OPEN: Caitlin was a 4 year old and an only child. She really wanted to have a baby sister and kept pestering her mother asking when she could have one. One morning Caitlin told her mother, "Maybe if we both prayed out loud, God would hear us."
So they prayed together. As soon as they finished, Caitlin asked, "What did he say?"
Her mother explained that it doesn’t work that way; sometimes it takes a long time to get an answer.
Caitlin was indignant: "Do you mean we were praying to an answering machine?"
Caitlin wanted an answer from God.
She didn’t want to be put off.
She didn’t want to talk to some celestial answering machine.
She didn’t want God to “get back to her” some time
– She wanted answer NOW!!!
– And she was impatient because God didn’t seem to answer quickly enough.
You know… you don’t have to be a 4 yr old to suffer from that kind of impatience.
ILLUS: The great New England preacher Phillips Brooks was noted for his poise and quiet manner. At times, however, even he suffered moments of frustration and irritability. One day a friend saw him pacing the floor like a caged lion.
"What’s the trouble, Dr. Brooks?" asked the friend.
"The trouble is that I am in a hurry." said Brooks. "but God isn’t."
It’s easy to become impatient with God
Even some of the great men and women of Scripture grew impatient.
A case in point is Moses.
Now Moses is one of the greatest men of the Bible.
He is a model for preachers and elders and men of all walks of life.
In fact God told Moses that one day He would raise up a prophet like unto him – that prophet being Jesus. And so Moses was a model even for Christ.
And he was a man of great faith.
Hebrews 11 tells us that the decision Moses made to chose his own people over the Egyptian culture he’d been raised in – was a decision based on faith.
But Moses’ faith here was marred by impatience.
And his impatience cost him dearly.
We all know the story:
Moses is born in a time of trouble.
His people have lived in peace in Egypt for a couple of hundred years or so. But then a Pharaoh come to the throne that viewed the Israelites as being dangerous no his nation.
The suspicion of many scholars is that – some time before Moses was born – Egypt had been invaded and dominated by conquerors known as the Hyksos. For years the Egyptians suffered under the yoke of these foreigners, but eventually they rose up and drove them out.
From that day on the Egyptians became suspicious of any people that weren’t like them... people like the Israelites who lived in their northern region.
For, even though the Israelites had lived amongst them for a long time, they had never really blended in.
· They had looked different
· They ate different
· They talked different
· And of course – they worshipped different.
These Israelites served only one God vs. the dozens the Egyptians worshipped.
And worst of all – there were too many of them
If the Hebrews decided to overthrow the Egyptians, their numbers were a threat
So the Pharaoh decided to reduce the risk by reducing the number of potential soldiers Israel might be able to put into battle. And one of the ways he did that was by ordering every newborn male child to be thrown into Nile
When Moses born, his mother – Jochebed – obeyed the order, but her obedience to Pharaoh was a bit creative. Instead of simply throwing her child into the water to drown she built a him a boat of bulrushes and set him afloat – trusting God for the outcome.
And God did!
He delivered her child.
He arranged for daughter of the Pharaoh to find him… love him… and desire to raise him
Then Pharaoh’s daughter saw the need for someone to raise him
And again - in the providence of God - Jochebed was chosen to be his nursemaid
So for the next 40 years of his life Moses was raised in the courts of Egypt. As Acts 7:22 tells us:
“Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.”
But not only that… his mother raised him to know he was a Hebrew. And she raised him to know that the Israelites were his people and that God had made promises to his people.
Amongst those promises was one that God had made to Abraham about 400 yrs previously: "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions “ Genesis 15:13-14
So Moses knew God had saved him.
He knew that God had made a promise 400 years previously that his people would be enslaved
And he knew that the time was growing near for his people to come out of Egypt and return to Palestine.
Moses grew up believing he was a man of destiny.
And he reasoned that God had saved him for a reason.
Perhaps he was the one to lead Israel out of the slavery of Egypt.
But day after day he saw the cruelty of Egypt.
He saw his people being enslaved and mistreated.
He saw the daily beatings the received.
And I believe that day after day he prayed for God to come and show him what to do.
But God was silent.
God didn’t answer his prayers.
Day after day, the anger built up in him.
Day after day, the frustration of not being able to do anything ate at him until one day he grew tired of waiting.
He decided it was time to act.
He reasoned: God has saved me to rescue the Israelites from the Egyptians. But God isn’t acting as quickly as I think He should be. Therefore, God must want me to fulfill the prophecy MY way.
And so, when Moses saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew he intervened. Exodus tells us Moses looked around to make sure no one was watching. Then he struck the taskmaster – and killed him.
And then… he buried him in the sand.
Acts tells us that why Moses did what he did:
“Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.” Acts 7:25
Not only don’t they want to follow him - his killing the taskmaster is common knowledge and he realizes he will be punished for what he had done. And so he runs into the desert and spends 40 years in exile.
NOW… A FEW THOUGHTS
1. Impatience with God can cause us to do foolish things.
Moses knew what he was doing was wrong.
He looked around to make sure nobody was watching.
He took matters into his own hands.
And then he buried the evidence.
He knew it was wrong.
But he was angry at the mistreatment this taskmaster was dishing out.
James 1:20 tells us “… the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
I have seen Christians who behave just that way.
I’ve not seen it here, and pray I never do.
But I’m not preaching this because anybody here is doing that. If I were to wait until you folks got caught up in this behavior I’d probably be too late to the party.
Christians are tempted to act foolishly when they’re angry.
I’ve seen Christians get angry about something in church. Something they are convinced has to be rectified or the church will fail. But nobody seems to be doing anything about it.
The Elders aren’t doing anything
The preacher isn’t doing anything
And – well God’s isn’t doing anything either.
So they decide to help Him out.
They’ve just GOT to fix the problem no matter how much damage they cause.
And so they look around to make sure no one is watching
And they begin a whispering campaign in the church –
They kill the offender.
They assassinate his/her character.
They question their motives or actions or general behavior.
And they enlist others in their cause.
But they do it – quietly – burying their actions so that they won’t be caught. And the more that their will is thwarted the angrier they become.
I’ve been a preacher long enough to know that this happens in even the best churches. In fact, this kind of behavior is as old as the earliest churches.
Paul wrote the Galatians:
“The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” (Galatians 5:14-15)
This kind of mindset had settled into the church at Galatia. They were biting and devouring one another… destroying each other to get their way.
And then Paul goes on to say: “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21)
Notice, among the sinful actions God condemned were:
Hatred, discord, fits of rage, dissensions, and factions.
And Paul says: I’ve warned you before… don’t do that - it could rob you of your very salvation.
“…those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:21)
When we do things that aren’t according to God’s will, we can get ourselves in trouble. And because Moses was impatient with God’s timing he spent 40 years in the wilderness. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but his rashness cost him.
Impatience with God will do that to us as well.
SO the thing to remember is this: impatience with God will cause us to do foolish things.
2. Impatience is often caused by believing God isn’t going to do anything. That He doesn’t care.
And so we may come to believe – God needs MY help.
ILLUS: I recently ran across the following “e-mail from God”
“I am God.
Today I will be handling all of your problems.
Please remember that I do not need your help.
If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do not attempt to resolve it on your own. Kindly put it in the SFGTD box (something for God to do). It will be addressed in My time, not yours.”
Now, of course, we know God didn’t send that e-mail.
But it perfectly captures the problem so many of us have with waiting on God.
You see, Moses’ problem was that he made the mistake of believing God wasn’t going to act and so HE had to.
You know the old phrase “God helps those who help themselves”?
Not only is that NOT in the Bible… it’s pure heresy.
If God helped those who helped themselves… He’d have helped
· Cain (he helped himself to vengence on his brother Abel)
· Delilah (she wanted to help herself to Samson’s hair)
· Judas (he wanted to help himself to 30 pcs of silver)
God doesn’t help those who help themselves.
He helps those who obey Him and listen to Him and wait upon Him.
Granted, God wants to use you or I for His purposes.
But make no mistake - He doesn’t NEED for us to step in and save Him when things get a little dicey.
He’s a big God and He can take care of Himself.
What God wants are people who obey Him and listen to Him and wait upon Him.
James tells us
“Be PATIENT, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer WAITS for the land to yield its valuable crop and HOW PATIENT he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be PATIENT and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.” James 5:7-8
Be patient. Wait upon the Lord.
Psalms 27:14 "Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD."
But at times it’s hard to be patient.
And at times our impatience can cause to us to act rashly.
And our rashness can hurt us in terrible ways.
3. But the good news is this - with God even our rash decisions can be used by Him for His glory.
The Bible is filled with stories of people who messed up.
People like Peter – who messed up and denied he knew Jesus 3 times.
People like Abraham – that great man of faith, who is shown in Genesis to have struggled in his faith.
People like David – who committed adultery and arranged for the death of a friend.
And – of course - people like Moses
For 40 years Moses languished in the desert because he didn’t trust God enough to wait.
40 years.
But then one day God met him on the side of a mountain and He gave Moses a 2nd chance.
And with that 2nd chance came the salvation of an entire nation.
Our God is the God of 2nd chances.
Of undeserved forgiveness.
Of a new chance at life.
CLOSE: The late Paul Leonard told a story about paying his way through Ohio State University It was a struggle. His father died during his senior year in high school, and his mother had become blind.
With her encouragement, however, he enrolled at Ohio on the eve of the Great Depression.
By night he was a taxi driver, and during the day he waited tables in a campus dining hall.
"At lunch one day I was serving a table where faculty members were seated. As I returned to the table with my tray held high, the unthinkable happened! I slipped on a spot of gravy on the floor and watched helplessly as the plates slid off the tray, spilling onto an especially well-dressed man, one of my professors.
My heart sank.
What could I do to atone?
I grabbed a towel to clean him up, but I only spread the mess over more of my professor’s suit.
"Don’t worry about it young man. These things happen." Was what I wanted to hear.
Instead he locked his eyes on me and asked,
"Mr. Leonard, what are you going to do about this?"
"I’m so sorry sir. I’ll pay to have your suit cleaned," I responded.
"I don’t believe this suit can be dry cleaned” my professor countered "Mr. Leonard, I believe it is only fair that you buy me a new suit."
"Yes, sir," I managed to say.
With a knot in my stomach, I agreed to meet him at a downtown Columbus men’s store the following day. I recognized the name of the store, and exclusive men’s clothier specializing in custom-tailored suits. I also knew that I could cover the expenses only if I were able to make payments over several months of work and scrimping. As I walked in the front door of the finely furnished store, I grew even more apprehensive.
"Oh there you are," the ever-proper professor remarked. He had arrived early. He already chosen the fabric and the tailor had already taken measurements.
My professor, a regular customer, had apparently vouched for my trustworthiness because the clerk nonchalantly accepted the professor’s remark, "Mr. Leonard will be responsible for the bill, as I have indicated."
More than a little disorientated, I turned to follow my professor out of the door. Then he stopped. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked.
"Yes sir," I responded. "It will take time, of course, but I…"
He interrupted me with words directed to the clerk.
"Let’s see that Mr. Leonard is fitted for a suit just like mine. And put them both on my bill."
Not only was my debt canceled, but I received what I did not deserve. And my benefactor provided me with more than a suit and an indelible memory.
He gave me an encounter with grace."
