FORGED FOR YOUR FUTURE ASSIGNMENT | Episode 2 The Wilderness Before the Deliverance

Welcome to Pamoja Podcast, the place where stronger

lives are built. Faith is strengthened, hearts

are encouraged, and Christ -centered homes are

shaped through ordinary conversations that become

extraordinary encounters with God's truth. One

conversation, one story, one revelation at a

time. I'm your host, Barry Mwamba. In our previous

conversation, we began exploring one of the most

powerful patterns found throughout scripture.

Before Joseph entered the palace, he passed through

the pit, slavery, false accusation, and prison.

Before David sat upon the throne, he returned

to the sheep, faced the lion and the bear, confronted

Goliath, endured Saul's jealousy, and spent years

hiding in caves. Their stories revealed a truth

that cannot be ignored. God does not merely prepare

assignments for people. He prepares people for

assignments. Joseph was not sent directly from

the dream to the throne, because although the

assignment had already been determined, the man

who would carry it was still being formed. David

was not taken directly from Samuel's anointing

to Israel's palace, because although the oil

had already been poured, the heart of the king

was still being forged. The promise may be spoken

in a moment, but preparation often unfolds through

a process. The calling may be revealed quickly,

but the character required to carry it is usually

developed slowly. And this is where many believers

become discouraged. We assume that once God has

spoken, everything should begin moving immediately.

We believe the promise should remove the process.

We believe the anointing should eliminate the

waiting. We believe the calling should protect

us from the wilderness. But throughout scripture,

the opposite frequently happens. The promise

does not always remove the process. Sometimes

the promise begins it. The anointing does not

always prevent the wilderness. Sometimes it leads

us directly into it. The calling does not mean

that preparation has ended. Sometimes the calling

is the announcement that preparation is about

to begin. Joseph received the dream before the

pit. David received the oil before the cave,

and Moses carried the burden of a deliverer long

before he was ready to stand before Pharaoh.

His story begins in danger. A decree had been

issued against the Hebrew sons. Yet God preserved

Moses before Moses could even understand that

he needed preservation. His mother placed him

inside a basket and released him upon the Nile.

But what appeared to be an act of desperation

became the road into Pharaoh's own household.

The river that should have carried Moses toward

death carried him toward preparation. The palace

of the oppressor became the school of the future

deliverer. Moses was raised among royalty. He

learned the culture of Egypt. He understood its

systems, its authority, its language, and its

power. He was educated in the very environment

he would later confront. Nothing was wasted.

Even Pharaoh's palace was part of the preparation.

But the palace alone could not produce the man

God needed. Egypt could educate Moses, but it

could not empty him. It could teach him leadership,

but it could not teach him dependence upon God.

It could give him knowledge, but it could not

give him surrender. It could place authority

around him, but it could not establish God's

authority within him. And so, before Moses could

return to Egypt as a deliverer, he had to leave

Egypt as a fugitive. There is a moment in Moses'

life that reveals how easily a genuine burden

can move ahead of divine preparation. Moses saw

an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. Something rose

within him. He recognized injustice. He identified

with the suffering of his people. He wanted to

intervene. The desire to deliver was already

present, but the deliverer was not yet ready.

Moses looked in both directions, saw no one.

killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.

His concern may have been sincere, but his method

was still shaped by human strength. He possessed

the burden of the assignment, but he had not

yet learned how the assignment must be carried.

That is a dangerous stage in the life of anyone

called by God. You can recognize what God wants

to accomplish while still being unprepared for

how he intends to accomplish it. You can carry

a genuine burden and still act prematurely. You

can correctly identify the problem while responding

through the wrong spirit. You can know what must

change while lacking the maturity, patience,

wisdom, and dependence required to become God's

instrument of change. Moses attempted to deliver

one man through his own strength, but God intended

to deliver an entire nation through his power.

Moses buried one Egyptian in the sand, but God

intended to bury Pharaoh's army beneath the sea.

Moses believed his hands were the answer. God

needed to teach him that the answer would be

God's hand working through him. The assignment

was not wrong. The timing was premature. The

burden was not false. The servant was unfinished.

And when Pharaoh learned what Moses had done,

Moses fled. In one moment, the prince became

a fugitive. The palace disappeared behind him.

The influence was gone. The recognition was gone.

The position was gone. The future he may have

imagined for himself appeared to collapse. Then

came Midian. No palace, no public platform, no

visible movement toward Israel's deliverance,

only wilderness, sheep, silence. Ordinary days

repeated for 40 years. To human eyes, Moses'

life had moved backward, but in the hands of

God, he had entered the forge. We often speak

about the wilderness as though nothing happens

there. We describe it as an empty season, a silent

season, a season where life has stopped, but

the wilderness is never empty when God is present.

What appears empty of opportunity may be filled

with preparation. What appears empty of recognition

may be filled with transformation. What appears

empty of progress may be the very place where

God is performing His deepest work. Moses entered

Midian carrying the identity of an Egyptian prince,

but he would leave carrying the heart of a shepherd.

For 40 years, the man raised in a palace learned

to guide sheep through difficult terrain. He

learned patience. He learned attentiveness. He

learned how to search for those that wandered.

He learned how to lead without applause. He learned

how to protect what had been placed in his care.

He learned to survive in the very wilderness

through which he would one day lead an entire

nation. The assignment was already hidden inside

the ordinary work. Every path Moses walked with

sheep was preparing him to walk with Israel.

Every dry place he learned to navigate was preparing

him for the desert ahead. Every vulnerable animal

entrusted to his care was teaching him something

about leading frightened, stubborn, dependent

people. Moses probably believed he was merely

tending the flock of his father -in -law. God

knew he was training the shepherd of Israel.

Nothing was wasted. not Egypt, not failure, not

exile, not Midian, not one year of those forty

years. The wilderness did not cancel the calling.

It changed the man who would carry it. And perhaps

that is one of the hardest truths for us to accept.

We want God to change our circumstances because

we assume our circumstances are preventing the

assignment. But sometimes the circumstances are

preparing us for it. We pray to leave the wilderness

while God is using the wilderness to remove what

cannot enter our future. Moses entered the desert

believing he could deliver through strength.

He left knowing that without God he could do

nothing. He entered confident in his ability.

He left conscious of his weakness. He entered

ready to move without being sent. He left unwilling

to move unless God went with him. That transformation

was not weakness, it was readiness. The Moses

who killed an Egyptian did not yet understand

how God delivers. The Moses who stood before

the burning bush had finally learned enough to

say, who am I? Forty years earlier, Moses acted

as though he knew exactly who he was. Forty years

later, He stood before God, asking who he was.

And only then did God reveal the answer. The

assignment would not depend upon Moses knowing

who Moses was. It would depend upon Moses knowing

who God is. When Moses asked, who am I that I

should go to Pharaoh, God did not respond by

enlarging Moses' self -image. God said, I will

be with you. That was the qualification, not

the palace. not his education, not his natural

strength, not his former position, the presence

of God. The wilderness had not made Moses useless,

it had made him dependent, and dependence upon

God was the strength the assignment required.

Joseph teaches us that God can use a prison to

prepare a ruler. David teaches us that God can

use caves to prepare a king. Moses teaches us

that God can use a wilderness to prepare a deliverer.

In our next part, we will remain with Moses because

the burning bush was not simply the moment when

he received an assignment. It was the moment

when everything God had been forming in secret

was summoned into purpose. The man who once moved

before God sent him had now become so conscious

of his limitations that he struggled to move

when God called him. And there, between human

confidence and human inadequacy, Moses would

discover the only foundation upon which a divine

assignment can safely rest. I will be with you.

There is something about Moses' story. that I

completely missed for many years. Maybe you've

read this passage dozens of times. Maybe you've

even heard sermons about the burning bush. But

let me ask you a question. Was the burning bush

really the beginning of Moses' assignment? Think

about it for a moment. Most of us naturally answer,

of course. That was the day God called Moses.

That was the day everything started. But was

it really? Was that simply the day God revealed

what he had been preparing for 40 years? I think

there is a huge difference. Because if the assignment

really began at the burning bush, then what were

the previous 40 years? Were they wasted? Were

they simply years of delay? Did Moses somehow

lose 40 years of his life? I don't think so.

In fact, I think those 40 years, Where the assignment

before the assignment Have you ever noticed?

What Moses was doing when God spoke to him? Nothing

extraordinary He wasn't preaching. He wasn't

performing miracles He wasn't standing before

Pharaoh He wasn't leading Israel He wasn't even

praying on top of a mountain. He was simply taking

care of sheep Just another ordinary day Another

ordinary morning. Another ordinary walk through

the wilderness. Then suddenly, he noticed something

unusual. A bush was burning, but it wasn't being

consumed. I love what Moses does next. The Bible

says, I will turn aside and see this great sight.

He stopped. He paid attention. He didn't keep

walking. And sometimes, I wonder how many burning

bushes People walk past because they are too

busy to stop and notice what God is doing. Then

God called, Moses, Moses, can you imagine hearing

your name spoken by God himself? And Moses answered,

here I am. Now watch this carefully. God doesn't

begin by giving Moses instructions. He first

says, take off your sandals. Why? Because before

discussing the assignment, God wanted Moses to

recognize whose presence he had entered. Everything

begins with God's presence, everything. Then

God begins speaking about Israel. I have seen

their suffering. I have heard their cry. I know

their pain. I have come down to deliver them.

I love those words. Notice, God does not say

Moses. you are going to deliver Israel. No, God

says, I have come down. In other words, the assignment

was never really about Moses. It was always about

God. Moses would simply become the instrument

through whom God would work. That changes everything

because sometimes we place so much pressure on

ourselves. We think everything depends on us,

our strength, our wisdom. our ability, our experience.

But God reminds Moses from the very beginning,

this isn't your deliverance, this is mine. Then

comes one of the most honest moments in all of

scripture. Moses asks, who am I? I smile every

time I read that question because 40 years earlier,

Moses wasn't asking, who am I? 40 years earlier,

he believed he already knew. He thought he was

ready. He acted before God sent him. He tried

to accomplish God's purpose using human strength.

But now the wilderness had changed him. The palace

produced confidence. The wilderness produced

humility. The palace taught him how to rule.

The wilderness taught him how to depend. The

palace made him a prince. The wilderness made

him a servant. And I honestly think God was waiting

for that question because now Moses was finally

ready to hear God's answer But notice God doesn't

really answer Moses's question. He doesn't say

Moses. Let me tell you how gifted you are He

doesn't say Moses remember your education He

doesn't say Moses remember you grew up in Pharaoh's

palace instead God answers with something far

greater. He says I will be with you Almost as

if God were saying Moses you're asking the wrong

question The question isn't who are you the question

is? Who is with you? That is the difference.

That is why the burning bush Was never the beginning

it was simply the moment when God unveiled everything

he had been quietly doing for 40 years. Moses

thought he had been taking care of sheep. God

had been preparing the shepherd of a nation.

Nothing had been wasted. Not Egypt, not the failure,

not Midian, not the wilderness, not one single

day. As I continue reading the Bible, I cannot

help but notice that God does not always prepare

his servants through prisons, caves, or wildernesses.

Sometimes he prepares them simply by placing

them exactly where they need to be, long before

they understand why they are there. That is what

makes Esther's story so remarkable, because unlike

Joseph, she was not thrown into prison. Unlike

David, She was not hiding in caves. Unlike Moses,

she did not spend 40 years in the wilderness.

Yet God was preparing her just as intentionally

as He prepared each of them. When we first meet

Esther, nothing about her life suggests that

she will one day influence the destiny of an

entire nation. She is a young Jewish woman living

in exile. An orphan raised by her cousin Mordecai,

far away from the promised land, living under

the authority of a foreign empire. If someone

had looked at her circumstances, they would never

have concluded that she was standing at the entrance

of one of the greatest assignments recorded in

scripture. That is often how God works. He does

not always reveal the assignment while he is

preparing the servant. More often than not, he

allows the servant to live through ordinary days,

ordinary responsibilities, and ordinary circumstances

without realizing that every one of those moments

is quietly moving them toward an extraordinary

purpose. I often wonder whether Esther ever asked

herself the same questions we ask today. Why

did I lose my parents? Why am I living in Persia

instead of Jerusalem? Why did I find favor with

the King? Why am I here? None of those questions

probably had immediate answers. Each event appeared

disconnected from the others, just another chapter

in a life she was trying to live faithfully.

Then everything changed. Haman's decree was issued.

And in a single moment Esther discovered that

the palace where she had been living was no longer

simply a palace. It had become the place from

which God intended to preserve his covenant people.

That is an incredible thought. The crisis did

not create Esther's assignment. The crisis simply

revealed the assignment that God had been preparing

long before Haman ever appeared. That changes

the way we read one of the most quoted verses

in the entire book. Mordecai tells Esther, and

who knows whether you have come to the kingdom

for such a time as this? For many years, I read

those words as if Mordecai was trying to encourage

Esther to become courageous. Now I hear something

much deeper. It is almost as though he is saying,

Esther, don't you see? God has been preparing

this moment long before either of us understood

it. Becoming queen was never the assignment.

It was the preparation for the assignment. That

one sentence completely changes the story. Esther

thought she had received a position, but God

had entrusted her with a purpose. She thought

she had found favor before a king. but God had

been positioning her to stand in the gap for

an entire nation. She thought she was simply

living her life, while heaven had already woven

every chapter together into a story she could

not yet see. Doesn't that sound familiar? Joseph

did not understand why he was in prison until

years later. David did not understand why God

allowed the caves until he became king. Moses

did not understand why forty years disappeared

into the wilderness until he stood before the

burning bush. And Esther did not understand why

she had become queen until the day her people

stood on the edge of destruction. The pattern

is always the same. God rarely explains his preparation

while we are living through it. More often, He

allows us to discover its purpose only when the

assignment finally comes into view. Perhaps that

is why so many of us become discouraged during

seasons that appear ordinary. We assume nothing

important is happening because nothing dramatic

is taking place. We believe God is silent because

our circumstances seem unchanged, yet scripture

keeps reminding us that some of God's greatest

work happens quietly, long before anyone recognizes

it. What if your present season is more significant

than you realize? What if the place where you

are serving today, the people you are meeting,

the experiences you are living through, and even

the disappointments you have carried? are not

isolated events, but part of God's preparation

for an assignment you cannot yet see. Joseph

discovered it. David discovered it. Moses discovered

it. Esther discovered it. And perhaps one day

you will look back over your own life and realize

that what seemed like disconnected chapters were

actually being written by the same faithful author

all along. As we bring this conversation to a

close, one truth continues to echo throughout

the pages of scripture. Joseph's prison, David's

caves, Moses' wilderness, and Esther's palace

were all different places. Yet the same God was

accomplishing the same purpose. He was forging

his servants for their future assignment. But

our journey is far from over, because there is

another young man. whose story reveals an entirely

different dimension of God's preparation. Unlike

Joseph, he was not sold into slavery. Unlike

David, he did not flee into caves. Unlike Moses,

he did not spend 40 years in the wilderness.

Unlike Esther, he did not enter the palace through

favor. He arrived in Babylon as a captive. Everything

around him was designed to change his identity.

His homeland was taken. His language was challenged.

His education was redefined. Even his name was

changed. The world expected Babylon to transform

Daniel. Instead, God used Babylon to prepare

Daniel. Join me in our next conversation as we

discover one of the greatest lessons for every

believer living in today's world. Can God prepare

your future assignment while you are living in

a culture trying to redefine who you are. Because

sometimes the greatest forge is not a prison.

It is remaining faithful in Babylon.