Last term, my son came home with a mid-term project in Agricultural Science – to plant beans in a container. Excited, he bounced into action, and within minutes, a container-garden was set up on my balcony. Then came the real drama, he practically made the balcony his resting room. His young restless mind wouldn’t allow the planted beans to breath. He watered and checked on it every passing hour.
The first two days of this project were question – answering days for me. I gave out practically all answers there is on plant germination. On the third day, when he could take it no further, he poured out all the sand in the container to see what was delaying the beans from sprouting out. By the time he was done with harassing the seeds, he pushed them back into the sand, but they weren’t the same again. In the process of examining the seeds, he had unknowingly damaged the tender shoots. Now, the beans took longer than necessary to germinate again. He was heartbroken, he sucked, he whined, he waited…
Have you ever been caught up in any web of impatience? I have been there before. Impatience is like a virus that eats up our faith. It clouds our hope and generates unnecessary heat within us. An Impatient person sees days as decades and months as millenniums. An impatient mind feels a dream takes longer than necessary to be actualized. It asks the question; “when will it ever happen?” Impatience makes the heart anxious over unanswered prayers, it is forever agitated.
King Saul, out of impatience offered sacrifice to God which was not in his place to do, the effect? He was rejected by God, and that led to His disgraceful death. There are numerous accounts of impatience in the scriptures – none of them ended well. Many a times, impatience arises because, we put pressure on ourselves or, we allow pressure from the society to sink into us. Whichever way, being impatient isn’t God’s best for anyone.
God is a God of time and order. He requires us to uphold that very important Christian virtue – patience. The scripture tells us in Hebrews 10:36 “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. You see, no-matter how impatient we get about life, the clock will not tick faster than it has been programed to. The sun will never set at midnight. Summer won’t take the place of winter, no, they all must obey God’s aligned time and order.
Is your heart impatient over a prolonged answer to prayer? Are you anxious to hear that good news? I want to encourage you to wait patiently, take things easy and trust God’s faithfulness. Yes, God is faithful, He will fulfill all His promises to you, only do not run ahead of His set time for you.
Renew your mind constantly with the word of God and set your eyes only on Jesus. Whenever your heart slips off into impatience, say this out to yourself:
I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES!
By Deborah Yemi-Oladayo
Used by Permission
Further Reading
• The Rewards of Patience – A Devotional by Charles Stanley
• Developing Patience – Thoughts by Charles Stanley