I must be careful not to be impatient with God, for impatience is childishness, and childishness is an obstacle to God’s working in me. Moses was childish when he cried, “You have not rescued your people at all” (Exodus 5:23, NIV). He thought God should have delivered His people from Egypt immediately, and since God did not respond that way, Moses impatiently exploded against God.
Childishness destroys the very character of God. It says, “God promised but He has not done it.” It reckons that God’s actions must be compressed into my time schedule and must be done in my way. It is the frustration of a baby who cannot control his parents, who cannot cope with an adult world. Childishness is essentially trying to bring God down to earth and forcing Him to obey earthly laws instead of the laws of heaven. It is like a child who would render his parents infants instead of becoming mature as they are.
Am I a sulking Christian? Do I flare up like Moses, pout like King Saul, or sulk like Jonah? Do I get peeved at God because I cannot control Him, put a handle on Him? The remedy for childishness is not time, for many people are still childish in later years.
The remedy is a good look at ourselves, for nothing stops the pouting better than a good look in the mirror! That is why I must use my Bible constantly, not only for what it tells me about God, but what it tells me about myself! The Bible, like my mirror, is my truest friend. It tells me what I need to know.
James tells me that if I look properly at my spiritual mirror and correct the pouty look, I will be “blessed” in what I do (James 1:25). That is the maturity I want, Lord, to be blessed in what I do.
“If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1).
Daily with the King 