Week 42: October 15, 2017
Topic: Impatience –Part 3
Bible Reading: James 5: 1-8
We shall continue our discussion with examples of impatient people that were written in the Bible.
Examples of Impatient and Patient People
Several impatient people were mentioned in the Bible and some of them shall be discussed together with the implications of their conducts. We will also examine the lives of the patient people stated in the scripture and the outcome of their actions.
Sarah’s Impatience: The impatience of Sarah made her to give Hagar her Egyptian maidservant as wife to Abraham her husband. She thought the promise of God is slow in coming to pass therefore she said to Abraham “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her”. And Abraham agreed with Sarah’s proposal. Abraham took Hagar as his wife and when she became pregnant; she began to treat Sarah her mistress with contempt. Hagar treated Sarah with so much disrespect like somebody that is worthless or despicable Genesis 16: 1-5. Learn from the experience of Sarah; do not be impatient or try to help God to accomplish His work. Had it not be that God had mercy on her, she might have lost the “promise of God” in her life to Hagar. Your lack of patience may not lead to people treating you with contempt, but something very severe.
The Children of Israel made the golden calf: When the people of Israel saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from Mount Sinai where he went to collect the tablets of commandments, they gathered around Aaron and said to Him “Come make us gods that shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron said “Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, sons and daughters, and bring them to me”.
He took the golden earrings, melted and molded it into the shape of a calf. When people saw it, they said “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt”. Aaron built an altar in front of the calf then announced that tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord. The people got up early the next morning and made offerings to the calf. After this they celebrated with feasting and drinking, then they indulged in pagan revelry Exodus 32: 1-6. The impatience of the people of Israel made them to desert the Almighty God and worship a golden calf. Their impatience made the wrath of God to come upon them, even though Moses interceded on their behalf Exodus 32: 9-14. The impatience of the people of Israel caused the death of about three thousand men among them Exodus 32: 26-28. The great impatience of the people of Israel made the Lord to blot out the names of many of them out of His Book and postpones their punishment Exodus 32: 30-34. If you don’t want such catastrophic events to happen to your household or your community, do not be impatient.
King Saul’s unlawful sacrifice: When the Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel and the troops of Israel perceived that they are at military disadvantage situation; Saul waited seven days for Samuel according to His earlier instruction, but Samuel did not come. Then Saul realized that his troops were rapidly slipping away. So he said “Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me” And he sacrificed the burnt offering himself.
Just as Saul was finishing with the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet and welcome him, but Samuel said “What have you done?” Saul explained the situation that compelled him to offer a burnt offering. But Samuel said to Saul “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you” 1 Samuel 13: 5-14. Do not be impatient and sin against the Lord your God because you are oblige to satisfy human beings. If you are impatient you may lose things that are irredeemable and irreversible. Do not be impatient so that God will not replace you with a better person in the presence of the heaven, but establish you in the land of the living.
Noah’s patience: The Bible testified that Noah patiently waited in the Ark until the waters receded from the face of the ground Genesis 8: 6-12. You too be patient in all your dealings according to the adages of the Yorubas which stated that “It is the patient people that can milk the lion” and “If you are patient enough you will cook the stone to an edible stage”. Had it been that Noah is impatient may be he would not be instrumental to the covenant that God made with all the creations that came out of the Ark Genesis 8: 18-22.
The patience of an angel: The angel sent to Gideon with the message that he should deliver the people of Israel from the Midianites demonstrated his patience when Gideon said to Him “If now I have found favour in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me. Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You”. The angel replied that “I will wait until you come back”.
The angel waited, then touched the offering with the end of the staff in His hand and fire came instantly from the rock and consumed the offering. And the angel of the Lord departed out of Gideon’s sight Judges 6: 11-22. If the heavenly being can wait patiently, then you too need to be patient, even if there is delay in realizing your heart desire do not be impatient because delay is not denial. You must realize that patience can never be in excess unless it will be insufficient. So continue to be patient until the promise of God come to pass in your life.
Servants of God must be patient
The conducts of many servants of God nowadays are not in conformity with the teachings of the Bible. In fact, the word of our Lord Jesus Christ has come to pass because several of them are wolves in sheep’s clothing and their impatience has led them astray.
Servants of God must be gentle: The servants of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but gentle towards all. They must neither fight nor contend with anybody. Instead, they must be kind to everyone and mild-tempered by preserving the bond of peace. They must be skilled and suitable teachers, most importantly they must be patient, forbearing and tolerant when wronged 2 Timothy 2: 24.
Nowadays, many servants of God are so impatient to the extent that they have abandoned the right way and gone astray because of money, position and wealth. Their love for reward of wickedness and wages of unrighteousness has made them to either lose or stain their glorious garments 2 Peter 2: 15. Since they are the ambassadors of God, we advise them not to be impatient to the extent that they will wander off the right road and follow the footsteps of Balaam the son of Beor, who love to earn money by doing unscrupulous things.
Servants of God must do commendable things: The servants of God must abstain from sinful lifestyles, greediness and love of money, but embrace and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness 1 Timothy 6: 10-11. If any servant of God have all the attributes, but have no patience, such servant is incomplete in the presence of God. Therefore, the servants who are representatives of the Lord must do things that will make people to commend them and not things that will make people to blaspheme the name of the Lord through them.
They must be commendable in every ways as true servants of God in much patience and through great endurance, in tribulation and suffering, in hardships and privations, in dire straits and calamities 2 Corinthians 6: 4. Commendable servants of God must patiently endure troubles, hardships and calamities of every kind during their existence.
Every servant of God needs patience to be successful in their ministerial work. Even if the servant of God is a youngster, people must not look down on him/her because of his/her age or think less of such servant because of his/her youth. The young servants of God must be examples to all believers in what they say or their speech in the way they live or their conducts, in their love, their faith and their purity 1 Timothy 4: 12. Every servant of God must be given/accorded full respect and honour immaterial of their age as long as they are not impatient, but exhibit good virtues.