A young man asked me about the timing of prophetic words. In essence he wanted to know if it was a lack of faith in him, which resulted in a prophetic word not coming to pass. I am not sure why this was an issue to him but he said that he had received a prophetic word from a prophet, but has yet not seen it come to pass, and it was suggested to him that it was because he lacked faith in the word.

To be honest with you, I am not sure if I understand the context of this question, but it got me to thinking about the timing of prophetic words. Just because a prophetic word has not yet come to pass, does not mean that it isn’t a prophetic word or that you have lacked faith to see it come to pass.

I am reminded of the story of Joseph in the bible, who had a dream as a young man. Some say that he could have been as young as 17 when he had this dream. In it he saw the moon and the sun, and 11 stars bow down before him. When he woke he realized that God was saying that his family would honor him as their leader one day. Instead of treasuring this word in his heart and waiting for it to come to pass, as Mary the mother of Jesus did regarding what was spoken over Christ, Joseph began to speak to his family about that dream.

This incited all kinds of sibling rivalry and resulted in Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery into Egypt. You guys know what happens next, Joseph excelled in Egypt in whatever he found his hand to do, but because of an incident with his bosses wife ended up in prison for no good reason. He spent many years in prison.

He was 30 years old before he interpreted the dream of Pharaoh. 13 years had past between the time he had the dream and the time he became second in command of all Egypt. And it was longer still before he saw the vision regarding his family come to pass. Joseph was likely in his late 30’s – 37 or 38 – before his brothers came to the land and bowed down before him to get food to sustain them through the famine. 20 years is a long time to wait, but the word came to pass.

Moses waited even longer. He had an understanding that he would deliver his people from the bondages of Egypt when he was in his late 30’s. By the age of 40 he killed an Egyptian who had oppressed one of his Hebrew brothers, but instead of leading his people in an uprising against Egypt and setting them free, he ran into the desert where he attended sheep for 40 years. It was at the end of this great long wait that God appeared to him in the burning bush telling him to go back to Egypt to set the Hebrews free. Now isn’t that a long time.

When I was 22 years old the Lord spoke a great prophetic word over my life. At the time I thought that the word would come to pass very quickly. I remember thinking that any day I would walk into this call that the Lord had for my life, but now I am 38 years old and I still haven’t seen the complete fulfillment of that vision.

There is a space between a vision and the time that it takes to come to pass. The Lord inspires you by granting you his vision, but then he has to build character in you in order that you may sustain that vision. Moses had to learn to tend sheep in the desert in order to lead his people through the same places. Joseph had to learn to administer resources in a household and in a prison before he could administer the resources of a nation. There was nothing that these men could have done to hurry God’s plan for their lives. They had to wait patiently for the Lord and in due course they accomplished God’s plan for their and so will you.

If you have a word and you think there is some step of faith that you need to take in order to make it come to pass – well – then perhaps that might be the case, but timing has as much to do with it as anything. God has to prepare you in the secret places in order for you to carry out his work for your life. He will humble you and work on your character in such a way that when the time comes to fulfill his word for your life, then you will do it in such a way that your character fits the task.