How to Overcome Impatience

An assassin that robs us of God’s best for our lives and eventually destroys us is impatience. Impatience is a negative mental attitude that causes you to give up early. It’s borne out of anxiety, and sometimes out of anger. 

As a Christian, you must learn to develop patience in your life. It’s an important virtue that will help you hold your ground in spite of intense pressure. The Bible says, “For you have need of patience that, after you have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise” (Heb 10:36). 

Without patience, you can never achieve anything worthwhile. The great explorers and inventors of our time were not ruled by impatience. Otherwise, they would have given up when they were faced with obstacles. 

Patience is a quality that will help you persevere in adverse situations, and when you lack this virtue you’ll always settle for the lesser things of life. 

An impatient man can never receive from God. He’ll always struggle to make it in life. He can never have anything perfected in his life because he lacks the very quality that’ll cause him to see things to completion – patience.

King Saul's Mistake

An example of the consequences of impatience is the story of Saul, king of Israel. 

The nation of Israel was at war with the Philistines and the Israelite army was completely outnumbered by the Philistine troops. As the Philistine troops prepared for battle, Samuel the Prophet of God, who was supposed to offer sacrifices on behalf of the Hebrews before they go to battle was yet to come. 

In fact Samuel delayed for another seven days As a result of impatience and fear of the enemy, Saul went ahead and offered the sacrifices himself. An act he was forbidden to do. 

As soon as he was through offering the sacrifices, Samuel arrived. Discovering that Saul had offered the offering himself, Samuel asked, “What have you done?” Saul replied, “When I saw the people fled from me, and that you didn’t come within the appointed time, and that the Philistines were prepared for battle, since I thought the Philistines would attack me, I forced myself to offer the sacrifices.” “You have done foolishly” was Samuel’s reply (1Sam 13:8-13). 

Saul’s act of impatience cost him not only the kingdom but also his dynasty. He lost everything!

You see, impatience can make you lose God’s best for your life. We’ve got so many unfulfilled dreams because of impatience. 

For the most part, impatience can cause you to take shortcuts. It can make you take wrong decisions, which will make you take wrong steps, and eventually destroy you.

When you’re impatient, you tend to flare up and become easily irritated and offended with others. 

Impatience Can Unveil Your Illiteracy and Ignorance

Years ago, I read a story by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, of a man who went to a restaurant and paid for a three-course meal. He called the waiter and placed his order from the menu. When the waiter brought a piece of bread and some soup to him, he became very angry, thinking that was the meal he paid so much money for. 

Since he didn’t want to cause a scene, he took the soup and left the restaurant. The waiter then came back to the table with the main course, but to his amazement, the man had left! 

It was obvious that this man had a negative mental attitude. Besides his ignorance that he had paid for a three-course meal, patience would have made him wait for the waiter and then ask why he was given just a piece of bread and some soup for so much money. Impatience unveiled his illiteracy and ignorance.

This generation is a fast-paced one and people want everything instantly. People fly in jets, ride in fast cars, eat in fast-food restaurants, and even get into a relationship and get married within days. Wow! What a generation we are in. 

You see, you would be tempted to follow the trend of this world, yet you’ve got to make up your mind that you’ll be patient with others and yourself. Remember that you wouldn’t be able to function effectively in this world without patience. 

If you want the best in your marriage, job, career, relationship, and in every area of your life, you’ve got to cultivate the attitude-patience. 

Follow those “…who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Heb 6:12). 

Refuse to fret or worry over any issue and trust that God “…who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6). 

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