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WAIT: GOD IS NOT IN A HURRY

01/06/2018 06:13:00 By Martin Dlamini

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“AN inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed,” Proverbs 20:21. Warm greetings to you reader today in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; the one by whom are all things, and the one for whom are all things. And I do hope that this issue of the Times of Swaziland finds you and your family in good health.

The words I have quoted above come from the book of ‘Proverbs’; a Bible collection of wise sayings about spiritual truths and also common sense concerning all areas of human life. Reader, these Bible sayings help us to avoid ungodly conduct; they help us to correct our lifestyles.

The saying we are looking at today is Proverbs 20:21. It says; “An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.” Another version of the Bible puts it this way: “An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning will not be blessed at the end.” And in the siSwati version of the Bible, this proverb says; “Ingcebo letfolakale ngekushesha igcina ingenasibusiso.”

One day Jesus Christ was teaching, and he told the story of a certain man who had two sons (Luke 15:11-32). The younger went to his father and said; “Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.” Then this young man gathered together all his belongings and set off for a distant country ‘where he squandered his wealth with wild living.’ But after he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. And in his need, he longed to eat what pigs were eating ‘but no one gave him anything’.

The wealth that the young man hastily obtained vanished in no time. He was not prepared to wait for the right time. He wanted his inheritance even before his parents died. He felt delayed. He wanted ‘instant’ wealth. He had two ways of getting his share of the inheritance: a long one and a short one. He chose the short one. And lost his blessings.

Reader, another proverb goes on to say; “A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent,” Proverbs 28:20. It matters to God how we obtain the things we have. As we ‘make haste to be rich’ we may leave a trail of innocent victims; and God is not there. God is not in a hurry. To God there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heaven, and “He hath made everything beautiful in His time,” Eccl.3:11.

There is also a Greek saying that says; “No righteous man ever grew rich suddenly.” This saying speaks for itself. And I also commend to you reader the word in Proverbs 29:1. It is a timely warning. It says; “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” By heeding the above words of Scripture, we can avoid the things that can destroy our lives and those of our families ‘without remedy’. I am Reverend David Mathse of The Family of God Church International, Matsapha.