Perhaps You’re Not Ready
I stood in the “yard” of my friend’s house. Actually, it was more like a field. My buddy in Tennessee owns a million-dollar home on a large lake-side property. Standing outside with my awestruck wonder I remarked (tongue-in-cheek), “Yep, the Lord hasn’t seen fit to bless me with such a place.” His response was much more serious than I expected. “Well, maybe he hasn’t blessed you with something like this because he knows you’re not ready for it yet.”
The more I think about that line, the more convinced I am of its truth. Quite often there are blessings which God would freely shower upon us (material or otherwise), but in his wisdom, refrains from doing so because we are not yet prepared to receive them. It may be that our motives are misplaced (Jas. 4:3), or we do not understand the magnitude of what we are asking (see Mk. 10:37-40). Still, it may simply be that God knows our maturity level is not where it should be, and such a blessing would bring certain damage to our faithfulness. Yet, instead of just denying us his favor, the LORD will often provide opportunities to grow into a state in which we are ready for his blessings.
An example of this appears in Deuteronomy 8 as Moses is preparing the second generation of Israelites to enter the Promised Land. Indeed, God is ready for his chosen people to take possession of a blessing he has long held in reserve for them. Verses 7-10 gush over the land’s abundant resources and beauty, and it is theirs for the taking as a gift from YHWH. The previous generation had been denied access because of their rebellion (Num. 13-14) and were cursed with 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Reflecting on those decades, Moses says, “And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not” (8:2). Additionally, verse five adds, “Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you.” For the previous generation, the wilderness wandering was a punishment. However, these verses indicate that, for the younger generation, it had a dual purpose. The key words, here, are “humble,” “test,” and “discipline.”
The first generation of Israelites had proven that they were not prepared to handle the blessing of the Promised Land. Had God allowed them to take it, they most certainly would have fallen into Satan’s trap which Moses warns against in verse 11. “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today.” This new generation, though, had spent, effectively, their whole lives depending on God for every necessity. They had not known a time when God was not the source of their existence and sustainer of their lives. For them, the wandering was the time where God prepared them mentally and spiritually to handle the magnitude of the Promised Land.
Consider the possibility that God has some blessing held in reserve for you right now, but he has chosen to withhold it for the time being because you are not ready to receive it. It probably is not a million-dollar home, but it could be something that changes any number of trajectories in your life. The immature will ponder this and become upset by God’s “stinginess.” However, the mature will see opportunity instead of cruelty. They will understand that, like Israel, it could be that the circumstances of your life are how God is helping you grow to the point where you are much more likely to use that blessing as a tool for his glory instead of a temptation to stray. They will accept that while they might not be ready yet, with patience, attentiveness, and deepening faith, one day they could be. And that might make all the difference.