SILENT YEARS

Pr. Geoffrey Kibombo

When God speaks or sends His word, in any way (through His servants, dreams or prophesy), there is a time frame – silent years, till fruition. This time frame between when God speaks and fulfillment of His promises can be a day, month, year or decade; it’s the manufacturing process of that promise – God at work. When maize grains are planted, they go through a process of; germination, pollination and ripening. You don’t plant today and reap overnight. What you think are wasted or unproductive years, are in fact preparatory years; the time when God is at work in you, preparing and nurturing you to be ready to receive that which He promised or you prayed for. 

What usually happens during the Silent years?

1 Character Transformation
God promised Moses to lead the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land. Exodus 3:10 (NLT) - “Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”

Because of his short temper, Moses killed an Egyptian who was persecuting the Israelite which caused him to run to the desert of Midian where he spent 40 years (Exodus2). For God to fulfill what He had spoken unto Moses, it took 40 years, because the Moses God wanted to use, was short tempered and wanted to do things his way not God’s way. It wasn’t God’s will for him to kill the Egyptian.  Exodus 2:11-24 (AMPC) says;

“One day, after Moses was grown, it happened that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of [Moses’] brethren. 12 He looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 He went out the second day and saw two Hebrew men quarreling and fighting; and he said to the unjust aggressor, Why are you striking your comrade? 14 And the man said, who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Then Moses was afraid and thought, Surely this thing is known. 15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh’s presence and took refuge in the land of Midian………………......…23 However, after a long time [nearly forty years] the king of Egypt died; and the Israelites were sighing and groaning because of the bondage. They kept crying, and their cry because of slavery ascended to God. 24 And God heard their sighing and groaning and [earnestly] remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.”

You may wonder, why did it take 40 years for God to use Moses? God was transforming Moses; molding his character from a short tempered man to a humble leader thus he turned out to be the most humbled man. The bible says in Numbers 12:3 (NASB) that; “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.” Before going to the desert, Moses was short tempered and couldn’t wait upon the Lord’s instructions. For God to use Him, he had to get rid of his short temper.

It took God forty (40) years to work on Moses and after that time-frame; He went back to lead God’s people out of Egypt, who along the way turned out to say very annoying things against the Lord but in all, Moses kept his cool. Even when the people rebelled and turned against God in the desert, Moses never took matters in his own hands (Exodus 32:7-14), He went back to the Lord for instructions. God even testified and defended him when Aaron and Miriam rose up against him (Numbers 12:5-9). God’s work of 40 years, made a humbled Moses. He was able to lead the children of Israel in humility because God had done a good work in Him

2 Spiritual Growth 
God called John the Baptist; he was tasked to announce the coming of Jesus Christ. The assignment was big and required spiritual maturity. John dwelt first in the desert to grow in the spirit till his time. Luke 1:80 (ESV) says; “And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.”

He is one the few people in the bible that did a powerful ministry in a very short time because of the silent years he went through. The silent years help us to grow spiritually – develop our spiritual muscles. We learn not to think or behave carnally.

3 Attitude or Mindset Transformation 
Let’s look at Jesus’s life. Jesus was born as per the Prophesy in Isaiah 9. After 8 days he was taken to the temple to be dedicated (Luke 2:22). The scriptures talk about Him again when he was 12 years old (Luke 2:42), and after a long hiatus he is seen again when he is 30 years old for three years during his ministry. The scriptures don’t show or talk about Jesus between 12 and 30 years. So in total, there are 18 silent years of Jesus which are not accounted for or scripted. 

What was happening in the 18 years of Jesus? Paul got a revelation of what happened in Philippians 2:5-6 (NLT);

“You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.”

We all know and believe that Jesus is God. For God to become Jesus, it took him 18 years to take out the attitude of God and adopt that of human beings i.e.18 years of attitude transformation, as seen in Philippians 2 above. Jesus was God in human form, so he had to change his mindset to resemble that of the people he was going to redeem.

He came on earth resembling us in order to overcome our challenges. In having the same body like us, he too was tempted, insulted and hurt, so he knows all that we go through, that is why he won’t allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. 

Why can’t God just allow big things to just come into our lives? Because he appeared in flesh and experienced what it is like to be human. He knows our challenges, limitations and faults that’s why He perfects that which concerns us.

4 To Humble Us 
For you to admit and say I am what I am because of God not by my strength, it takes a humbled heart. God hates pride. Many times God does things for us and instead of returning the glory and honour unto Him, we exalt and credit our efforts, connections and education. It takes spiritual maturity to acknowledge the greatness and might of our God. He led the Israelites through the wilderness to humble them and make them trust him. Actually, the journey which would have taken them about 4 years to get to the promised land ended up taking 40 years because of their rebellious minds.  
Deuteronomy 8:2-3 (NLT) says;

“Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. 3 Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you………”

5 To revitalize us 
For Easter to become Queen, she had to go through 12 months of vigorous preparations. Esther 2:12 (NIV) says; “Before a young woman’s turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics.”

When she finally appeared before the king, she was favoured and crowned queen. Twelve months of preparations triggered instant favour. Esther 2:17 (NKJV)  - “The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen.” 
Had she appeared before the king as soon as she was brought from her home, she would not have made it.

Silent years are transformational years! God wants to bless and lift us to greater heights but in order to do so, he has got to first prepare us; He won’t lift you to kingly levels when you still have a slave mentality.
There is something God promised you, but time has elapsed without seeing a cloud. Don’t let the devil manipulate your mind to think that God has forsaken you, but in all that time-frame, God is transforming you into a person he wants you to be so that what he places that which he promised in your hands, it is established and used to benefit his kingdom.

There is a saying which goes; easy come, easy go. Things which come easily are lost at the same speed because our character and mindset have not been prepared to handle that which has come. As you wait for God to give you what you prayed for or He promised thou, He is preparing you to be able to hold that which he is going to give you so that it is established and sustained

God bless you!