Heb 11:20-22 "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. (21) By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. (22) By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones."
We saw in verse 13, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises." Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob believed the promise of God concerning a great nation, but did not live to see it take place. Yet, they believed. Joseph was sold as a slave; yet, God raised him to be the second in command over all Egypt. His faith sustained him throughout all that time. Yet, he did not live long enough to see the promise of a great nation come to pass. All of these men believed God is able to perform that which He had promised. Joseph believed the promises of God to the extent that he made them promise to take his bones with them when the Lord delivered them from Egypt. At that time, Israel had not even been made slaves; yet Joseph knew God would bring them out. Each of these saints passed along the promise to the next generation."Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life." (Proverbs 13:12) Is it just me, or does it seem human nature is such that we want instant results? Patience is a virtue, but not in everyone. Right? Maybe I'm just talking about me, now. I seem to want to see immediate results. I once bought a "learn to play the piano" set of lessons. It was to be a self-taught manner of playing the piano "just like the pro's". I got discouraged (heart sick) when I could not play like the pro's after the first five minute lesson. I felt I should be able to just sit down at the piano and play anything I wanted to play. That's what they said when I saw the commercial on television. But my left hand and my right hand did not want to work together in order to make real music come from the keyboard.
When our hearts are set on a hope, any hope that we might have, it must be mixed with faith. Faith, first tells me, if God be willing, it shall happen. If God is not willing, then He will direct the path. I had the promise of man, not of God, concerning the piano lessons. But when you know God has promised, then it is worth the wait. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph all knew it was worth the wait. God had promised and would provide the results concerning the nation. They lived in that faith, waiting for the Lord to provide. It was 430 years from the time God promised Abraham until He brought them out of Egypt.
We hear the word, "process" quite often in our day. Man's process will take us down. It is common knowledge that man's "processed" food is not as good as food in its natural state. But God also has a process and the timing of His process is perfect. There is perfect peace to those who wait, in faith believing, for God to work His process (His will) in our lives. It is good. It is right. It is best for our lives and well worth the waiting.