Joel Osteen - Under Construction
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Just as a house under construction looks messy with mud, water, and debris but is still on track to become beautiful, our lives have messy places—disappointments, mistakes, delays—that don’t mean failure; we’re simply under construction, and God, our architect, is faithfully bringing His masterpiece plan to completion.
The Mess of Construction
I want to talk to you today about «Under construction.» One time, Victoria and I were building a house. The foundation was poured and most of the framing was up. The roof was in place but no shingles. There was a big storm. It rained on and off for a couple of days.
When it cleared up, we went over to check on the house. It was so messy. The living room was lower than the other rooms: it had about a foot of water in it, like a dirty swimming pool. Plywood was floating. Workers had tracked mud all through the house.
Outside, there was trash piled high that could not be picked up because of all the rain. It looked like a disaster—disorganized, things out of place.
What is interesting is we did not say, «Let us stop building. This place is so messy. It is never going to be what we wanted.» We knew it was all a part of the process. You cannot have a beautiful house without rain, mud, Sheetrock dust, paint that does not smell good.
In the same way, you have to see the things that are messy in your life, the things you struggle with, the things that seem out of place, as simply under construction. It does not mean it is not going to work out.
That water in your living room—the disappointment, the betrayal, the delay—you may not like it, but it is all a part of the process. You are under construction. You cannot become all you were created to be without some messy places.
To the untrained eye, a construction site can look disorganized, random, but to the architect it is no big deal. They are not worried. They drew the plans. They know exactly where it is going.
Your architect is the Most High God. He has designed a specific plan for your life. The good news is the messy places cannot stop your destiny.
The delays, the things you do not understand, even the mistakes you have made—He has already taken them into account. You may not see how your dream could ever work out. You feel like you are stuck.
God is saying, «You are right on schedule. You are not a finished product. I am still working on you. What I started, I am going to bring to completion.»
The accuser will whisper, «Not you. You have too many flaws, too many weaknesses. You have made too many mistakes.» Just remind him, «I am under construction. I may have some messy places, but God is not finished with me.»
A Masterpiece in the Making
Paul said in Ephesians: «You are a masterpiece.» You may not be there quite yet, but instead of beating yourself up, living with that negative recording—how you do not measure up—our attitude should be, «I am a masterpiece in the making.»
Well, you still struggle with that addiction. «Yes, but I know a secret: I am under construction. God is still working on me.» You still have the temper. You still say things that you should not. «Yes, but I am better than I was last year. I am growing. I am coming up higher, and I know this: what God started, He is going to finish.»
You have to look beyond the mess and see the masterpiece.
Abraham and Sarah’s Messy Path
God told Abraham that he was going to have a son and become the father of many nations. But he and his wife Sarah were too old, way past the childbearing years. They prayed, stood in faith for years—still no baby.
Sarah said, «Abraham, I have an idea. Why do you not sleep with the maid, and maybe God will give us this son that He promised?» Abraham did not even have to pray about this one. «No problem, honey. Whatever you say.»
He slept with the maid. They had a son that they named Ishmael. They were so excited. They finally had their baby. God said, «Abraham, Sarah, that is not the promised child. That is your own doing.»
This caused all kinds of strife and division. Sarah got mad at Abraham: «What were you thinking, sleeping with the maid?» He said, «What do you mean? You are the one that told me to do it.» She said, «I know, but you should not have listened to me.» Lord, help all of us men.
Abraham and Sarah were at odds, arguing with each other. If that was not bad enough, Sarah was so upset with the maid, she gave Abraham an ultimatum: «Either the maid is leaving or I am leaving, but we are not staying here together.»
Abraham felt badly about it. The maid had not done anything wrong, yet he had to send her and his son out into the desert.
Now, Abraham is the father of our faith. You would be hard-pressed to find a more dysfunctional family than them. He was in a messy place—had a baby out of wedlock, strife, trouble, division in his house.
Most people would have written them off, thought, «It is too late for you guys. You need to be on reality TV—'Real Housewives of the Bible'—you have got so much drama in your house.»
God looked at them and said, «Under construction.» The messy places are all a part of the process. It may be uncomfortable; you do not understand it. You may have brought the trouble on yourself. But it is not a surprise to God.
When He designed your plan, He took that into account. Despite their wrong choices, despite their dysfunction, at 90 years of age God caused Sarah to conceive and give birth to Isaac, the promised child.
If Abraham and Sarah saw their promise come to pass after all that mess, what makes you think God is not going to bring to pass what He has promised you?
«Well, Joel, my situation is too messy.» It could not be any messier than theirs. «Well, I have water in my living room, mud on my floors.» You are under construction. That is a part of the process.
It does not mean that God is not going to finish what He has started. Here is how amazing God is. It says in Romans that Abraham did not waver in his faith.
Having a baby out of wedlock? To me, that is wavering. Being impatient, trying to make things happen in your own strength, having to kick somebody out of your house? That seems like wavering.
But God does not see the construction process as wavering. The mistakes Abraham made, the strife, the dysfunction—God did not hold that against him. In fact, God called Abraham a hero of faith.
Why do you not quit beating yourself up because you are under construction? When God brings you to completion, when He delivers you from the addiction, when He turns your family around, He is not going to remember your weaknesses. He is not going to bring up past mistakes and failures.
God knows when we are under construction, we all have messy places. We all make mistakes. We all have things to overcome, but that is not going to keep you from becoming a masterpiece. It is only temporary.
One of the worst mistakes we could make is to go through life against ourselves, focused on our failures, on the times we blew it, the times we failed.
You have enough people and circumstances already against you—do not be against yourself. You have to be at peace with being under construction.
You are going to have some messy places, some things you do not understand, some weaknesses that you have not overcome. The accuser will work overtime, reminding you of everything you have done wrong, how you are not going to reach your destiny.
Instead of believing those lies, going around guilty, no passion, why do you not turn it around? «Father, thank you that you are still working on me. I know this mess is a sign that I am under construction. Just like with Abraham, despite my shortcomings, despite my failures, you are still going to get me to where I am supposed to be.»
When you live like that, God will say about you what He said about Abraham: you did not waver in your faith.
Peter: Flawed but Chosen
We see this with Peter, one of Jesus’s disciples. He was hot-tempered; he used bad language. One time he got angry and cut off a soldier’s ear.
One moment he was defending Jesus, a man of great courage. Another moment he was denying Jesus, swearing to the authorities that he did not know Him.
People could have looked at him: «Peter, you are a mess. You have issues.» God looked at him and said, «Under construction.»
The difference between how people saw him and how God saw him is God had the plans. God could see what he was going to become.
People just saw his flaws, his hot temper, his instability. This is why it is so important that we do not judge people, do not write anybody off. We cannot see their plans. We do not know what God has designed for them.
We see people that make mistakes, have weaknesses. We think, «Boy, they are never going to get it together.» We do not realize they are under construction: God is still working on them.
I have enough weaknesses of my own to deal with—I do not have time to judge somebody else for their weaknesses.
But I love the fact that Jesus chose Peter even though He knew he was hot-tempered. He knew he was impatient. He knew he used bad language.
He did not choose him because he was perfect: He chose him because He had the blueprint. He knew he was not a finished product.
Peter ended up becoming one of the most influential, respected leaders. What am I saying? Where you are now is not necessarily important. It is where you are going.
That mess did not disqualify you. The mess means you are under construction.
When you see other people that look like they have it all together, do not feel bad about yourself. Everyone is under construction in some area. We all have some messy places.
Here is the point. Let God make you and mold you. Stay pliable. We should be better this year than we were last year.
Do not let the mess become permanent—the addiction, the hot temper, the negative attitude. That is not who you are.
Keep growing. Keep resisting the temptation. Keep saying no to carnal desires. Every time you do the right thing, the next time it gets a little bit easier.
There is nothing wrong with being under construction, but there is something wrong with not making any progress. Do your part. Be willing to change. God will do His part. He will help you to come up higher.
Building a Strong Foundation
Sometimes when you see a construction site, you cannot tell if they are tearing something down or building something up.
I was downtown one time. There was this big pile of dirt several stories high, and over on the other side there was this pile of debris—metal, bricks. They had torn down this small structure; they were digging the foundation for a huge skyscraper.
There was a hole probably 100 feet in the ground, and they were pouring these deep piers. The taller the building, the deeper the foundation has to go.
What is interesting is you cannot see the foundation. It is underground; it is hidden, but you could argue that it is the most important part.
They could build a huge tower, but if they did not take time to put the proper foundation, it would not last.
There are times that we know we are supposed to be going up. We have big dreams. God has put promises in our hearts, but it feels the opposite—like we are going down. We are not growing, not seeing good breaks.
What we may not realize is God is working on our foundation—on our character, on how we treat people, on how we respond to adversity. We do not like these times, but they are extremely important.
Like the building, the higher you are going to go, the deeper your foundation has to be. Do not get discouraged when things are not happening on your timetable. God knows what He is doing.
Keep passing the test. Those things that are not changing, but you are keeping a good attitude—that is making you stronger.
When you are good to people that are not good to you, your foundation is going down deeper. That is a sign you are getting prepared to go higher.
But God will not release what He has for you until He knows you can handle it. It would not be a blessing if He gave it to you and you were not ready.
If God has an 80-story building planned for you but He only designed a 40-story foundation, it may be easier, but that would be doing you a disservice.
Do not fight the foundation work; do not get sour because things are not moving as fast as you would like. Something is happening that you cannot see. Your foundation is going down deeper. You are being prepared to go to new levels.
Temporary Bracing Walls
When our house was being built, most of the walls were up, but the carpenters put in a couple of extra walls. I was over there with the plans. I thought, «These walls are out of place. These walls are a mistake. They are right in the middle of the room.»
I asked the builder about it. He said, «They are predicting high winds the next couple of weeks, so I had them build these temporary walls to help brace the main ones until we could get the roof on.»
As the builder, because he had more knowledge, more experience, he was doing things that did not make sense to me. All I could see is «This wall is out of place. It is not supposed to be here.»
But he did it on purpose. He knew it was out of place. He also knew it was only temporary.
In the same way, God as our builder will allow things that we do not understand. It looks like a mistake, but God has a reason. He allowed it for a purpose that we cannot see; then He is going to remove it.
«Well, Joel, I am working at this job where I am not using my gifts. I have so much more in me. This seems like a mistake.» God knows that is not your final destination, but He would not have allowed it if He did not have a purpose for it.
Do you think the God who is so precise, so detailed, that He causes the earth to rotate down to the exact millisecond is going to somehow falter on your plan, let something happen that was not designed—a bad break to keep you from your destiny? If God made a mistake with you, you would be the first one.
What am I saying? Trust Him while you are under construction. Trust Him in the messy places. Trust Him when you are sure it is a mistake.
Sometimes God has to take us backwards before He can take us forward. He has to dig down deep before we can go up higher. He has to prune you before you can bloom.
If you will stay in faith, you are going to see how it is all going to work for your good.
Moses: From Mess to Destiny
God called Moses to deliver the Israelites. That was the plan laid out for his life. But there were a dozen things that looked like a mistake.
When Moses was born, the king put out a decree that all the Hebrew male babies two years of age and under would be killed. It looked like God chose the wrong time for him to be born. Why did God not wait until the decree was over?
God likes to do things that defy the odds, things that seem impossible. That way, He gets all the credit.
Moses’s mother hid him in a basket and sent him down the Nile River. There were snakes, alligators. He could have tipped over, drowned.
But what God has ordained for your life, what He has planned before the foundation of time, what is on your blueprint, cannot be stopped by decrees, by snakes, by people, by any kind of opposition.
Just so happened, Pharaoh’s daughter was at the river taking a bath. She heard the cries coming from the basket. When she saw baby Moses, it was love at first sight. She took him in and raised him in the palace.
As he grew up, Moses knew he was supposed to deliver the Israelites. One day he saw an Egyptian supervisor mistreating a Hebrew slave. He did not think anyone was watching, so he killed the man.
Someone saw him. He had to flee for his life. Moses spent 40 years in hiding on the back side of the desert. It looked like he missed his destiny. I am sure he felt like a failure.
But when he was 80 years old, God appeared to him through the burning bush and said, «All right, Moses, now it is time to deliver the Israelites.»
You cannot find anyone in the Scripture that did something significant that did not have messy places—times they did not understand, times it was not fair, times they felt disqualified.
But like with Moses, when it all came together it made sense. They went from construction to completion.
Here is the key. You cannot properly judge the construction process without the plans.
You may think, «I am done, Joel. I am finished. I made too many mistakes. I have missed my destiny.» If you had the plans and that is what they said, I would agree with you.
But the problem is we do not have the plans. God said in Jeremiah, «The plans I have for you are for good and not harm, to give you a future and a hope.»
What God has planned for you does not end in defeat, in failure, in mediocrity, in addictions, in dysfunction. Your story ends in victory.
Paul said in Corinthians, «Thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph.» I have heard it said, «God always ends in all is well. If all is not well, then it is not the end.»
If there are things holding you back, things out of place, things messy, that means you are under construction. Do not get discouraged: God is still working.
My Father’s Construction Journey
My father was a great pastor and a man loved and respected by so many. If you saw him toward the end of his life—with a large church and successful, happily married, children that loved him—you might think that it was easy and things just fell into place.
But every person has to go through the construction process. When you see someone blessed, fulfilling their purpose, they did not get there without messy places, things they did not understand, people that tried to stop them.
My father was born in a messy situation. His family was very poor. When he gave his life to Christ at the age of 17, he left the farm with no money, no education. He hitchhiked and went out and started ministering.
He was married at an early age, but it did not work out. He had to resign from his church. Leaders told him that he would never pastor again—a messy situation.
He was so discouraged; he left the ministry and started selling insurance. He did not think he would ever have a family until he met my mother. They fell in love, got married, had five children.
He started pastoring again. His church was growing—had over 1000 members. Back then, that was unheard of.
But some of the people turned against my father. They did not like his message of faith and victory. He had to resign from that church. Another messy situation.
He did not understand it. He was being his best, yet the door closed. He and my mother went out and started Lakewood in an abandoned feed store.
He was told it would never last—nobody is going to come, you are wasting your time. But here we are today, 59 years later, still going strong.
Here is my point. All those messy situations my father went through—they were on God’s plan. He did not understand why people turned against him. If they had not opposed him, he would have never started Lakewood.
Like my father, you may be in a messy situation. People have come against you. You have made mistakes; you have had bad breaks. God is saying, «It is not over. It is all a part of my plan. You are under construction.»
We are not going to understand everything that happens. God’s ways are not our ways.
But here is the promise God gives us. If you will stay in faith and keep honoring Him, then what He started in your life He is going to bring to completion. What He has planned for you will come to pass.
You did not miss it because you had a rough childhood, somebody walked out and broke your heart, people tried to stop you from your dream. God has the final say.
Tune out all those voices telling you that you blew it, you had your chance. God would not have allowed it if it was going to keep you from your destiny. It is all a part of the process.
Will you trust Him when you are under construction? Will you trust Him in the messy places? Will you trust Him when it does not make sense?
From Construction to Completion
Job in the Scripture went through all kinds of bad breaks. He lost his health, his business, his family—everything fell apart. For a while he was negative, complained.
But then he came back to a place of peace. Nothing had turned around. It was still messy, but he said in Job chapter 42: «God, I know you can do anything, and no one can stop your plan.»
This was after 42 chapters of defeat, negativity. When he said this, eight verses later it says: «God restored Job and brought him out with twice what he had before.»
When he changed his attitude, maybe that was the catalyst for God to turn it around.
I wonder if we would do like Job—instead of complaining about the mess, being discouraged by what did not work out—what if we would start saying, «Father, I want to thank you that nothing can stop your plan for my life. Thank you that what you have ordained for me is on the way.»
When we were building our house, at one point all the switches were in, the floors were down, the cabinets were done. The only problem was the power was not connected. We were waiting for a permit and a few other things.
Every night, Victoria and I would go over to check to see if it was on. For over a month, we were ready with no power.
Finally, one evening we went over, and the power was connected. Everything was different. We had lights, air conditioning; the appliances worked. With that one connection, it was a whole new world.
I believe you are about to come into one of these connections. You have been on the verge of it; you have been honoring God. You are about to see God flip the switch.
Suddenly the door opens; suddenly the healing comes. Suddenly the right person shows up.
I believe and declare you are about to go from construction to completion. Those things that are hindering you—like Job, God is going to bring you out better.
Despite mistakes you have made—like Moses, you are still going to fulfill your destiny and become everything God has created you to be, in Jesus’s name.