Consider The Patience Of God …
“But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.” (Psalm 86:15)
Our God … the Creator and Sustainer of this world … is such an awesome God!
It can be a real challenge when we try to get our hands around His absolute perfection. Our finite minds can sometimes even struggle with firmly grasping all the implications of this truth.
Even with a casual glance into the Scriptures, the truth of the patience of God is found in the ink penned on the pages of His “inspired word.” “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1). His patience is on full display!
And so, we can see emphatically where to go … where to look … and where to understand what “patience” is. God is the perfect example; He is the epitome in every way of what “patience” is.
There are so many passages of Scripture referencing, describing, appreciating … His “longsuffering” it would require a great deal of space on multiple pages if we tried to list them all. Try it yourself.
Our God is patient. It is not something He has to learn or to even work on. He is it! He doesn’t find the need to develop it more fully, our God continually shows, demonstrates, and displays it!
We ought to be so grateful … every day … that we can count on His love, mercy, grace, and patience. He was patient with Adam and Eve in the Garden … with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob … and every other character we read about. It is Who He is!
As we think about it more often, we discover just how patient He has been with the world from the beginning … even when so many use His patience as a reason to not only mock His existence but as a reason to rebel against His will … and yes, to even blaspheme His glorious name!
But bringing it down to an even closer level … He is so patient with each one of us! My, oh my, how patient He has been with me. Has He been with you?
And the reassuring thought regarding His patience toward us is that we can depend upon it every moment of every day … that is until the time when His Son, Jesus Christ, comes to “judge the world!”
This amazing and powerful attribute, characteristic, and quality … was beautifully on full display for us to not only see but to learn from … in the life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
As the “Suffering Servant”… in His own words, “… just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:27-28)
The perseverance … the resolve … that He demonstrated again and again … all the adversity He was called upon to face … and then the brutal scorn and abuse at the hands of evil men … it is all so much to try and take in! How does this loving demonstration of heavenly patience not stir our hearts and souls to become more like Him!
So … we’ve said all of this to ask: Were it not for the “longsuffering of God” in His dealings with mankind … yes … even with each of us … where would we be?
My friends and brethren, it is only as we come face to face with these truths that we will be moved to “bow humbly before Him” and ask, plead, and even beg for His forgiveness and pardon! And He is waiting for each of us.
The Apostle Paul understood, experienced, and held on to the truth that God’s help is absolutely indispensable if we are to live in a way that will honor and please Him. The “patience of Christ” was so extraordinary in his own life that he wanted the same recognition in his brethren’s hearts and lives.
With these thoughts in mind, Paul asks God to direct these brethren into having a deeper sense of gratitude for God’s love for them, along with a greater awareness of the patience, endurance, and perseverance of Jesus Christ on their behalf!
And may it be so with each one of us.
“Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 3:5)
Bill Fairchild, Jr.
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