Discovering Destiny (Part 11): The Calling and The Preparation

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Today, we continue our focus on THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, as we learn to maintain our posture of faith after God has revealed His plans for our future.

Yesterday, in our “Discovering Destiny” series, we learned that you are never too old, too late, or too far gone for what God planned, and we watched Him commission an 80-year-old Moses at the burning bush. Today, before we follow Moses back into Egypt, I want to set two moments side by side. Forty years before the bush, Moses already knew he was the deliverer, and he tried to start the rescue himself. It ended in a dead body, a rejection, and a 40-year exile. Now, at 80, he goes back to the same assignment, and everything is different. Same man. Same mission. Opposite result. I want to show you what changed, because it will reframe the way you read your own waiting.

Key scriptures for this year:

2 Peter 3:18 GNT“But continue to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory now and forever.”

Luke 10:20 Mirror“It’s time for you to rediscover who you are from Heaven’s perspective.”

1 John 3:10 Mirror“There is a very visible and vast difference between living one’s life from your God identity or from a fallen man’s mindset.”

Proverbs 25:2 NKJV“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”

Jeremiah 29:13 NIV“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Scripture we will study today:

Exodus 2:14 ERV“The man answered, ‘Did anyone say you could be our ruler and judge? Tell me, will you kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'”

Exodus 4:29-30 ERV“So Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the Israelites. Then Aaron spoke to the people and told them everything the Lord had told Moses. Then Moses did the miracles for all the people to see.”

Exodus 4:31 ERV“And they believed what they had heard. Then the Israelites understood that the Lord had seen their troubles and had come to help them. So they bowed down and worshiped God.”

Exodus 5:1 ERV“After Moses and Aaron talked to the people, they went to Pharaoh and said, ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, says, “Let my people go into the desert so that they can have a festival to honor me.”‘”

Supporting scriptures:

Acts 7:25 ERV“Moses thought that his people would understand that God was using him to save them. But they did not understand.”

Exodus 2:15 ERV“Pharaoh heard about what Moses did, so he decided to kill him. But Moses ran away from Pharaoh and went to the land of Midian.”

Galatians 4:4 ERV“But when the right time came, God sent his Son, who was born from a woman and lived under the law.”

1 Peter 5:6 AMPC“Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you.”

Setting the Stage:

Go back with me 40 years. At 40 years old, Moses looked around, saw an Egyptian beating one of his people, and killed him. He thought he was launching the deliverance. He was right about the assignment, but wrong about the timing. He moved on his own clock and in his own strength, and it fell apart fast. The next day his own people turned on him and asked who made him a ruler and a judge, and Pharaoh put out an order for his death. He tried to help, and he got rejected by everybody, both the people he came to save and the empire he came to confront.

Now fast-forward 40 years. Moses goes back to that same assignment, and this time the elders gather, the people believe and bow, and he walks in and gets an audience with Pharaoh himself. The assignment never changed. The man did, and so did the timing. That gap between the two attempts is the lesson for today. There is a calling, but then there is also a season of preparation. 

So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.

1. The First Time, He Was Received By No One.

Moses had the right heart and the right calling. He knew he was the deliverer, and he felt it burning inside him. But the first time he stepped toward the assignment, he stepped without God’s timing and without God’s backing, and the result was rejection on every side. The people he came to rescue rejected his leadership, and the empire he came to confront wanted him dead. 

How this applies to you:

— Exodus 2:14 ERV says the Hebrew man pushed back, “Did anyone say you could be our ruler and judge?” The very people Moses came to save would not receive him.

— He had the right assignment, but nobody recognized it ON him yet. If you go out ahead of God, people will not be able to discern what’s inside of you because it’s not ON you yet.

— It’s one thing for you to feel it on the inside, but people won’t be able to see it on the outside until you’re ready to walk into it.  

— Acts 7:25 ERV says, “Moses thought that his people would understand that God was using him to save them. But they did not understand.” He assumed they would see a deliverer. They saw a murderer.

— Then the other side turned on him too. Exodus 2:15 ERV says, “Pharaoh heard about what Moses did, so he decided to kill him,” and Moses ran for his life. The man who felt like he was called to confront Egypt had to flee Egypt.

— Rejected by his own people and hunted by the empire that raised him, he ended up alone in the back side of the desert.

— The assignment was real the entire time. What he lacked was not the calling. He lacked preparation and a discernment of God’s timing. If we are honest, then many of the times when we have failed, it was because we lacked both as well. 

— You can be completely right about your destiny and still not be ready to walk in it.

2. 40 Years Later, When God’s Timing Was Right, The Same People Received Him.

Moses comes back at 80, after 40 years of being processed on the backside of the desert, and he goes to the same people who once rejected him. This time he does not show up in his own strength. Aaron speaks the words God gave, Moses shows the signs God provided, and the very nation that once asked “who made you ruler” believes, bows, and worships.

How this applies to you:

— 40 years earlier they asked who made him a ruler; now they bow. Why? Because the timing was right and Moses had finally been processed for his purpose 

— The difference was not a better speech. Moses was actually worse at speaking by now, which is why he brought Aaron. The difference was that this time he came in God’s timing, with God’s words, carrying God’s signs.

— Exodus 4:29-30 ERV says Moses and Aaron “gathered together all the elders of the Israelites,” and Moses did the miracles in front of them all. He did not have to force his way in. The door opened. This is what happens when you are operating under the grace of God. Favor goes before you like a shield. 

— When you are ready, and the timing is right, the people who once dismissed you will receive you.

— Some of you have been rejected in a place you were genuinely called to. That rejection may not have been a “NO” to the calling. It may have been a not yet on the clock.

— God can take the very room that once threw you out and walk you back in with honor. 

— Favor can do more in a minute than labor can do in a lifetime. But this only happens when you discover your destiny, and you walk with a divine synchronization of the timing. 

3. Then He Walked In And Got An Audience With Pharaoh.

It did not stop with his own people. Look at who Moses gets to stand in front of next. The first time, it was Egypt that wanted him dead, and Moses fled Pharaoh’s sword into the desert. So before God ever sent him back, God settled that exact threat and told him the men who wanted him dead were now dead. But here is what most people read right past. Not just anybody could get an audience with Pharaoh. Moses could, because Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s own house. The baby once pulled from the river had grown up a prince of Egypt, and that upbringing became the very access that walked him into the throne room.

How this applies to you:

— Exodus 4:19 ERV says, “It is safe for you to go back to Egypt now. The men who wanted to kill you are now dead.” The threat against Moses came from Egypt, and God personally cleared it before sending him back.

— The Pharaoh who once wanted him dead had died. Exodus 2:23 ERV says “that king of Egypt died,” and a new Pharaoh now ruled the same house Moses had been raised in.

— Exodus 5:1 ERV says Moses and Aaron “went to Pharaoh and said, ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, says, Let my people go.'” The fugitive now stands in the throne room as God’s spokesman.

— A Hebrew slave could not just walk up and demand a meeting with the most powerful man on earth.

— But Moses was no ordinary Hebrew. Acts 7:21 ERV says Pharaoh’s daughter “raised him as her own son,” so Moses grew up inside the palace, schooled and seated among Egypt’s royalty.

— The man on the throne came from the very house Moses had been raised in. Moses and the current Pharaoh have been raised like brothers or cousins. 

— Proverbs 18:16 NKJV says, “A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.” God builds room and access into your destiny before you ever need it.

— Whatever God has destined you for, He has already pre-positioned a level of favor to match it: open doors, uncommon access, and supernatural success.

— You will not have to beg your way into what God assigned you. The favor for the destiny was arranged long before the day you ever needed it.

4. The Difference Was Not The Assignment. It Was The Readiness.

Set the two attempts side by side one more time. Same man. Same calling. Same nation to deliver. The first attempt ended in rejection and exile. The second ended in worship and an audience with the king. The only things that changed were the timing and the man. Discovering your destiny is one thing. Being ready to carry it is something else. The 40 years Moses spent in that desert were not a punishment and they were not a waste. They were the preparation that made him receivable.

How this applies to you:

— Galatians 4:4 ERV says, “But when the right time came, God sent his Son.” Even Jesus was sent at the right time. God is never early, and He is never late.

— The same assignment that failed at 40 succeeded at 80, because the timing finally matched the calling.

— 1 Peter 5:6 AMPC says to humble yourself under God’s mighty hand, “that in due time He may exalt you.” There is a due time, and the wait for it is never wasted.

— Do not despise the desert season. It is not God forgetting you. It is God forming you.

— The 40 years that looked like Moses’ destiny was over were actually the years that made his destiny possible.

— Discovering your destiny includes discovering that God will not release you to it until you are ready to carry it.

— You are not late, and you are not finished; you are being made ready.

— Once you are processed to be able to carry the weight of the anointing associated with your assignment, and once God’s timing has come, people who don’t even like you will have to acknowledge what is ON you. That’s the grace of God. 

That’s enough for today.

Declaration of Faith:

Father, I thank You that You are preparing me to carry what You called me to!

Knowing my destiny and being ready for it are two different things!

The rejection I faced was not a no to my calling; it was a not yet!

You are never early, and You are never late with my life!

The same rooms that dismissed me, You will walk me back into with honor!

The favor on my destiny opens the very doors I once had to run from!

My desert season is not my punishment; it is my preparation!

I will not run ahead of You, and I will not lag behind You!

In due time You will exalt me, because the wait was never wasted!

This is THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!

I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!

This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!