It was the end of the month yesterday. Judging by the activity in our little town it looked like there wouldn’t be another end-of-the-month for a long time. There were people everywhere! More than one customer complained that they wouldn’t be able to get to the ATM without a long wait in the queue. I know that waiting in an ATM queue (or any other queue for that matter) isn’t the most pleasant pastime. It can be really annoying especially if you’re near the front of the queue and someone takes a looong time doing their transaction. Why is it that most people rate patience as their least developed character trait? Does it have something to do with genes or is it learned? Or not learned?
I’m really quite patient in some circumstances. I can wait in queues. I remember writing a children’s story while waiting in a queue once. It was fun. I usually carry my Kindle in my bag and I don’t mind having an excuse to read. If I don’t have anything to read, I just allow my imagination to wander. But that’s me.
1 Samuel 13:8-11 Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. So Saul said, “Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.” And he offered the burnt offering. Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him. And Samuel said, “What have you done?”
And verse 14 “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.”
King Saul was impatient and he made the offering that the prophet Samuel was supposed to do. Granted, he waited till the last moment and he was really stressed about what his subjects would do and that the army you desert. How often doesn’t it happen that we are in a situation where we say we are going to trust God and not make our own plans? And then nothing happens by the time we think God should have done something and we decide He’s obviously too busy, or forgotten all about us or He just doesn’t care, and we make our own plan. That’s exactly what King Saul did. He got stressed about waiting and did his own thing. His own thing cost him his Kingdom. Will God come through for us if we do our own thing? No, obviously not, because we’ve shown him that we don’t trust Him enough to wait on Him and His timing. When we don’t wait for God when we know that He has promised to never leave or forsake us, we lose a lot of blessings that He had for us. We also lose faith. We have to work at building our own faith next time we have a situation that needs intervention.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.
Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
Psalm 46:1-3 God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling.
That’s how we know we can trust God always without doubt.
I wonder what kind of an ATM queue person King Saul would have been?
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