IMPATIENCE

September 30th, 2011 | By admin

One thing that is common in the human race is impatience. It began in the Garden of Eden. The serpent, or really the Devil, planted a seed in Eve’s ear to eat of the fruit of good and evil, and she would have the knowledge of God. She was impatient to know everything God knew, so she ate the fruit. She then gave it to Adam, and he ate.

Aren’t we all like that? We want to have something and have it now! We are impatient to wait on what God wants. Then we begin to manipulate people to do things to get what we want. I think of Esau and Jacob in the Old Testament. They were twins, but Esau was born first. He naturally was to receive the birthright. Their father favored Esau. He was the rough outdoors type. Their mother favored Jacob. She devised a way for Jacob to receive the birthright through a scheme.

Today, we see this same attitude in the business world, and the way teens want popularity. We become impatient for people to like us, so we do something that hurts us in the long run. It’s been going on for years. You may want a good test score, so instead of studying and getting it on your own, you sneak a look at someone else’s paper. That impatience can cause you to get a worse score, because the answer can be wrong.

You may see a guy that you like, but he is dating someone else. You will then start an untruth about her so he will stop dating her. Then, you will flirt with him. He will notice you. Are you guilty for hurting the other girl? If you are honest with yourself, you will be.

Maybe you want to be CEO of Coca Cola Bottling Company, and you see no way to the top except by deceit. You step on people as you impatiently gain more advances in the business world. Finally, you make it. What a glorious day! But how many people did you harm in that journey? Think about it, is that they way you want to gain importance

In Numbers 20:1-13, we read about Moses’ impatience. The children of Israel were wondering through the wilderness and they had no water. They began to grumble and tell Moses they wished they had never left Egypt. God told Moses to take his rod and go to the rock and speak to it. Moses was so irritated with the Israelites that he hit the rock with his rod. This one act of impatience prevented him from entering the Promised Land.

When we become impatient, what should we do? We should pray. When Paul became shipwrecked in Acts 27:29-34, he prayed. Prayer can calm us. Prayer does so many things. It is important to pray.