Giants in the Land: Volume 1 (War for Possession) — Post 15 of 33
Part II — The Wilderness Where Sons are Proven
Delay as Divine Training
(Psalm 105:17–22; Genesis 37–41)
There is a kind of suffering that confuses believers more than persecution, loss, or conflict. It is the suffering of delay.
Promises are clear. Calling seems certain. Direction appears given. Yet months turn into years, and nothing moves. Doors remain shut. Influence does not increase. The inheritance seems farther away than ever.
Many believers interpret such seasons as failure. Scripture however interprets them as formation. God often delays the promise because the promise requires a man who has been tested.
And testing takes time.
The Hidden Years of Joseph
Few lives illustrate this better than Joseph.
Joseph received a clear promise from God. Through dreams, the Lord revealed that Joseph would be raised up and that others would eventually bow before him. But the fulfillment of that promise did not begin with promotion. It began with betrayal.
Joseph was rejected by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused in Egypt, and finally cast into prison. Every step seemed to move him farther from the promise God had given.
From the natural perspective, Joseph’s life looked like collapse. From God’s perspective, Joseph was being prepared for authority.
The psalmist describes this process with striking clarity:
“He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.” (Psalm 105:17–19)
Notice the phrase: “the word of the LORD tried him.”
The promise itself became the instrument of testing.
The Furnace of Formation
God does not only test behavior, He tests the man himself.
Delay reveals motives. It exposes impatience. It uncovers ambition. It shows whether a man loves the promise or loves God.
In Joseph’s case, prison became the furnace where character was forged. Authority was being formed before authority was granted.
If Joseph had been elevated too soon, he might have ruled like a tyrant or collapsed under the weight of responsibility. Instead, God allowed years of hidden preparation so that when Joseph finally stood before Pharaoh, he stood as a man who had been shaped by suffering.
Delay purified the vessel.
Why God Refuses to Promote the Unformed
God’s kingdom operates differently from human systems. The world promotes quickly and corrects later but God forms deeply and promotes carefully.
Scripture repeatedly shows that authority without formation leads to ruin. Saul was given kingship before his character was tested, and his reign quickly unraveled. David, by contrast, spent years fleeing through the wilderness before ascending the throne.
The same pattern appears again and again throughout Scripture.
God entrusts authority to those who have been trained by adversity.
Enlargement Through Pressure
The New Testament confirms this principle.
Paul writes:
“We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope.” (Romans 5:3–4)
Tribulation produces endurance. Endurance produces proven character. Proven character produces hope. This chain is not accidental. It is the method by which God enlarges His people.
Without pressure, faith remains shallow. Without testing, obedience remains theoretical. Without delay, character remains unproven.
God uses adversity to enlarge the inner man.
Delay as Protection
There is another mercy hidden inside delay. Sometimes God postpones fulfillment not only to shape the believer—but to protect the promise itself.
Joseph’s calling required influence over an entire nation. That authority would have destroyed an immature man. But by the time Joseph stood before Pharaoh, he had learned humility, patience, and dependence upon God.
What seemed like obstruction was actually protection.
God was guarding the promise from unprepared hands.
The Wilderness Lesson
This truth speaks directly to the wilderness seasons of the Christian life.
Many believers assume that delay means God has forgotten them. Others assume they have missed God’s will. Still others try to force open doors that God has intentionally kept closed.
But the wilderness often serves the same purpose that prison served for Joseph. It forms sons.
The inheritance of God’s kingdom is not given to those who simply desire it. It is entrusted to those who have been trained for it. Delay is not always a sign that something is wrong.
Sometimes it is the very evidence that God is working deeply.
The Overcomer’s Checkpoint
Ask yourself honestly:
- Do I interpret delay as failure—or as training?
- Has God been refining my character in hidden seasons?
- Am I seeking promotion, or am I allowing God to prepare me for it?
- What qualities might God be forming in me right now that success could never produce?
Joseph’s prison was not the end of his calling. It was the place where the Lord prepared him to fulfill it.
Looking Ahead
After seasons of delay come seasons of discipline.
In the next post we will look at Chastening as Covenant Love and see why God corrects His sons—not as slaves under punishment, but as children being prepared to share in His holiness.
Bro Rick, They already have everything for the temple. If God doesn’t use me for some purpose soon, it will be too late. I’ll go to heaven and have to say,” I’m sorry Lord. I really wanted to do Kingdom work for you but every thing I thought you were leading me to do failed.” Im so sorry Lord. Maybe if I had more time You could have accomplished something through me.”
I don’t want to tell God that with a shameful heart.