Make Haste! Make Haste!

                Impulsiveness has always been a weakness of mine. I have a tendency to jump in head first into a situation and I usually end up getting hurt. Last evening the sense of urgency came over me again, and I wanted to act in haste. My husband and I talked about a situation we are trusting in the Lord for, and as we talked I felt overwhelmed with the need to make haste. This morning, as I prayed I found that same sense of urgency welling up inside me and the word “hasty” came into my heart. As you know, when I hear I word I have to investigate, because the Lord always has something specific to say to me.

                “The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.” Proverbs 21:5

                For someone like me who tends to be impulsive, these words cut to my heart this morning. What happened in my spirit last night was hastiness, it was the desire to be rash and react instead of trusting in the Lord who holds my days in His hands. Haste leads to worry, while diligence leads to peace. God does not act in haste, He never has. He is a diligent God who plans the ways before us, and as we walk He lays open to us the way in which we should go. When we act in haste we are not walking in faith nor are we trusting in Him.

                The Lord may reveal to us the way that He wants us to go, but He never asks us to jump in head first. He wants His children to be diligent in their ways, to plan and to persevere towards the goals He has laid before us. When I begin to act in haste I am no longer trusting in His Sovereign rule over my life. The writer of Proverbs tells us that those that are diligent will find the path the plenty, but for those of us who act or react in haste will find ourselves in poverty.

                The words plenty and poverty can mean earthly riches and poverty, but they can also mean spiritual riches and spiritual poverty. When my reaction to a situation is one of haste, I will find myself worried, fretting and sometimes fearful. But diligent plodding along the path that the Lord has laid for us will always bring us peace. If I am not experience peace, then perhaps I am acting in haste. Haste leads to worry, but diligence leads to peace.

                “For you shall not go out with haste; nor go by flight; for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” Isaiah 52:12

                We have no reason to act or react in haste, for the Lord goes before us and He has our backs. If He has said this is the way in which we should go, then all we have to do is walk it. He does not ask us to run, or to take off like we have been shot from a cannon. He asks that we take the path before us one step at a time. We act in haste, we react with haste, and we can be impulsive in our decisions. When we do, this will always lead to trouble, trials, worry and doubt. But those who diligently trust in the Lord will find themselves in a peace that surpasses understanding.

                “The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness ... A man that is thoughtful and studious, and wisely forms schemes in his mind, and diligently pursues them; the issue of it is, generally speaking, prosperity and plenty: such a man is usually thriving and flourishing; and this holds good in things spiritual, as well as in things temporal,( Matthew 25:29); but of everyone that is hasty only to want; that is in haste to be rich, and is resolved to be so, right or wrong, he comes at last to poverty and want: or he who is rash and precipitate in acting, who never thinks before he acts, but rashly engages in an affair; or, however, does not give himself time enough to think it over, but, as soon as ever it has entered his thoughts, he immediately attempts to put it in execution; a man so thoughtless and inconsiderate, so rash and hasty, brings himself and family to poverty; (see  Proverbs 20:21).” {Gil’s Exposition of the Bible, Biblecc.com)

                When we act in haste, or when we act on impulse we are not acting on direction from the Lord, but following the schemes of our own hearts. We can be deceived in this, and we can hurt many by our impulsive behavior. When I am pressed, feeling a sense of urgency, I need to take a step back, take a deep breath and seek God. God is not hasty. It has taken centuries to unfold His will and His plans for mankind, what makes us think He is going to change for us and be in a hurry? All through the Bible you read of God’s timing. His timing is not our timing. We may want to hurry up and get to the goal, but God may be telling us to slow down, take a deep breath and trust in His timing.

                Jesus tells us in Luke 14:28-31 that no one goes to build a tower and just begins building it. No, they sit back, figure up what it will cost, how it needs to be built and then set out to do it. You don’t just build a house without a plan or thought to the cost. Our lives should not be any different. Any idea, thought, dream, desire that we have should be brought under the careful guidance of our Lord and Savior and then executed as He leads. Or else we may find ourselves in the middle of building a tower and realize we don’t have the means to finish it. Haste leads to worry and poverty, but diligent trust in the Lord leads to rich blessings for sure.

             

   My haste leads me to worry and I always end up getting hurt and hurting others. But when I wait on the Lord, and I follow His leading with diligence, He always leads me to the blessing of His peace and the glory of His presence. When we act or react in haste we will always find ourselves in poverty, we will be lacking in some area of our life. But when we take the path before us one step at a time He will lead us into the riches He has waiting for us.

                Your heart may be telling you to make haste, but the Lord is always asking us to slow down, be thoughtful in all we do and wait on Him. He is in complete control of our lives. Our God is not an impulsive God, and we as His children should not be either. May the Lord give you peace today as you take your paths one step at a time. To Him be glory forever and ever, Amen and Amen.