God's Patience Seen Throughout the Bible

It is not uncommon for someone to share with me that they have trouble with the God of the Old Testament. I hear comments like the following: “Why is God so harsh and judgmental in the Old Testament?” “I have trouble with the wars in the Old Testament.” “I like the God of the New Testament better than the God of the Old Testament.” (Which makes me wonder … if people believe that God “became a Christian in the New Testament?”)

And yet as I read the Bible, I see God’s patience throughout the Bible. One of the little “hidden examples” of God’s Grace is seen in the story of Abraham. God promises Abraham that his descendants will eventually be given the entire land of Canaan as the “promised land.” God tells Abraham that this will come true in 400 + years. He tells him one of the reasons for the delay of this promise being fulfilled is the following: “You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure" (Genesis 15:15-16).

It appears that God was patient with an entire nation waiting for their sin to reach its full measure before allowing Israel to displace (and destroy) the Amorites and take captive of the land that they now inhabited (see Numbers 21 and 22). God was willing to wait 400 years longing for the Amorites to turn away from evil and turn to Him.

Now that is patience!!