Long-suffering
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Long-suffering
Long-suffering
6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Patience of God - Long-suffering - forbearance(tolerance-self-restraint)
Synopsis
God shows forbearance in his character, decisions and actions. Above all, he waits patiently for people to turn to him for salvation.
God’s patient character
God is slow to anger
Nu 14:18 “slow to anger” is the main OT expression for God’s patient character.
Numbers 14:18 (KJV 1900) — 18 The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
Psalm 86:15 (KJV 1900) — 15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
Psalm 103:8 (KJV 1900) — 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
Joel 2:13 (KJV 1900) — 13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, And turn unto the Lord your God: For he is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness, And repenteth him of the evil.
Jonah 4:2 (KJV 1900) — 2 And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
God imparts patience
Ro 15:5 The Greek can be translated “God of endurance/patience”. The phrase suggests that God is patient and imparts patience.
Romans 15:5 (KJV 1900) — 5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
Jeremiah 15:15 (KJV 1900) — 15 O Lord, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.
2 Thessalonians 3:5 (KJV 1900) — 5 And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.
1 Peter 3:20 (KJV 1900) — 20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
God’s patience with sinful people
Amos 5:4 “4 For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:”
God’s patience lasts a long time
Acts 13:18 (KJV 1900) — 18 And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.
Deuteronomy 8:2 (KJV 1900) — 2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
Nehemiah 9:30 (KJV 1900) — 30 Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.
Psalm 78:38 (KJV 1900) — 38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: Yea, many a time turned he his anger away, And did not stir up all his wrath.
God is patient in delaying punishment
Isaiah 42:14 (KJV 1900) — 14 I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: Now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
Habakkuk 2:3 (KJV 1900) — 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, But at the end it shall speak, and not lie: Though it tarry, wait for it; Because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
Psalm 78:38 (KJV 1900) — 38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: Yea, many a time turned he his anger away, And did not stir up all his wrath.
Nehemiah 9:30–31 (KJV 1900) — 30 Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands. 31 Nevertheless for thy great mercies’ sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.
Isaiah 48:9 (KJV 1900) — 9 For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, And for my praise will I refrain for thee, That I cut thee not off.
Sinful people try God’s patience
Malachi 2:17 (KJV 1900) — 17 Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, And he delighteth in them; Or, Where is the God of judgment?
Look at Sodom and Gomorrah
Numbers 14:27 (KJV 1900) — 27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
Psalm 78:41 (KJV 1900) — 41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah 7:13 (KJV 1900) — 13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?
Isaiah 43:24 (KJV 1900) — 24 Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, Neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: But thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.
Examples of God’s patience
Ge 8:22 with creation; Ge 18:32 with the city of Sodom; 1 Sa 3:10 with Samuel
Genesis 8:22 (KJV 1900) — 22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Genesis 18:32 (KJV 1900) — 32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.
1 Samuel 3:10 (KJV 1900) — 10 And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.
With his people
Ezekiel 20:17 (KJV 1900) — 17 Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.
Micah 7:19 (KJV 1900) — 19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; And thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
Jon 3:1 with Jonah
Jonah 3:1 (KJV 1900) — 1 And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
The purpose of God’s patience
Repentance
Ro 2:4
Romans 2:4 (KJV 1900) — 4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
See also 2 Pe 3:9
2 Peter 3:9 (KJV 1900) — 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Salvation
2 Pe 3:15
2 Peter 3:15 (KJV 1900) — 15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
Romans 9:22–24 (KJV 1900) — 22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, 24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
