Observations on Impatience/Anxious Fear
Daniel 2:1-7
Philippians 4:4-7
We have all seen it at some point. We are in the grocery store and our ears are drawn to the shrill screams of a child having a full blown tantrum in the cookie isle. Arms are flailing, feet kicking and head spinning as a little angle is turned into a hysterically possessed demon child. Then we realize its not our child and we breathe a sigh of relief and regret all at the same time because we can relate to that exact experience at both ends. We have been that little child and we have been that parent or that innocent shopper passing by the familiar scene.
I know that King Nebercanazer is a long way away from that grocery store but lets take a look at the scripture reference and see if we can read the subtext. The King has a real problem, he is not walking with God but he has Daniel a Hebrew slave who was captured in battle. The King has called all his wise men all his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers and ordered them under penalty of death to tell the King what he had dreamt and they were not allowed to know any of the details.
The King surmised that if in deed they were wise if in deed they were able to see into the mysteries of life that they should be able to relate the events that took place in the Kings subconscious mind.
T o put this into context: I dont want to get any husbands in trouble here but that is pretty much like trying to read your wifes mind and have her expect you to know what she is thinking. But this King wanted details.
What I am doing today is using this story as a backdrop to illustrate an attitude that we all seem to wrestle with this time of year. Impatience, Everywhere I look today I see it. Driving in to church this Wednesday I had a truck tailgate me all the way. I was doing the speed limit, even when I sped up the truck resumed the tailgating. I finally slowed down and the driver gave me a hand gesture. I signaled and pulled off the road onto the shoulder and let him by me.
I went to get my Tim Hortons coffee at the drive thru and as I approached the lane to pull in I was cut off not by one or two cars but by three cars in quick succession. I parked the car and walked into the store thankfully no one pushed me out of line.
Impatience: King Nebercanazer was filled with it but God had put it in him. There was a different reason for it in that chapter of Daniel but you can see how it takes over our rational sane and otherwise civil behavior. There are many examples of how we humans have been impatient for God to act but thats not what Im talking about today.
It was 1984 Oct 1, and I woke at 4:30 am to discover my wife was not sleeping beside me. I heard the water running and I immediately jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to the bathroom. There was my wife 9 months pregnant soaking in the tub and I freaked out. This was our first baby, I had never seen a baby delivered before, I had only seen kittens born and I didnt really pay a whole lot of attention to that.
But for the last nine months my wife had been reading every womans magazine, every birth book, every Dr. so and so about all the different ways to deliver a baby. She had talked at length about how some babies are born in a swimming pool type of thing submerged in water. She had hung onto this idea for the last couple of months and now she was sitting in a tub filled to the rim. Thats when I lost it, I ordered her to drain the tub dry off and keep her legs together until we made it to the hospital.
I was not going to play a part in delivering flipper in my bath tub. I was impatient/anxious to get my wife to the hospital.
I tell you this story only to illustrate a point. Impatience: It is the action word of our times.
The economy is in a tailspin and the car makers are impatient for a financial bailout. People are losing their jobs and some their savings and even their homes. We are facing uncertain times and a kind of panic is simmering under the calm cool exterior people pretend to possess. Add to this environment the usual Christmas stress and you have a society that is ready to loose it.
Christmas is a count down just like a space shuttle mission. Day after day we get closer and closer to its eventuality. Day after day people are getting more and more stressed out as they approach this Christmas with more uncertainties than they ever held before. Maybe more than even their parents or grand parents had to face.
But know this Christmas will come and you need not get caught up in the mindless commercialism that fuels the financial burden of the season. Its not about what people are expecting you to get them, its not about how much you have or dont have to spend on the kids or the wife or the grand-kids.
Christmas is about a gift that God wants to give you, a free gift, He does not want anything in return. He just wants to give you His love in the person of His son Jesus who came as a baby and experienced all the anxieties in life that you also face. The difference is that Jesus rose above it all and became for us the Prince of Peace.
We are moving into our advent season and soon the madness that is the holidays can steal your joy but dont let it. Remember a little baby is what we are celebrating, a new life, a promised gift a Savior who want to touch your life, your heart and change your anxiety and anxiousness into a peace that passes all understanding.
Let us rejoice that soon we will relive that celebration but let us keep our hearts calm and our heads clear as we trust our daily lives to this Prince of Peace.
Philippians 4:4-7
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
