Luke 1:80 As John grew up, God's Spirit gave him great power. John lived in the desert until the time he was sent to the people of Israel. CEV
The second lesson we can learn from the life of John the Baptist is to wait on God till the right time before launching out. John didn't leave the desert until it was time for him to appear to the nation of Israel. It is one thing for God to prepare you for an assignment and another crucial thing is for you to know the right time to start in the right place. Both are equally important in fulfilling God's plan and purposes. The preparation for destiny sometimes is like military training. After the training, soldiers would be deployed to stations designated by the military commander. A soldier who get trained but goes to the wrong barrack may be disciplined. Also, a soldier who abscond from training will never be deployed or enlisted in the army. At the set time, John graduated from the University of Wilderness and he was sent to the people of Israel. Not Egypt or Assyria. Israel was the place of his primary assignment. Some are doing the right thing in the wrong place. It was not so with John the Baptist.
Even though Moses knew what God had in plan for him, he launched out at the wrong time. It seemed awkward to the human mind that at 40, God saw Moses unfit to lead. In our time, we would have called Moses a fool because we believe a fool at 40 is a fool forever. In God's wisdom, his assignment was to start at 80 years of age. That was the right time. You'll notice that when his years of preparation in the wilderness ended, it was God that encountered him to announce his deployment to his field of work. You don't leave a phase of God's training and dealings until God says it is over". Never be in a hurry to give yourself compulsory exit from God's training. Timing is crucial. In John 7:3, the brothers of Jesus told him to leave Galilee to Judea so that he can be popular: "and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles!*". They were trying to project Jesus to the world even though they didn't believe in him. Yes, the world should know Jesus and see his miracles so that they can believe in the one who sent him. Their intention was good but the timing was wrong.
In verse 6 Jesus replied by saying: "Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime". What a wonderful Jesus. He walked with a sense of divine timing. Brethren, if our Lord and master didn't rush into doing certain things because it wasn't time, if John the Baptist, the greatest in the old testament and other men in the bible walked with a sense of divine timing, ours shouldn't be different. All the revelations you've had about a glorious ministry or assignment that God is commiting into your hands has a set time. If you launch out before your time, you will fizzle out in no time. As you walk with God, be detailed. God can show you a vision of the next twenty years and it may seem as if he wants you to start now. More often than not, the fulfilment of divine vision takes time. As I read in a post, Kenneth E.Hagin didn't start his popular camp meeting program until he was 57 years of age. He is gone to be with the Lord now but camp meetings continue. Joseph had a dream at the age of 17 but the fulfilment took 13 years. The bible said, "Until the TIME came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph’s character", Psalms 105:19 NLT.
Father, I receive the grace to wait for the right time in Jesus name.