Text:
Exodus 32:1-6
Memory Verse:
“Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for 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” (Exodus 32:1).
On God’s instruction Moses and Joshua went up to Mount Sinai to receive the tablets of stone and commandments written by Him. Moses left the people in the care of Aaron, Hur and the elders of
Israel. Due to impatience and lack of appreciation of the seriousness of Moses’ assignment, the 40 days he spent on the mountain amounted to an unnecessary delay to the people. They resorted to a blind, deaf, dumb and powerless idol, which they fashioned, in replacement for Moses and, by
extension, the Almighty God who had delivered and led them through their journey so far. This idolatrous act goaded by impatience resulted in the death of 3000 men and a plague on the people (Exodus 32:28&35). This reminds us of how King Saul’s impatience led to his unlawful sacrifice resulting in the termination of his kingship (1 Samuel 13:8-14).
Impatience is a sinful tendency that often leads to regrettable actions that have dire consequences for its victims. We serve a patient and long-suffering God, who desires that we be like Him. We are admonished to possess our souls by patience, for through patience and longsuffering with joy, we are strengthened with might according to God’s glorious power (Colossians 1:11). God has an
appointed time for the perfection of the issues of our lives. There is a virtue He aims to work out in us when He takes us through the periods of patient waiting. We abort this when we succumb to impatience. Are you short on patience? Cry to God for help today.
Prayer Points:
1. Father, forgive me for every sin of impatience I have committed.
2. Lord, deliver me from every tendency to impatience.
