DON’T LET IMPATIENCE GET YOU IN TROUBLE
Jane and I waited for the last bus out of
downtown Johannesburg, South Africa. We had just moved there from the States to
do missionary work so I had my passport with me in a large purse I carried at my
side. It was dusk and we were getting anxious to get back to our friends’ house
before nightfall. The bus should have been there already.
I was starting to worry, “Did we
miss it?” Jane answered, “I don’t think so, but maybe the buses don’t run
regularly, so I don’t really know.” We waited longer. We were the only ones
waiting, which made it scarier because we didn’t have anyone to ask. What we
did next was really foolish.
Our impatience prompted us to
move. We went down the street to another bus stop closer in the direction of
home. We waited there impatiently until we couldn’t take it anymore and we
moved down the street again. We did this three times, getting further and
further away from the more populated area. The sun was going down and we were
getting more worried now—new country, unfamiliar ways, alone on an empty street
and no bus in sight. Then Jane spotted a young black African man coming our
way.
He got about halfway down the
block and bolted toward us. Jane had seen him but all I saw was a blur. She
jumped in front of me, grabbed me with both arms around the middle, as I
clutched my purse to my chest. The guy hesitated, then ran past us a ways.
He stopped and continued to walk slowly down the street as if nothing unusual
had happened at all.
Jane gently loosened her grip on
me and I relaxed my clenched fists but my heart was still racing and we were
both hyperventilating. When we settled down and started to breathe a little
easier, in quivering voices we begged God to get the bus there soon.
In just a few minutes it pulled
up—the very last bus leaving the city. For the next three years of living in
Johannesburg, we stayed much more alert and aware of our surroundings and
prayed about everything.
God wasn’t the one who told us to
move down to the next bus stop. We should have just stayed where we were, but
we let our impatience drive us into trouble.
How many times have each of us
acted impatiently, recklessly setting out in a direction of our own choosing, without
really consulting the Lord? Proverbs 21:2 tells us: “Every way
of a man is right in his own eyes.” But Luke 21:19 tells us: “In your patience
possess ye your souls.” Patience stops to ask for the Lord’s input and acts
deliberately, not foolishly.
My impatience nearly got my purse
stolen, along with my money and passport. Impatience gets us to make mistakes,
waste time, get into arguments and so many other things that we’re sorry for
later. Proverbs 20: 22 tells us: “Wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee.”
One important way He saves us is to give us His wisdom. Don’t be fretful and
hasty like we were. Wait on the Lord.
Love, Carolyn
Check out some of my other great stories that give you lessons to
live by. WINGS book and booklets :
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