose EVEN in your season of waiting. That God has never forgotten you, He will never forsake you and that in Him - there is ALWAYS hope.

ILLUSTRATION: 2 years

I know many of you guys have heard me tell this story before but it just fit in here so perfectly I feel like God wants me to tell it. This particularly story just speaks to me so deeply because it’s also my testimony.

In 2022 I was in a bad season in life, a season that I wanted to escape so desperately. It was my season in the prison, so to speak. I was serving in a church at the time but had no desire for ministry anymore, that dream was dead in my heart. I wanted to escape so badly - to go out and work in the marketplace and just earn money just do whatever to get out of that season of waiting.

And I was actually about to when God sent one of my spiritual fathers from Malaysia to meet with me - I shared with him where I was at, how I was going to take another job outside of ministry to get out of this season - and instead of affirming me, he prophesyed over me and told me that God was putting me through a season of “hiddenness”. He mentioned the number 2 years, which you have to understand - at the time that might as well have been 10 years. I was so discouraged. I felt so abandoned and forgotten by God.

But by the grace of God, Sharon and I waited out those two years, it was painful, it was agonising, there were many times in those 2 years that I wanted to quit.

After 2 years my spiritual father came back to Perth to speak release over me. And instead of celebrating it, I was distraught because I had spent 2 years in hiding, not preaching anywhere, just serving in this small church nobody really knew about. I didn’t know what was next, there were no open doors, nobody was contacting me for a job, nobody even remembered that I existed. It seemed like those 2 years were just a mistake - that God had just forgotten about me completely.

Do you know 1 week after meeting with my spiritual father was when Dan contacted me to offer me this job? Out of nowhere. Basically out of the blue. And this is my dream job guys - I love it here, I wouldn’t have it anywhere else.

But I think about how, like Joseph, if I had gotten my way and left that season of waiting 2 years earlier, I wouldn’t be here. HFTC wasn’t ready to hire a new pastor in 2022, there’s no way that I would have ended up here. The whole time, through that entire period of wait - God knew exactly what He was doing.

And in your season of waiting, be encouraged - God knows exactly what He’s doing. Don’t give up, continue to trust Him.

Altar Call

Praying for people who are in that season of waiting for breakthrough. Come to the front.