RESTING IN THE LORD’S TIMING

If you do not believe in Holy Ghost timing, you will never understand why prayers seem to be delayed. Every promise of God will rise up to test you—unless you rest in the Lord’s timing! It is written of Joseph, who helplessly lay prison: “Until the time that his word came: the word of the Lord tried him” (Psalm 105:19). This verse on Holy Ghost timing is sandwiched between these two statements: (1) “Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron” (verse 18) and (2) “The king sent and loosed him . . . and let him go free” (verse 20).

Joseph’s trial of waiting broke his heart. Listen to his pathetic plea to the cupbearer, after Joseph revealed to him that he would be restored and released from prison: “But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house . . . I [have] done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon” (Genesis 40:14-15).

Some would ask where Joseph’s faith was. He was so close to God that he could interpret dreams and mysteries. God spoke to him, so why didn't he just rest and trust in God to get him out? Why such a pitiful plea to the cupbearer to talk to Pharaoh? He was being tried by the Word! You can read it, pray it, preach it, but until it is tested in you, it will not produce life. Some of you are being severely tried by the Word right now. You have seen God answer many prayers, but right now you are looking at a longstanding unanswered prayer. Your crying, your shouting, your uplifted hands, your travail all seem to go unheard with no evidence of an answer anywhere.

Let me tell you what it is going to take to overcome in these last days. We must stand on every promise and pray in faith, effectually, fervently, without doubt, and then wait and rest, trusting the Lord to do what is right, in His time and His way. Few Christians today wait with patience for God to work in His time. The more it is delayed, the angrier some get. Some finally give up, thinking God doesn’t answer.

Say with Habakkuk, “I might rest (wait quietly) in the day of trouble. . . . Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines . . . and the fields shall yield no meat . . . and there be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength . . . and he will make me to walk upon mine high places” (Habakkuk 3:16-19).