Numbers 21: 4b-5
The people's patience was worn out by the journey; so they complained against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!"
I've said many times that becoming a parent has revealed so many things to me about myself and about God as my Father. One thing that it has made abundantly clear is that I struggle with patience. Sometimes at the end of a difficult day, I am very quick to loose my temper with my kids. One night I screamed at them as we were unloading from the car because they were dilly-dallying in the garage and I had to go to the bathroom, badly. True story. Way too often my level of patience influences the kind of mom I am and I know that's not fair to my children.
The Israelites were tired and growing impatient and they fell into the same trap I did. They wanted comfort and their own land and they expected it by now. Their impatience prevented them from seeing that God was giving them what they needed at that time and it made them forget that He had delivered them out of the hands of the Egyptians.
Does your lack of patience make you blind or deaf to the way God is working in your life? If we stop and take a deep breath and thank God for His patience with us, reflect on that for even 30 seconds, I bet it will be easier for us to give that grace to others.
