“The Lord is…slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,” wrote the psalmist. Again and again, God’s people confessed the truth of God’s patience. Sometimes they rejoiced because God did not destroy His people in their sin. Sometimes they lamented “How long, O Lord” when God allowed conquers to come, tolerated evil kings, and seemed unresponsive. That same divine patience is a mystery for us today.
What leads God to wait? Human wisdom prompts us to make the best decisions, to choose the best pathways in order to reach our goals. (True, we are not always wise, other factors get in our way.) Perhaps it is God’s wisdom that couples with His mercy and grace and steadfast love that prompts God to wait until the right time to act. Can that understanding help us affirm and praise God’s wisdom as He propels human history? After all, when we confess that God is sovereign, we are saying God is able to do what is good and right. When we speak of His providence, we are affirming God will act in all things to accomplish His purposes. Again, comes the ancient confession: The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” Biblical history, perhaps your history and mine teach us that sometimes God waits to speak or to act. And often when God acts His work differs from the speedy, right now we expected. Is He too wise to act the way we want?
Jesus recognized our struggle with God’s patience when He told a parable to show His followers that at all times we ought to pray and not to lose heart (Luke 18:1-8). In that parable, a widow persisted in seeking justice from an unjust judge. In time the judge granted her petition. Jesus’ lesson was that God, being infinitely and eternally just, would in His time and way bring about justice.
In millennia past God worked and waited until the fulness of time had come, then the Savior came. In centuries past and perhaps through future centuries, God hears the martyrs cry for justice (Rev. 6:9-11). It is no wonder, then, that we struggle to deal with what God allows and what God does. Human history is filled with horrors and with great, positive steps forward. Our lives are filled with ups and downs, many of them beyond our control or understanding. And so we pray.
Perhaps we want to understand what God is doing and why. Perhaps we yearn and pray for God to act in our nation, our church, our lives. We prayerfully remind God of His promises to hear and to act—and we mean soon! We try to improve our walk with the Lord as a way of influencing God to act. In the face of God’s patience, we sometimes choose other strategies to reach our goals or dreams. And sometimes we stop praying about this or that matter or person or situation. Does God lose “prayer warriors” in that way?
The speed of life to say nothing of the confusing and trying times in which we live push us to demand change. Things need to improve, and quickly. As Christians we know God is involved, but where, when, how? Impatience with ourselves, with others, and with circumstances can “leak over” into impatience with God. God’s thousand-years, thousand days perspective does not fit our view of what ought to be. But Peter, a long time ago, taught “the Lord is not slow about His promises, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you” (2 Peter 3:9).
Today, we can and should lament the sin and suffering around us. And we can and should celebrate every evidence that God cares and loves. And if wait we must, we will remember God is patient and we are His.