Sometimes I find that my impatience is a worse enemy than anyone else could be to me. I’m pretty sure this may be the case with many of us. We are too impatient to wait on the Lord for His help. Often, we will pray and then we act, or we act and then we pray. Either way, we get ahead of the Lord. We may be answering our own prayers ourselves.
We saw this behavior clearly with King Saul. He was the first king of the Israelites. Scripture tells us that when he was anointed king, the Prophet Samuel told him to go to Gilgal and wait for Samuel to meet him there seven days later. Samuel was coming so that he could offer up sacrifices to God for anointing Saul king.
But Saul was impatient. In his hast to act as a king, he started a war with the Philistines. And because the Israelites were greatly outnumbered by the Philistines, the people were afraid. So, on the seventh day, when Samuel had not arrived yet, Saul decided to offer up the sacrifices himself. He was impatient because he was hasty.
1 Samuel 13:8-12 says, “Then he (Saul) waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel but Samuel did not come to Gilgal. So, Saul offered the burnt offering. Now it happened as soon as he had finishing presenting the burnt offering, Samuel came. And Samuel said to him, you have done foolishly.” Because we are impatient, we rush, we get ahead, and we get it wrong.
Saul rushed to fix things. He saw how big of a problem he had before him in the Philistines, so he took matters into his own hands. He felt compelled to offer up the offering so he could get on with fighting the Philistines. Saul saw his circumstances through the eyes of his fears. The Lord wants us to learn to see our circumstances through the eyes of our faith.
It doesn’t matter what we face, the Lord is always there to face things with us. Psalm 37:1 tells us, “Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass.”
It doesn’t matter what we are up against nor what we face. If we wait patiently and do not rush the Lord, He will soon come up against our circumstances. Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years for Isaac to be born from the time God told them they would have a son. Eventually God’s timing came to their circumstance.
If we do not learn to wait for God’s timing in our lives, we will for sure fail to have the blessing of His work in our lives. We cannot rush God’s work into our lives. We can only wait for God’s work to come to our lives. Yes, I said we must wait for His work to come to our lives. If we fret or are fearful, we will rush to act on our fears.
But when we are patient and wait on the Lord, we act through our faith. Our faith is the surest way to bring God into our circumstances. So, today I’m asking you – Don’t rush. No matter your circumstances, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Don’t rush because of the things you see going on with you and around you.
Don’t be angry. Don’t retaliate against others. Don’t rush; it only causes you harm in the end and it is never good. Don’t rush; let this be the cry of your faith before the Lord. Learn to be meek in all your circumstances for then you will be filled with an abundance of peace, no matter what you face. Peace overcomes fear and anxiety.
God will never forsake the righteous person who has learned to wait patiently on the Lord. When you rush, you act foolishly. But when you are patient, you respond wisely your circumstances, knowing the Lord is preparing a way for you. Don’t rush to answer your own prayers.
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