Read 1 Samuel 13:1-15
Patience is a virtue, but impatience might be a national trait. Timex asked people how long they would wait before taking action; they learned that most would wait thirteen seconds before honking at a car in front of them stopped at a green light, twenty-six seconds before taking the seat of someone who has walked away, thirteen minutes for a table at a restaurant, and twenty minutes for the last person to show up for Thanksgiving dinner before beginning the meal.
In Saul’s case, impatience was more than a personality trait. It was a sin. Saul sent his son Jonathan to attack the Philistine garrison at Geba and summoned the people to assemble at Gilgal for a sacrificial ceremony. The prophet Samuel had commanded Saul to wait at Gilgal when he anointed him to be king (see 1 Sam. 10:8).
Samuel had been emphatic that Saul must wait for his arrival, but Jonathan’s foray against the Philistines provoked such a hostile response that the troops remaining with Saul began to defect (vv. 6–7). Saul waited for seven days, and still Samuel did not appear. He decided that extreme measures were necessary: he began to offer the burnt
Continue reading Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – REST WRECKERS: IMPATIENCE
