God is Patient

We know our God is a patient ( longsuffering) God because He tells us He is . In Exodus 34:6 when the Lord passed before Moses He said, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious , longsuffering …..” Romans 15:5 says, “Now may the God of patience….” And in Psalm 86:15, David exclaims , “You , O Lord are a God full of compassion … and long suffering.”.
In I Peter 3:20 we read of the longsuffering or patience of God when He waited 120 years before pouring out His wrath on the disobedient. Why was He patient? Because He was waiting for Noah to build the ark so that He could save eight people..

The reluctant missionary , Jonah, after he is spit up out of the whale finally goes to warn the Ninevites that in 40 days they would be destroyed. When God responds to the Ninevites' repentance with mercy , Jonah becomes angry . He excuses his anger by declaring that he knew it was a waste of time to go warn the Ninevites because he knew God was slow to anger (patient) and would forgive them.

So we know that God is a God of patience because we read about it in the pages of our bible.
But what if we had no bible .. what if we had never heard of the One True God, could we still know that the Creator of our world is a God of patience?
Romans 1:20 tells us that God’s attributes or characteristics are revealed in the things He has made and are evident for all to see. Evidence of God’s nature is hidden in His creation. ( Isn’t it interesting that we call God’s creation ‘nature’ , but then forget whose Nature it reveals?)
Looking at the world we live in do we see evidence that would convince us that God is patient?

Consider the Japanese Peony. It takes 3-5 years before it blooms, then it only blooms for 3 days a year.
What about the tiny Kurinji flower that grows in the southern Western Ghats in India. Just once every 12 years the hills erupt in an explosion of blue and purple kurinji flowers drawing thousands of tourists to see the spectacular sight.
Then there is the Century plant , varying in height from 15-40 feet , which supposedly blooms once every 100 years, - but actually it can bloom once anywhere from 20 -80 years. Would you have the patience to plant a flower in your garden and wait 80 years for it to bloom ?
Do these flowers not indicate that the God who created them is a God of patience?

I grew up on a farm and I remember watching one of my cats sitting in the pasture , waiting absolutely motionless for ages , waiting for a little field mouse to pop up out of its tiny home. Again , a display of patience.
I have watched the robin sit on its 4 blue eggs, patiently , day in and day out . Does it even know what it is waiting for? But while it sits it is proclaiming to us that its Creator is patient.

Throughout the cold of winter, plants lie dormant , gophers, ground squirrels and bear hibernate, patiently waiting for the winter to pass .

In some parts of our globe the summer is short .. only a few weeks duration. The rest of the year nature waits , patiently, for that small growing window in which to spring to life before the long winter closes in again.
Does that not show that our God is a patient God?

We too are called to emulate our Father God , to be patient – as He is patient . “Therefore , as the elect of God holy and beloved put on…longsuffering..” ( Col. 3:12)
Are we exercising ourselves to be more patient? Hebrews 12:12 encourages us, “ … but imitate those who thorough faith and patience inherit the promises.”

Next time you go for a walk in God’s nature… look for the ‘brushstrokes on His canvas’ that reveal His characteristics.