Discovering Destiny (Part 56): When God's Promise Looks Different Than You Expected
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.
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(s) we will study today:
Genesis 42:1-9 NLT
"When Jacob heard that grain was available in Egypt, he said to his sons, 'Why are you standing around looking at one another? I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy enough grain to keep us alive. Otherwise we'll die.' So Joseph's ten older brothers went down to Egypt to buy grain. But Jacob wouldn't let Joseph's younger brother, Benjamin, go with them, for fear some harm might come to him. So Jacob's sons arrived in Egypt along with others to buy food, for the famine was in Canaan as well. Since Joseph was governor of all Egypt and in charge of selling grain to all the people, it was to him that his brothers came. When they arrived, they bowed before him with their faces to the ground. Joseph recognized his brothers instantly, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. 'Where are you from?' he demanded. 'From the land of Canaan,' they replied. 'We have come to buy food.' Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they didn't recognize him. And he remembered the dreams he'd had about them many years before. He said to them, 'You are spies! You have come to see how vulnerable our land has become.'"
Genesis 42:21-24 AMPC
"And they said one to another, We are truly guilty about our brother, for we saw the distress and anguish of his soul when he begged us [to let him go], and we would not hear. So this distress and difficulty has come upon us. Reuben answered them, Did I not tell you, Do not sin against the boy, and you would not hear? Therefore, behold, his blood is required [of us]. But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter. And he turned away from them and wept; then he returned to them and talked with them, and took from them Simeon and bound him before their eyes."
Supporting scriptures:
Genesis 37:5-7 TPT
"One night Joseph had a dream, and when he shared it with his brothers, they hated him even more! 'Listen to this dream I had,' he told them. 'There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly, my sheaf rose up and stood upright. Then your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to mine!'"
Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT
"'My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,' says the Lord. 'And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.'"
Psalm 105:17-19 TPT
"But he had already sent a man ahead of his people to Egypt; it was Joseph, who was sold as a slave. His feet were bruised by strong shackles and his soul was held by iron. God's promise to Joseph purged his character until it was time for his dreams to come true."
Habakkuk 2:3 TPT
"The vision still awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove to be false. When the appointed time comes, it will happen with breathless haste. Although it may seem slow, just be patient and wait. For it will surely come right on time."
Ecclesiastes 3:11 AMPC
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”
Galatians 6:7 TPT
"God will never be mocked! For what you plant will always be the very thing you harvest."
Numbers 32:23 AMPC
"But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out."
Romans 8:28 AMPC
"We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose."
Setting the Stage:
Yesterday, we saw God make Joseph the answer for a starving world. Today, the famine reaches a tent in Canaan. Jacob is an old man now, and his family is running out of food. He hears there is grain in Egypt, and he looks at his grown sons and says, "Why are you standing around looking at one another?" So ten brothers load up their donkeys and head south. Jacob keeps Benjamin at home. He already lost one of Rachel's sons, and he is not going to lose another.
Now picture that line in Egypt. Families from every nation around, all hungry, all waiting their turn. The man in charge sits over the whole operation, dressed like an Egyptian, speaking Egyptian, with an interpreter at his side. When the ten brothers finally reach the front, they do what everyone does in front of the governor. The Bible says, "they bowed before him with their faces to the ground." And the governor looks down at the backs of their heads and knows exactly who they are. The Bible says, "Joseph recognized his brothers instantly, but he pretended to be a stranger." And then, "he remembered the dreams he'd had about them many years before."
22 years earlier, a 17-year-old boy stood in front of these same men and said, "my sheaf rose up and stood upright. Then your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to mine!" They hated him for it. They threw him in a pit and sold him for silver. Now here they are, bowing, and they have no idea. Joseph calls them spies and locks them up for three days. And when he brings them out, the brothers start talking among themselves, with no clue that the governor understands every word: "We are truly guilty about our brother, for we saw the distress and anguish of his soul when he begged us [to let him go], and we would not hear." Reuben says, "Therefore, behold, his blood is required [of us]." And the Bible says Joseph "turned away from them and wept."
Here is what I want you to see today. The dream came true. God did exactly what He said He would do. But it did not look anything like what a 17-year-old could have pictured. There was no throne room celebration, no crowd, no music. It came true in a grain line, in the middle of a famine, with guilty men who did not even know who he was. God keeps every promise He makes, but His promise does not always look the way you expected. And it is still your destiny.
So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. God Gives You The Headline Before He Gives You The Details.
Go back to the dream Joseph had at 17. He saw bundles of grain in a field, and his brothers' bundles bowed down to his. Did you catch it? The dream was about grain the whole time. Joseph probably thought it was about honor. God knew it was about a famine. At 17, Joseph could not have known that those bundles were a picture of the storehouses he would one day run, or that his brothers would bow because they were hungry. God said it through Isaiah, "my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine" (Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT). I call this the fine print of the promise. God gave Joseph the headline at 17 and let him read the details in his late 30s.
How this applies to you:
-- God always keeps His word, but He does not always show you the details up front.
-- Joseph got the headline at 17. He got the fine print more than 20 years later.
-- Joseph thought the dream was about honor. God knew it was about food and feeding people.
-- I remember when I was first born again. There was a lady in our church who used to say, "Baby, you will understand God better by the way." The way I interpret what she said to me today is that, as you walk with God, you get a progressive understanding of His revelation. As you look back, you understand the details that you could never have known when He first revealed them
-- Do not reject God's answer because it did not come in the package you expected.
-- God said, "My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine" (Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT). If you could have imagined it, it would not have been God.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and He planned every detail you have not seen yet.
-- Another thing I've learned in my 30 years of walking with God is that when God finally does it, it's going to be greater than you imagined. As you see this story unfold, I'm convinced that the 17-year-old Joseph could never have imagined how amazing his life would turn out. While it may not turn out the way you expected, just know that, according to Ephesians 3:20, God is going to do it in a way that far exceeds your wildest imagination.
2. Never Let Go Of What God Showed You, No Matter How Long It Takes.
Look at what happened the moment the brothers bowed. The Bible says, "he remembered the dreams he'd had about them many years before." 22 years had passed. More than half of Joseph's life had gone by between the dream and the day it came true. He went through a pit, a slave market, a false accusation, and a prison, and he still remembered. The psalmist tells us what those years were doing: "God's promise to Joseph purged his character until it was time for his dreams to come true" (Psalm 105:17-19 TPT). The waiting was not wasted. God was building the man who could carry the dream. Solomon said, "God has made everything beautiful for its own time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
How this applies to you:
-- God's dream for your life should become your dream for your life. Success in life is not a matter of trying more; it's a matter of dying more. You must die to the life you developed on your own so that you can live the life God planned for you from the foundations of the world.
-- Joseph held onto a dream for more than 20 years. How long have you been holding yours?
-- The pit did not kill the dream. The prison did not kill the dream. Time did not kill the dream. Nothing can stop what God said.
-- The psalmist said God's promise "purged his character until it was time for his dreams to come true" (Psalm 105:17-19 TPT). The waiting season is when God develops the person to carry the promise.
-- Never abort the dream because the timeline got long.
-- Habakkuk said, "It will surely come right on time" (Habakkuk 2:3 TPT). God is never late, even when He is not early.
-- The destiny God planned for you before you were born is still on file in heaven.
3. God Will Grow You So Much That People From Your Past Won't Recognize You.
Here is a detail I love. The Bible says, "Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they didn't recognize him." Why not? They left a teenage slave crying in a pit. Now they were looking at a governor in Egyptian linen with the power of life and death over them. They never expected the boy they sold to a caravan to be the man controlling the grain. I have taught this for years: God is a God of progression. Joseph was not the same person he was 20 years earlier, because God had been growing him the whole time. I go back to Brooklyn from time to time, and I still find some of the same people on the same corner doing the same thing they were doing when I left. I recognize them, but sometimes they do not recognize me, because I am not the same person I used to be.
How this applies to you:
-- The people who knew you back then may not recognize who God has made you into today.
-- Joseph's brothers were still looking for the boy in the pit. God had brought him out of the pit a long time ago.
-- God is a God of progression and not regression. If you are walking with Him, you should not look the same as you did five years ago.
-- Do not let the people who knew you back then define who you are now.
-- Joseph's brothers bowed to the dream without even knowing it. God will fulfill what He said about you whether people recognize it or not.
-- Say it with me: I am not who I used to be!
4. Guilt Will Follow You Until You Let Grace Set You Free.
Now look at this from the brothers' side of the room. They had not seen Joseph since the day they sold him, but the moment trouble hit, their minds went straight back to the pit. They said to one another, "We are truly guilty about our brother, for we saw the distress and anguish of his soul when he begged us." Think about that. 22 years later, they could still hear him begging. They walked out of that field with silver in their pockets, but they carried the pit with them every day. And then they had to live with watching their father grieve for over 20 years. Joseph was already healed. His brothers were still bleeding.
How this applies to you:
-- You can walk away from what you did, but you cannot walk away from your conscience.
-- Moses said, "Your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23 AMPC). Those brothers found out in a grain line more than 20 years later.
-- Joseph was the one they wronged, and he was free. They were actually the ones in bondage.
-- Here is the good news: the guilt was not the end of their story. God was bringing them to the one man who could forgive them.
-- Grace does not pretend the pit never happened, but grace meets you there.
-- If you are still carrying something you did, bring it to Jesus and put it down.
-- Paul said, "all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God" (Romans 8:28 AMPC). Even their guilt became part of the destiny God planned for Joseph before he was born.
-- Out of all the things I love about God, let me tell you one of the things I love the most: He does not hold our past against us. The writer of Hebrews put it this way: "For I will be merciful and gracious toward their sins and I will remember their deeds of unrighteousness no more" (Hebrews 8:12 AMPC). Joseph's brothers spent 22 years remembering what God was willing to forget. Think about that. The God who knows everything chooses to remember your sin no more. If He is not keeping the record, stop keeping it yourself.
That's enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, You keep every promise You make!
What You showed me about my destiny will come to pass!
My promise may look different than I expected, but different does not mean denied!
I will not abort my dream because the timeline got long!
You are building me into the person who can carry the promise!
My dream will come right on time!
I am not who I used to be, because You are a God of progression!
The people who knew me back then do not define who I am now!
I do not carry the pit, because Your grace sets me free!
You are working all things together for my good!
In THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
I declare this by faith. In Jesus' name. Amen!
This is Today's Word. Apply it and prosper!
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