Fulfilling the Vision

You’ve prayed for God to lead. He’s given you big dreams. But from the moment you agreed to His calling, you’ve faced adversity. The path He’s shown and you boldly started down has been rocky, to say the least. Between the first step and fulfilling the vision stands a mountain. But God will guide you, and even carry you, to the end—when you trust Him enough to let go.

I’ll take it from here, God.

“He saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite. So Moses came to the man’s defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian. Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn’t.

… Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush.”

—Acts 7:24-25, 30 (NLT)

“Let me at ’em, God!” Moses was ready to rescue his people by killing one Egyptian slaver at a time. I’m kidding here, but it is evident he was trying to perform God’s calling in his own strength. It was at least forty years between Moses knowing God sent him to set his people free and being humble enough for God to begin doing it through him.

How far must you go? Fighting to see something finished that only God can complete? He’ll let you strive and struggle until you realize there’s no way for you to overcome on your own. He’ll wait for you to get to the end of yourself and see your absolute need for Him.

Fulfilling the vision in no time!

He says, “I’m going to take you on this fun trip.”

My eyes widen and then turn laser-focused, “Don’t worry, God, I’ll get us there in record time.”

The problem for us who feel God is calling, is we’ve confused the point. You know the age-old argument in long family road trips? It’s the battle between the one whose goal is to reach the destination and the one who wants to see the sights along the way. The point of the family excursion isn’t to go from point A to point B, but to enjoy the process. We’re a bit like that with God.

Every goal He’s given me has taken much longer to reach than expected. In fact, when I got to a milestone, the path just kept on going. It took Solomon a quick 20 years to build the temple (1 Kings 9:10). All it took Noah to build the ark was a measly 100 years (Genisis 5-7). After that first 40 year wait, it took Moses the rest of his life to get his people to the outskirts of the promised land (the whole book of Exodus!).

A few years ago I hated hearing this, and I feel pretty much the same now as I did then—fulfilling the vision takes time.

Fulfilling the vision with God.

The bottom line is we need Him. We knew it in the beginning, and we never forgot. We just lost our focus. He trusted us with a snippet of vision, and we were entranced. But it’s dangerous to take our eyes off Him. So when it happens, let’s get our focus back where it needs to be.

Share your experiences with God giving you vision. Along the path, did you lose focus, run ahead of Him, or try to take things into your own hands? Let us know what happened.