BBD 09.16.15 The Patience of God (Classic)
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The Burning
Bush Devotional
Classic
from 2008
09.16.15
The
Patience of God
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares
us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the
right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility
from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your
souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. - Hebrews
12:1-4 NKJV.
I used Google to search for the phrase “I lost my patience” and found
some 29,000 results. After I left out the word “lyrics” in my search, I still found 22,300 mentions
of the phrase. I then did a search for the phrase “I’m sorry I lost my patience” and
found only 14 mentions of that phrase. It appears that there is a whole lot of
patience being lost, but not very many people are sorry about it! Patience (NIV) or longsuffering (NKJV) is one of the fruits of the Spirit
listed in Galatians 5:22-23 along with temperance (KJV) or self-control (NIV) (Fast forward to 2015, and in the NIV that I
downloaded to my kindle last week “patience” has been changed to “forbearance.”) So, as
Christians, the more control that the Holy Spirit has of our lives should
result in more patience and self-control. The lack of patience and self-control indicates that we are the ones on the throne in our lives
and not the Lord.
Have you ever considered the patience of God? He has such
great patience with us. As the hymn says He could have called 10,000 angels to
destroy the world and set Him free from the cross, but He didn’t. Instead Jesus
“endured the cross,” “endured such hostility
from sinners against Himself.” Not only
does God have great patience with us as sinners (And His mercies through Jesus
are sufficient for every repentant sinner.), but he has great patience in
guiding us.
Think for a moment about Gideon in the Old Testament (Judges 6:1-7:22). God finds Gideon
hiding in an abandoned winepress, threshing wheat, but fearing for his life.
God calls him to be the one to lead Israel in delivering them from the
Midianites. From Gideon’s actions we know that he continues to have doubts
about God’s call and how the deliverance is to be brought about. Even so, God
is patient! He gives Gideon six reassurances as He leads Gideon to victory over
the Midianites.
God created us and He knows our frailties, our
weaknesses. He knows that we need His guidance, His reassurances. When He calls
us, He is not finished with the process. That’s the beginning. He is still there
to guide us when we have our doubts. He is still there to reassure us, to point
us again in the right direction. He loves us as His children. Because He “endured the contradiction of sinners,” how much more so does He endure and have patience with
us His children.
Not sure about where or what God wants in your life? Ask
Him? He will not be angry. Would we be angry at our own children if they asked
us what we wanted? No, of course not! God is all powerful and all knowing. I
think that He can handle a question or two (or three, or four, or five....)
from His children. Unlike us, God does have patience!
Copyright © 2008-2015. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of those
first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to
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