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Exodus 33:12–34:7
“The Lord passed before [Moses] and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness’” (34:6).
For most if not all of us, patience is learned. Who among us has not seen a young child throw a fit because he was told to wait for something that he wanted right away? Even for adults, waiting without nervous obsession or frustration regarding an outcome can be difficult. So often, we get angry with an annoying person, condition, or circumstance immediately instead of bearing with it. In fact, true patience is impossible for us in our own effort. The Holy Spirit must produce the fruit of godly patience in us, or it will remain elusive.
God Almighty, on the other hand, never fails to be patient. Scripture makes this clear. Consider how the Apostle Peter speaks directly of “the patience of our Lord” (2 Peter 3:15). Patience is such an important attribute of God that when God gave Moses the most direct vision of Himself possible (Ex. 33:12–34:7), He declared that He is “slow to anger” (34:6). When we are speaking of divine patience, God’s slowness to anger and to exercise His wrath come especially into view.
The patience of the Lord is good news for sinners. After all, because God is the perfectly righteous Judge (Ps. 7:11), He would be well within His “rights,” so to speak, to immediately destroy us the instant we commit our first personal sin. He would also be perfectly just to destroy all of us for our sin in Adam and the sinful condition in which we are born (see Rom. 5:12–21). Yet He is patient with sinners, showing great kindness in delaying (from our perspective) His wrath so that transgressors might be led to repentance (2:4). The seventeenth-century Reformed theologian Petrus van Mastricht tells us that the patience of God with sinners in this way is caused by the Lord’s “good and beneficent nature, more prone to doing good than to destroying (Lam. 3:33; Jer. 31:20).”
Although we celebrate God’s patience with us, we sometimes find ourselves frustrated by it when we are suffering or when we look at the sheer scope of evil in the world and it seems as if nothing is being done about it. With David, we may cry out: “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?” (Ps. 13:1). Yet we should strive not to allow ourselves to be frustrated by God’s patience, for that betrays a lack of trust in Him. Because God is patient, He always acts at the perfect moment for our ultimate good and His ultimate glory (Rom. 8:28). While He may seem slow to us, He always acts right on time.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Sometimes, from our perspective, the Lord may seem slow to act. Yet because He is patient, we know that He is never slow. Instead, He acts at the right time, bringing wrath or blessing only at the most appropriate moment according to His perfect counsel and character. May we rejoice that God is patient toward us though we sin, may we never take advantage of it, and may we remember that God always acts at the perfect time.
For further study
- Nahum 1:3
- 2 Peter 3:9
The bible in a year
- 1 Kings 3–5
- Luke 23:1–25
- 1 Kings 6–9
- Luke 23:26–56