It is always encouraging to think about God and remember how good He is.  The character of God is so sublime that it is edifying to consider how it affects our relationship with Him.  A good passage to look at to help us remember God is Deuteronomy 8, a scripture that actually warns us not to forget Him.

Deuteronomy 8:11 (ESV)
¹¹  “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today,

Let us focus this week on remembering God.  I will begin by considering His patience.

Deuteronomy 8:2 (ESV)
²  And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness…

The forty years of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness was a time of patience, not for the people, but for God.  Through all of the complaining, bickering, and stiff-neckedness, God patiently put up with the Israelites, and it was not the first time He demonstrated longsuffering with His creation.  In the days of Noah, God patiently gave the people an opportunity to repent.

1 Peter 3:18-20 (ESV)
¹⁸  For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹  in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, ²⁰  because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

Most scholars believe that it took Noah 120 years to build the ark (Genesis 6:3).  You cannot say that God did not give man plenty of time to repent.  The truth is, God has always been a patient God, and for that, we should all be thankful.  Have you ever wondered why the Lord has not come back yet?  The Bible tells us.

2 Peter 3:9 (ESV)
⁹  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Sometimes you hear people speak of the condition of the world today and declare that the Lord is going to come back soon because things are so bad.  That is to ignore the long-suffering of God.  The very fact that Jesus has not returned highlights the patience of our Maker.

The reason we should be thankful for the patience of God is that we so badly need it.  It is more than academic; it is necessary for our continued fellowship with Him because we all fall short from time to time.  We not only sin after we obey the gospel (1 John 1:8-10), we often commit the same sin more than once.  As God was patient with His people in the wilderness, He continues to be patient with us as we grow in Christ.  I pray that I never take this for granted, but will appreciate this characteristic in my God.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.