Lighthouse Trails Research Journal
19
THE ISRAELITES’ IMPATIENCE Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy
people, which thou broughtest out
of the land of Egypt, have corrupted
themselves. (Exodus 32:2-7)
he Bible makes it clear that Jesus’ fol-
lowers are to wait patiently for His re-
turn. The Book of Exodus records how the
Israelites did not wait patiently when Moses
“delayed” his return from Mount Sinai: The apostle Paul cites this particular in-
cident to warn how the Israelites’ simple
act of impatience resulted in their “cor-
rupting themselves”:
PATIENTLY WAITING AND ENDURING THROUGH IT ALL
EDITOR’S NOTE: In 2016, Warren B. Smith
released his book, Pressing On Through It
All. He wrote it during a time that was
encompassed with many trials, challenges,
and heartbreaks including a heart attack,
the loss of his house in a fire, and the pass-
ing of two co-laborers in ministry, Ray
Yungen and Caryl Matrisciana. The book
is mostly Scripture organized by chapters
that each have a central theme. Lighthouse
Trails published these chapters as separate
booklets as we found them to be of such
wonderful encouragement and reminders
of who God is and of what He promises
to those who put their trust in Him. The
following is an excerpt from one of these
booklets.
PATIENTLY WAITING AND
ENDURING THROUGH IT ALL
WARREN B. SMITH
For we are saved by hope: but hope
that is seen is not hope: for what a
man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
But if we hope for that we see not,
then do we with patience wait for it.
(Romans 8:24-25)
W
ENDURING PATIENCE
ebster’s New World Dictionary de-
fines the word “patient” as “bear-
ing or enduring pain, trouble, etc. with-
out complaining or losing self-control,
calmly tolerating delay, confusion; able to
wait calmly for something desired; steady,
diligent, persevering.” The Greek mean-
ing according to Strong’s Concordance is to
have “a cheerful or hopeful endurance; a
constancy or enduring patience; a patient
continuance (waiting).” In short, patience
may be seen as the ability to cheerfully
and hopefully wait and endure—without
complaint—whatever befalls us.
Volume 7—No. 5
T
And when the people saw that
Moses delayed to come down out
of the mount, the people gathered
themselves together unto Aaron, and
said unto him, Up, make us gods,
which shall go before us; for as for this
Moses, the man that brought us up
out of the land of Egypt, we wot not
what is become of him. (Exodus 32:1)
In their impatience, the Israelites “cor-
rupted themselves” by worshiping a
god of their own making. Instead of
waiting patiently for Moses and the
true God of Israel, the people created
another god. Scripture records how
“the people sat down to eat and to
drink, and rose up to play”:
And Aaron said unto them, Break off
the golden earrings, which are in the
ears of your wives, of your sons, and of
your daughters, and bring them unto
me. And all the people brake off the
golden earrings which were in their
ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
And he received them at their hand,
and fashioned it with a graving tool,
after he had made it a molten calf: and
they said, These be thy gods, O Israel,
which brought thee up out of the land
of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it,
he built an altar before it; and Aaron
made proclamation, and said, To
morrow is a feast to the LORD. And
they rose up early on the morrow, and
offered burnt offerings, and brought
peace offerings; and the people sat
down to eat and to drink, and rose
up to play. And the LORD said unto
Neither be ye idolaters, as were
some of them; as it is written, The
people sat down to eat and drink,
and rose up to play. . . . Now all
these things happened unto them
for ensamples: and they are written
for our admonition, upon whom
the ends of the world are come.
Wherefore let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall. (1
Corinthians 10:7,11-12)
In a letter to the Romans, Paul empha-
sizes how these former events described
in Scripture can comfort us and help us
to learn patience and hope:
For whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our
learning, that we through patience
and comfort of the scriptures might
have hope. (Romans 15:4)
The first stanza of the hymn My Soul
With Patience Waits underscores the im-
portance of patience and the comfort of
God’s Word—how we are to patiently
wait for our Lord:
My soul with patience waits
For Thee, the living Lord
My hopes are on thy promise built,
Thy never-failing word.
The following selected verses from Scrip-
ture describe the importance of patience
and how—with God’s help—we are to
patiently wait and endure whatever cir-
cumstances arise in our lives.
Continues on next page
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019