Sometimes I wonder…why does God withhold blessings? Why does He “wait” to bless me with something? Why does it seem like His timing doesn’t always align with what I think should happen?
Maybe you feel this way?
I’ve been studying Joshua and I am so blessed to gain some understanding of 1) God’s timing and 2) God’s blessings. What I’ve learned: the Lord doesn’t waste blessings and He knows just the right time to give us our blessings.
Listening to a sermon Todd gave back in ’06, he explained,
Joshua got a promise from God that he would receive the blessing of being the only one of his generation to go into the Promised Land, right? How long did that take. Forty years. FORTY years! Who at Frontline tonight would like to wait forty years for a blessing, raise your hand? That’s more than a lifetime! Forty years he waited for a blessing, but do you know that it took forty years for Joshua to receive that blessing.
Do you know that God doesn’t waste blessings on anyone? He knows you. He knows your heart. He knows your maturity. He knows where you are in life. He’s not going to waste a blessing that you can’t keep. That’s not part of His economy. God is about giving you blessings that you can hold onto. We need to understand that. God is not going to waste something on you. Listen, Joshua was not prepared to be the leader of Israel until he lived forty years in the desert. He wasn’t prepared to receive that blessing, understand it, and lead the Israelite nation in light of that blessing until he went through the desert for forty years.
The blessing that Todd refers to comes from Numbers 14:30 when God tells Moses, “Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneth and Joshua son of Nun.”
But Joshua still had to journey through the desert for forty years with the Israelites…and during that time Joshua established a record of obedience & devotion with the Lord. And when Moses prayed to the Lord, “May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd,” (Numbers 27:16-17)– the Lord choose Joshua as the shepherd to lead the people to the Promised Land, Numbers 27: 18-21:
18 So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him. 19 Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. 20 Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him. 21 He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the LORD. At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in.”
The Lord couldn’t bless Joshua with leading the Israelites to the Promised Land any sooner or later because as Todd pointed out– God is about giving us blessings that we can hold onto. Joshua’s time in the desert refined him to be a strong and courageous leader for the Israelites– he led them in crossing the Jordan, he led them in conquering the land the Lord promised and he led them in dividing the inheritance among the tribes. Joshua was blessed abundantly by God’s timing.
Do you feel like you’ve been wandering in a desert for forty years? Do you wonder when the Lord will make good on His promised blessings? Is there a time in your life that the Lord led you through a “desert” but later (maybe it was much later!), He blessed you abundantly?
Do you trust the Lord (like Joshua did) that you will be blessed in God’s timing?
grace filled, salt seasoned 
The Refine’s fire has to get you ready before you can do your job sometimes.
Great post Kim. It’s tough topic to fully grasp. I think the hardest part to understand is that when God bless it’s because he wants to and not because we have somehow earned the blessing. I also think the reverse is true. When blessings are seemingly being withheld we often think we are being punished.