The Blessing of Patience

I Samuel 13.11-14


Great damage caused by haste and impatience.

Knee jerk reactions are often destructive.

I have seen people shoot themselves in the foot for not waiting, for being impatient.

Unfortunately Saul is an example of that. What was worse is this involved breaking commandments, dishonoring the LORD. It was so severe it meant the the kingdom was going to another.

If he had just waited one more hour Samuel would have arrived.

Growing in patience is not an easy. It is a battle, in fact. It comes through the trials.
James 1:2-4 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.


How To Fight Impatience

* Don't look at situations just through your own eyes. Do not lean on your own understanding. Saul did that.
Don't let that happen to you.

*Beware of panic. Never make a major decision in a time of stress. It is interesting how stress and impatience can go hand and hand. I think just the physical effects of stress call us to act prematurely. We want to get out of the discomfort of it. Just do something. That something will happen.

*Recall the scriptures on the virtue of waiting:

Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength;They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Psalm 27:14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Psalm 37:34 Wait on the Lord, and keep His way, and He shall exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.

Psalm 5:3 In the morning, Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.

Psalm 40:1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.

Psalm 130:6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.

Isaiah 64:4 Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

Waiting is a way of life for us as believers:
Romans 8:23-25 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Patience is surrender to God's timing, His Will and His plan for your life.

1. Patience Assures Us We Will Not Miss God's Best.

The flesh is so deceitful. It calls on us to act impulsively.
This works even in making purchases. Stores like Target go after the impulse buyers. Be patient! Buyer beware!

What is true in Target is also true in life.

Esau and Jacob are opposite in their relations with women. Jacob was patient, Esau was not.
Genesis 28:6-9 Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram. Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac. So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.
Esau did not wait for his parent's approval, Jacob did.

Towards the end of time, when Jesus is coming, when the pressure is upon everyone to take the mark of the beast so they can buy and sell, we are told in Revelation,
Revelation 14:12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.

2. Patience Lessens the Friction Between Us and Others.
If you shoot off your mouth, you lose your peace.

Proverbs 13:3 He who guards his mouth preserves his life, But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.

Proverbs 18:6-7 A fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calls for blows. A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.

Proverbs 21:23 Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.


Waiting for God to work rather than rushing is the best.
Nature attests to this. The sweetest tomatoes are vine ripened. Sugar, sun
all things that take their time. Abiding in Christ takes patience.

Little Helps
*Bring a Book to Read
*Pray
*Redeem the time
*Do something other than watching the clock

3. Patience Is Reflecting the Heart of God.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

I Samuel 14.6-12
Here is an example of a patient warrior of the LORD.
Recognizing God's strength and power
Properly seeing the LORD before rushing into battle. Can you imagine how different Saul's story would have been if he thought, believed and acted like this?

4. Love is Patient.
1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

The lack of patience also brings in the lack of kindness. Impatience is usually is expressed in unkind words, the honking of a horn, etc.

The Greatest is Love.

We are to grow in this grace.
James 1:3-4 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
Patience is developed in the pressure cooker of life. It is a virtue that is hard and difficult to develop but oh what an asset it is to the person in whom it is perfected.

God entrusts much to the patient person, sometimes doubling their blessings as in the case of Job.

We are seeking to be peacemakers, which requires the utmost patience. If we submit to the LORD, He will develop this grace in us.

Take the warning today from this lesson in the life of Saul. (desired)
Be encouraged from the life of Jonathan. (Jehovah has given)