Deferred Assignment

DEFERRED ASSIGNMENT

(Deuteronomy 25: 17-19)

I had some laundry to do. They were clothes I had to hand-wash: using the washing machine would damage them. So I packed them in a basin, poured water in it, added some detergent and sat down to wash…

My 5 year old daughter barged in. She asked, “Daddy, what are you doing?” “I am washing some clothes”, I replied. “Ah! Let me help you!” I just smiled.

“Don’t worry, Aaliyah: you can’t wash clothes for me now. I will ask you to wash for me later, when I know you will be able to handle it!”

I appreciated her desire to help me out. But I knew she did not have the capacity to carry out the assignment yet. It would be irresponsible of me to give a 5 year old child a laundry assignment.

Now, same 5 year old Aaliyah returned from school one day with an assignment: “Write an essay on one of these famous women: Margaret Thatcher. Benazir Bhutto. Indira Ghandi. Mother Theresa.

I was miffed! Who gives a 5 year old such an assignment? I asked her nanny (who had a National Diploma) if she knew any of these women. She had never heard of them before!

I was very upset with her school. That day, I made up my mind to change her school: the assignments they were giving her were beyond her ken, beyond her capacity.

As a parent, you must have had situations where your child would want to handle a house chore: iron clothes, mop the floor, wash the car, etc. But you would refuse them because you KNOW they were too young to do these chores.

Now, if we as parents, as humans know what assignments we can give to our children, how much more our Heavenly Father?

In the Book of Deuteronomy, God gave the Israelites an assignment. The assignment had to do with the Amalekites. He said, ‘Do you remember what the Amalekites did to you on the way when you left Egypt, how they waylaid you and attacked you? When you have settled down in the Promised Land and God had given you rest, go and blot out the entire Amalekites!”

When God gave them this assignment, they were still in transit. God was very aware. But He chose to give them the assignment in that moment: and DEFERRED it till the time they would have the CAPACITY to carry it out.

Note the Scripture: “When the Lord your God has given you REST…” That Scripture is very key. God here just gave the people an assignment and He deferred it to the time when they had rest. In other words, THE ISRAELITES WOULD HAVE REST!

God would not have given them a deferred assignment if they would not enter REST! So, the deferred assignment is a form of security and assurance for them.

This also teaches that God does not always give us assignments to carry out IMMEDIATELY. That God says you will become a Pastor or a King does not mean it is immediately. David did not become the King over Israel the day he was anointed: it took him over 20 years to eventually become King over Israel. His assignment was deferred.

You have to understand the TIMING of God. You have to understand what is IMPORTANT AND URGENT and what is IMPORTANT but not URGENT.

God’s instruction to the Israelites about the Amalekites was a very important one. But it was not urgent, hence the deferment. God was willing to wait it out till the Israelites had the capacity to carry out the annihilation He ordered.

Later in the Book of 1st Samuel, God picked a King for the Israelites, Saul. He then gave Him the assignment He had deferred decades earlier. God told him, “I remember what the Amalekites did to Israel… Now, go and smite them!” 1st Samuel 15: 1-3.

So, God waited until the Israelites had entered their rest before He brought up the assignment again.

In our walk with God and our understanding of the Spirit, we will always be in a position where we get these divine assignments. We will do well to know whether to run with them immediately or to defer them to some other time in the future.

God will teach us all things in Jesus’ Name.

Amen.

Shalom,

Haruna Daniels