Isaiah 30:1-5
"Ah, stubborn
children,” declares the LORD, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make
an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; who set out to
go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the
protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore
shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the
shadow of Egypt to your humiliation. For though his officials are at Zoan and
his envoys reach Hanes, everyone comes
to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor
profit, but shame and disgrace.”
Ø Impatience is a form of
unbelief.
Ø It's
what we begin to feel when we start to doubt the wisdom of God's timing or the
goodness of his guidance.
Ø It
springs up in our hearts when the road to success gets muddy or strewn with
boulders or blocked by some fallen tree.
Ø The
battle with impatience can be a little skirmish over a long wait in a checkout
lane. Or it can be a major combat over a handicap or disease or circumstance
that knocks out half your dreams.
The Battle Against
Unbelief
When the way you planned to run your
day, or the way you planned to live your life is cut off or slowed down, the
unbelief of impatience tempts you in two directions, depending partly on your
personality partly on circumstances:
1. On the one side, it tempts you to give
up, bail out. If there's going to be frustration and opposition and difficulty,
then I'll just forget it. I won't keep this job, or take this challenge, rear
this child, or stay in this marriage, or live this life. That's one way the
unbelief of impatience tempts you. Give up.
2. On the other side, impatience tempts
you to make rash counter moves against the obstacles in your way. It tempts you
to be impetuous or hasty or impulsive or reckless. If you don't turn your car
around and go home, you rush into some ill-advised detour to try to beat the
system.
Whichever way you have to battle impatience,
the main point today is that it's a battle against unbelief and therefore it's
not merely a personality issue. It's the issue of whether you live by faith and
whether you inherit the promises of eternal life. Listen to these verses to
sense how vital this battle is:
- Luke 21:19 "By
your endurance [patience] you will gain your lives."
- Romans 2:7 "To
those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and
immortality, God will give eternal life."
- Hebrews 6:12 "Do
not be sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and
patience
inherit the promises."
Patience in doing the will of God is
not an optional virtue in the Christian life. And the reason it's not is
because faith is not an optional virtue. Patience in well-doing is the fruit of
faith. And impatience is the fruit of unbelief. And so the battle against
impatience is a battle against unbelief. And so the chief weapon is the Word of
God, especially his promises.
So the Lord gives a warning in verse 3:
"Therefore shall the protection of
Pharaoh [the king of Egypt!] turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow
of Egypt to your humiliation." In other words, your impatience is going to
backfire on you. Egypt will not deliver you; it will be your shame. Your
impatience will turn out to be your humiliation.
This is meant as a warning for all of
us. When our way is barren and it seems and the Lord says wait, we better trust
him and wait, because if we run ahead without consulting him, our plans will
probably not be his plans and they will bring shame on us rather than glory. (Isaiah
50:10–11.)
Title : "Waging War Against Unbelief"
Description : Isaiah 30:1-5 "Ah, stubborn children,” declares the LORD, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not...