Patient Waiting When

They had seen miracles

The Israelite people passed through the Red Sea on a dry path prepared especially for them by the Lord. They ate manna in the wilderness provided by God. They went onward to Mt. Sinai where they huddled in fear as the Lord descended on the mountain with fire, smoke and trumpet blasts. And they pledged themselves to God: The people all responded together, ‘We will do everything the LORD has said.’ So Moses brought their answer back to the LORD (Ex. 19:8).

And then, just a few days later, Moses went up on the mountain and stayed there 40 days (Ex. 24:15-18).

This is the immediate lead-up to the incident in Exodus 32.

People felt Moses stayed too long

From the fear and expectation of the people as they saw Moses enter the cloud (which they perceived from below as a consuming fire), until the time that they verbally deserted and betrayed him, was only 40 days! In the minds of the people, however, this was an intolerably long wait. Apparently they’d decided for themselves just how the scene should be played out — maybe Moses would go up the mountain and remain away for a day or two, as he’d previously done, and then he’d come right back. They wanted him to come right back. They demanded that he come right back — or they would take matters into their own hands. And when he delayed his coming past the point which they thought was reasonable, they decided on an alternate plan. They would rally around Aaron, and force him to come up with a more responsive god, one who would get them moving in the direction they wanted to go. As for this fellow Moses…… well, who knows? Forget him.

Saul felt Samuel was too long in coming

This passage has obvious Bible echoes. One that immediately comes to mind is from I Samuel 13 — the story of Saul’s gathering against the Philistines in Gilgal (where he finally went several years after Samuel had directed him to go there cf. I Sam. 10:8).

Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter.

So Saul went ahead and offered sacrifices himself.

Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. ‘What have you done?’ asked Samuel. Saul replied, ‘When I saw that the men were scattering and that you did not come at the set time…I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering’ (I Sam. 13:7-12).

But, Samuel had come at the set time — he arrived immediately after Saul did the sacrifice, on the seventh day. Saul, however, had waited as long as he could tolerate, and had grown impatient that Samuel didn’t come when Saul wanted him there. So Saul took matters into his own hands.

In our own case

What is the most obvious Bible echo for this impatience in waiting? Our own waiting for the return to us of the Lord Jesus Christ.

First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our Fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget…But do NOT forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is NOT slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. . .You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. (II Pet. 3:3-12).

We’re very much in the same position as Israel and Saul. We’ve been promised the return of our leader, the one on whom we depend absolutely for our lives and our salvation. Until he returns, we’re powerless. If he doesn’t return, we can’t go where we want to go or be what we want to be. We are nothing in and of ourselves, without our Lord’s return to us.

That being the case, we wait impatiently for him to return to us. Maybe we set limits in our own minds as to when he must return. Perhaps, at the back of our minds, we have a time beyond which we won’t wait and will instead seek out our own devices. We’ll find ourselves something else to absorb our attention, or another leader to put before us. Maybe, like the children of Israel in the wilderness, we can begin to feel bitterness and contempt for our leader – if he really cared about us or about his believers or about the world, would he really stay absent for so long? Where is he, anyway? How much more do we have to put up with? What’s the use of waiting, why not just enjoy what we have now and not really think about his coming? How real is it, anyway?

Peter contrasts our impatience sharply with the Lord’s patience with us. The writer totally reverses the picture. It’s not us who are waiting for him, and with dubious attitude at that, but it’s the Lord who is waiting for us — waiting patiently for all to come to repentance, to turn to him and be saved.

It’s a question of attitude: do we trust him to come at the right time? Or have we set a time beyond which, if he doesn’t show up, we won’t be waiting — Like the children of Israel in the wilderness, or Saul at Gilgal? And with the same outcome.

Sobering thought.