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, grabbing 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 walking slowly down the street as if
nothing unusual had happened.
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.
It pulled up in just a
few minutes—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 impatience manipulate us into trouble.
How often has each of us
acted impatiently, recklessly setting out in a direction of our own choosing,
without 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, my money, and my passport stolen. 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 crucial way He saves us is to give us His wisdom. So don’t be fretful
and hasty like we were. Wait on the Lord.
Love, Carolyn
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