Tuesday, February 16th, 2021

Impatience is one of the most powerful forces in our life that we all face, and without conscious effort to overcome it, can lead to all sorts of terrible consequences. Impatience has the power to make us question everything, including our faith, and act to take matters into our own hands. When things are going well in our lives, when we feel like we’re moving forward, none of us ever questions the Lord’s goodness, or even believes we will one day! But life is not always smooth sailing and sometimes we get stuck. The Book of Exodus recounts the Israelites’ escape, solely by the hand of God, from slavery in Egypt. One would imagine that they were overjoyed and believed, without question, God’s power and love for them! They were moving forward, experiencing freedom. But when Moses went up on the mountain to speak with God and receive the Ten Commandments — and then took too long doing so for their liking — the Israelites turned on God immediately. They made a golden calf and worshipped it — even believing that this golden calf (that they had just made) was who had brought them out of Egypt! It seems ludicrous a group of people could believe such a thing, but impatience caused to them to do just that. Impatience has the power to bring devastation to our lives, and can cause people to worship any number of things — money, work, power, or anything else in this world. Today, pray for God to show you when and with what you are impatient with so you can give it to Him and wait on His blessings from it.

“When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who 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.” So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” — Exodus 32:1-4 ESV