0
0
The other day I got caught in traffic. I was on my way home and had nothing particular I had to do. Yet, there I was in traffic, craning my neck to see how far the line of cars was, planning an exit and way around this stoppage, and tapping my steering wheel like I thought the magic “traffic-be-gone” fairy would come out of it like some sort of genie’s lamp. Society today breeds impatience.
We are an instant-gratification people. We want what we want, and we want it now! High speed internet – not fast enough. Five G phone – not fast enough. Chick-Fil-A – they’re fast, but what’s up with the drive-through line? So many cars! They’re not that fast; let’s go somewhere else. Amazon Prime – found exactly what you need, but won’t be here for five days – keep looking for something close to what you need that can be here tomorrow.
God doesn’t work this way. Everything He does is on His time, not our “speed up at a yellow light” mentality. This is why impatience is one of the hardest things for Christians when it comes to trusting God. Everything around us is right now and God tells us, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him,” Psalm 37:7. Wait patiently, be still…not things that go with our world today. Surely that was meant for a time when they didn’t have cars, boardrooms, or streaming services.
Just like the rest of the Bible, it is still meant for us. To further the problem, many of us don’t feel like this is not trusting God. Heck, we’re just helping the Big Fella out by being proactive. Saul thought the same thing. He didn’t wait, because his men were antsy, and he’d already waited the allotted seven days. So, “I’ll just take care of it,” he thought. No harm, no foul and now it’s done. So many of us are like Saul. We don’t mean harm of any sort; we just figure we can help God out. Well, there all are always consequences when impatience arises in us and we do not wait on the Lord. When we don’t trust Him, we take matters into our own hands.
Read: Read this account of Saul: https://www.biblegateway.com, /passage/?search=1+Samuel+13%3A+8-13&version=NLT.
Put Into Action: Where do you see yourself in Saul’s story? What do you need to speak to God about concerning your own impatience? Spend some time in prayer asking God to help you be more patient and to show the ways in which you aren’t.
