By Taiwo Ayeni
[dropcap]“T[/dropcap]his twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night. Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes. Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times. Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight.” – Gen 31:38-42.
The last edition of this column discussed “What is Oppression?” In it the Lord helped us to see the various stages of oppression and that oppression does not jump on you suddenly. It creeps in gradually until it finally lays its vicious grip on you in a stronghold. However, if a person is aware of his situation, it helps him to know what he is confronting. This is the reason I want to briefly discuss an aspect of bondage known as “Delayed Blessing”
It will interest you to note that when a man does not make major milestone achievements in good time, it is most likely that he is suffering from delayed blessing. Delayed blessing is different from stagnation. While stagnation is permanent consignment to one spot for years, delayed blessing produces results that are delayed e.g. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In the case of Isaac he got married at forty but his children did not come forth until he was sixty. “And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, ……and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them. – Gen 25:20, 26. He had to pray hard to break the backbone of delay. “And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.” V21.
The root of delay for the family of Abraham came from Terah, his father. Terah means delay. It was therefore no wonder that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob suffered delay. Even the female generations starting from Sarah (Gen. 11:30); Rebekah (Gen 25:21); Leah (Gen. 29:31); and to Rachel (Gen. 30:22) were all barren. The common phrase amongst the four is “she conceived” and “he opened her womb.”
Delayed blessing is obvious to identify. If at forty there are no landmark achievements to point to in your life and in the lives of your siblings ancestral de
when will my breakthrough come? Self-confidence is equally eroded in such a way that the victim becomes a shadow of himself. It is also not uncommon to find people like this begin to suffer failing health, especially high blood pressure and some other underlying conditions.
This enemy also waited for him at the point of marriage, he suffered unexpected delay which his father Isaac never experienced. He worked for fourteen years to marry two wives. This man woke up to reality when he examined his life and realized there was a problem. He reiterated his concerns with his wives – “And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.” – (Gen 31:5-6). With the backing of God and his wives he got a go ahead to leave.
Taiwo Ayeni is the President of Rehoboth Bible Ministries Inc., in Grand Prairie, Texas. He lives with his wife Abidemi, Son Rereloluwa and Daughter Oreoluwa in Grand Prairie Texas. He has authored several books and the recently published is “Help For Troubled Destinies” on www.authorhouse.com. Contact: Website:www.rehobothbministries.org; email:taayeni@rehobothbministries.org or Tel: 9727427365.
