The "P" Word

So you ask, “if God wants to fulfill the dreams He’s put in my heart, why can’t I see any results?”  Well, as you’ll discover, there are many roadblocks along this journey.  This guide will help you to uncover many of them, and hopefully move past them.  But there’s something very important to understanding the dreams God’s given us.  It is a process (yes, that’s the “P” word).

I know, that word can be intimidating, especially in our microwave, internet, and fast food society.  We want everything right away, and we’ve grown accustomed to getting what we want.  But I’m nearly convinced that God loves process even more than He loves results.  It’s in process that we develop character (Romans 5:3-5).  It’s in process that we build relationships and that we learn to trust.  It’s in process that we learn how to live in the promises of God and make them lasting.

Joshua and Caleb found this out the hard way in the deserts of Sinai.  There they were in the desert, having been delivered from the hand of Pharaoh.  All seemed to be going well, despite the complaints of a few disgruntled members of the community.  They had the bread of angels for food, they had received the law (to teach them how to live in the promises of God and make them last), and they were on their way to the Promised Land.

They got to the Promised Land and send in some spies to check it out, but instead of being encouraged, ten of the twelve led the entire people astray by their fear, and they never knew the fulfillment of God’s promise for their own lives.  But Joshua and Caleb (the other two spies) were different.  They believed God’s promise and did not lose hope.  With confidence in God to stand behind His Word and with confidence in His power over any circumstance, they chose to encourage the people of Israel and stand behind their convictions, even when the people wanted to stone them.

It was because they remembered God’s promise and believed that He would perform it, that they (and only they) saw the promise fulfilled.  But first they had to spend 40 years in the desert, as God built their character, taught them to trust Him, built a relationship with them, and raised them up as leaders, preparing them for what was to come.

And when they were finally ready (not able, but ready, for they still had to rely on God for their victory), God brought them into their promise.  This was after 40 years of waiting, of growing, of seeking.  Forty years of process!  And yet it wasn’t over.
They crossed over into the Promised Land, but it wasn’t theirs yet.  First, they had to fight for it, and all that they learned in the process – the character, the trust, the obedience – would become necessary to possess the land.

It took them years to possess their inheritance through one process after another, and they had to keep God’s promise before them and continue in all the things He taught them if they were going to keep it.  God warned them of this through Moses when He said, “I will not drive them out [their enemies] from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.  Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land.”

They couldn’t yet handle the vast abundance of God’s promise, and had to continue through the process before it could all come to pass and they could enjoy all the fruit and blessing and favor of their new home.  I sure wish I could say that my quest for God’s promise was over.  I wish I could say, “Wow!  All that waiting and learning and growing and I’ve finally arrived!  All my dreams are being fulfilled and all my longings are satisfied!”  I wish it were that easy.  But then there’s process.

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