Are we done now?
Many years ago, the Lord gave me a promise, and I would often wonder how He would bring it to fruition. At the time, my thoughts were that the most logical prospect was to bring it about through an authority figure.
After being disappointed by my leader, the Lord said:
“You don’t need a man”
That was a liberating thought, that my future was not connected to this man.
Years would pass as the sanctification process continued. Eventually, I moved to a different state in the U S. through the Lord’s direction. A new location, a prepared heart, and a new church. I was sure I was now on the threshold of the promise.
A situation developed with an offense at the new church and my reputation was damaged through no fault of my own. I was absolutely livid, seeing this as a threat to my future as my leader now had a false notion concerning my character.
I was in prayer and complained to the Lord, “I was faultless in this fiasco yet I paid for the entire debacle with my reputation.”
He replied:
“I was faultless and I paid for the sins of the world.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” I said.
Then He said:
“Are we done now?”
I immediately knew what he meant. I was again assessing the possibility of the promise based on a man’s thoughts of my character. I had misunderstood what the Lord said years earlier:
“You don’t need a man”
I had miscalculated and thought He was speaking about the person in front of me at the time; however, when He speaks, His words are forever.
Joseph made the same miscalculation when asking the butler to remember him when released from the prison. God held up Joseph’s dream two more years to be sure Joseph understood it would be the Lord Himself who granted the dream, not a man.
The Lord had asked me: “Are we done now?”
I quickly answered: “Yes, we are done.”
From that moment forward, I would no longer tie the fulfillment of His promise to the action or inaction of any man.
1Peter 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Genesis 40:14 But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:
Genesis 40:23 Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.