The Patience of God

Nehemiah 9:16,18, 20-21 ESV
” …our fathers acted presumptuously…they refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that You performed among them, But You are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.  Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies,  you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. 

You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst.  Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.”

It’s incredible what God has put up with through the hands, thoughts and attitudes of mankind. But He stays with us, loving us, correcting us, doing miracles among us. His patience is astounding.

He put up with two million Jews in the desert who rebelled and grumbled and complained. He led them around the desert for 40 years because they refused to believe in His promises, but He always provided for their needs.

The next generation He took into the promised land to receive His blessings, but eventually they too rebelled. Yet God has stayed with the Jews for thousands of years. Loving them, protecting them and sustaining them. He does the same for us. Even when we don’t listen, don’t obey, don’t follow through, He is patient, and He waits for us to return.

Prayer:
Father, I can never say thank you enough. I can never say I’m sorrow for my short comings enough. I never want to grieve Your Spirit; I never want to take advantage of Your grace.