Be Patient

Today I was reading Exodus 32: 1-6 and reading that passage of scripture caused me to wonder, how many times we change focus because God did not do something in our timeframe. It is a sad thing but true, many people turn their backs on the Lord when he does not show up in their time frame. Think about it.

(Exodus 32: 1 – 6)
{32:1} And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for [as for] this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. {32:2} And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which [are] in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring [them] unto me. {32:3} And all the people brake off the golden earrings which [were] in their ears, and brought [them] unto Aaron. {32:4} And he received [them] at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These [be] thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. {32:5} And when Aaron saw [it,] he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow [is] a feast to the LORD. {32:6} And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

The children of Israel were waiting for Moses to return from Mount Sinai but he delayed his coming. Moses was in the presence of the Lord getting the Ten Commandments and instructions for the people. He was not concern about a time frame; he wanted to hear what the Lord had to say. But because the people did not have a relationship with the Lord, they grew impatient and wanted another god to worship. After all that the Lord did for them they were quick to return to their old gods. They could have asked Aaron to seek God or figure out what happened to Moses but because their minds were so messed up they wanted an idol in front of them to worship. How many of us fall into that category?

The children of Israel asked Aaron to make them gods; Aaron obeyed and created the golden calf for the people. Let us stop right there, Aaron was a priest that had to be holy before the Lord, why did he allow the people to cause him to do such a wicked thing before the Lord. This goes to show that even leaders sometimes compromise what they believe to please people. Is that the correct way to go about it? God want us to stand up for what we believe, no compromise. If the people want to get upset, let them get upset but don’t take part in something that you know God is not going to be pleased with. We are not here to impress or please men but to please God.

The Lord was upset with the people and cursed them, he did not let any of them that worshipped the golden calf enter into the promise land. Their children were able to receive of the promise but they missed out on it because of their evil act of disobedience. I don’t think any of us want to miss out on the promises and blessings that the Lord has waiting for us. Plus what good does it profit us to enjoy the pleasures of sin temporarily and spend eternity in torment?

Examine yourself and see if you are one of these people who worship God but turn aside to something else when he does not do what you want him to do or show up when you want him to. You need to learn how to be patient! Stop rushing to get everything you want. God is not obligated to do anything for us, he does it because he loves us. We should not be serving God for what he can give us – if that is the case you are just using him. How would you feel if someone only talks to you because they want to use you to get what they want? That is not a true relationship. Come on brethren think about it.

So many of us serve God for what he can give us and get upset when he doesn’t give us all the material things to make us “happy”. I was speaking to a young man the other day and he was upset that he was struggling financially; he asked why God can’t make him a millionaire. God has the power to do all things but there are things that some of us can not handle. If God was to make all of us millionaires and gives us all that we ever dreamed of on this side of life, many of us would forget about the Lord. Some of us do that now with the small blessings that God has given us. Plus the Bibles say, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?” Come on now, is the money, house, car, job, husband, wife, or children worth our soul? Are we going to give up on God because things are not going the way we expected them to? There are times when God is preparing us for a blessing but we have to be PATIENT and wait on him. Our focus should be on God and not the material gains of this world.