Does God's Patience Move You to Praise?

It seems that most people have a natural bent towards wanting to see those who are wrong experience justice. Wouldn’t you agree? Consider some examples: You’re driving down the road and someone driving recklessly cuts in front of you and nearly causes you to get into an accident. For most of us our normal reaction is to hope that maybe just down the road a state trooper will be observing traffic and will pull him over and give him what he deserves. Or maybe you’ve heard on the news or read an article about a famous athlete or celebrity having committed a crime. Most of us have seen enough examples of this to believe that the athlete or celebrity involved will probably go unpunished or at worst get a light slap on the wrist. But at the same time most of us are also wishing deep down that for once the individual’s money or status would not be taken into consideration and that he would be punished just like any normal individual would be if he had committed the same crime.
A healthy desire for justice isn’t a bad thing. Our God is a just God, which means that His character requires justice to be done. When we have a healthy desire for justice it demonstrates that we have an understanding of right and wrong and it can demonstrate that we are growing in godliness. A healthy desire for justice can also stir us to action so that we defend those who are weak or less capable. A healthy desire for justice can truly lead to great good. But the problem is that our sinful nature often gets in the way and can subtly move our healthy desire for justice into an unhealthy attitude towards others (or worse – God, Himself).
The unfortunate situation, if the truth be told, is most of us who are believers (in reality probably all of us who are believers) have probably experienced at one time or another frustration with God because of a situation in which we felt like God was not dealing justly with someone who we perceived to be in the wrong. We observed a pattern of words, thoughts, or actions of an individual which was inconsistent with godly character and recognized a need for justice. But after a few days there was no evidence of God exercising His justice. A few days turned to weeks, and a few weeks turned to months, and still there was no evidence of God exercising His justice. We understood that biblical principles had been violated because we have evidence of that in His Word, and yet God did not seem at all concerned about exercising His justice. Not understanding what was going on we became confused. God’s heart, revealed in His Word, says that what was taking place was displeasing to Him and yet the only One who was capable of carrying out justice wasn’t doing anything. Our confusion turned to frustration, and our frustration to anger. Have you ever been in that place? I sure have. So what can be done to turn that unhealthy frustration and anger into something more healthy and edifying?
When we don’t feel that justice is being served, rather than becoming consumed with the particulars of the situation, we need to be focused on the character of our God. Why? Because if we look beyond the situation to the character of our God then what we will most likely see on display is God’s great patience. Examine Scripture and you will find that one of the character traits of God is patience. Here are just a few examples from the New Testament:
· “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” - Romans 2:4
· “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?” - Romans 9:22
· “Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.” - 1 Timothy 1:16
· “. . . who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.” - 1 Peter 3:20
· “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” - 2 Peter 3:9
Although God requires justice, because of His great love for us and for His creation He often waits patiently before exercising it. He wants people to recognize the errors they have made and the sins they have committed and to repent from them and to turn back to Him. He longs for us to be in right relationship with Him and so there are times in which He extends great patience and mercy to us. I could give you numerous examples of times in which I believe God showed me great patience, times when there was a continual bitterness of heart, or times when I persisted in a wrong attitude. But the greatest example I could give would be the years of my life I spent as an unbeliever, living in sin and pursuing only that which brought me pleasure. I was very fortunate to come to Christ at the age of 8, but understand that those 8 years of my life were 8 years in which I was guilty of sin, having no concern or love for Christ, and in which I was unable to do anything for His praise or His glory. The sins that I committed in those 8 years were deserving of God’s condemnation and wrath. God could have taken me out and condemned me to an eternity in hell and He would have been completely justified in doing so. But He was patient with me, giving me opportunities to hear and to read the truth communicated in His word, to repent of my sin, and to turn to Him. And now, because of His great patience I have received salvation and have new life in Him. I have a gift that I am completely undeserving of and which I never would have had an opportunity to receive without the patience shown to me.
When you realize that God’s patience has been shown to you and you realize the tremendous impact that it has made in your life, you should be moved to praise Him for it. His patience in your life should fill your heart with gratitude and thanksgiving and you should praise Him for that. But this isn’t just true for your own personal life. When you see God’s patience extended to others it should also move your heart to praise. The natural reaction is to want to see His justice exercised in the lives of others. But challenge yourself to see God’s patience on display in the lives of others and then let that remind you of God’s great patience in your own life and allow that to stir in your heart praise for Him. When we can rid ourselves of unhealthy attitudes toward God and choose instead to see His greatness and glory on display, we can grow in our relationship with Him, rather than putting harmful stumbling blocks in our way.