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.