It is hard to understand how God puts up with us sometimes.  Mankind is a moral mess, and it is not God’s fault.  He created us upright (Ecclesiastes 7:29), with the ability to make the right choices in life (Genesis 1:26).  This is why Joshua said to the Israelites, “Choose this day whom you will serve…”  They had the ability to make that choice and so do we.

Sadly, more times than not, man makes the wrong choice, and too many times this includes the people of God.  Fortunately for us, we serve a God who is patient.  His patience was on full display while Noah was building the ark.

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, ¹⁹in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, ²⁰because 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.

What was God waiting for in the days of Noah?  The obvious answer is for Noah to finish building the ark, but that was not the only thing for which He was waiting.  Remember, Noah was a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5).  God certainly wanted the people to whom he was preaching to respond favorably, and He waited patiently, probably for 120 years (Genesis 6:3), for them to do so.  That is a long time to give people to repent, isn’t it? It shows us that God really wants man to repent and avoid condemnation.  Peter affirmed such in his second epistle.

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.

The only thing that has delayed the second coming of Christ is the patience of God.  He waits and waits and waits.  Why?  Because He does not want anyone to perish.  His patience gives us a chance to repent when we sin.

It is important that we understand that the patience of God is not endless.  If we openly rebel against God for an ongoing period, He might give us up to do what we want to do.  He has done that in the past.

Romans 1:21–24 (ESV)

²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. ²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,

God does not give us up the moment we sin.  He is too patient to do that.  This does not mean, however, that His patience never ends.  Let us not be like the Jews of old, who, instead of repenting, stored up wrath for themselves (Romans 2:5), something we do when our hearts become too hard.

I know you have your faults and flaws.  We all do.  Thankfully, we serve a patient God who waits on us, giving us a chance to change and do better.  In the meantime, let us serve God every day, repent when we sin, and, thereby, avoid exhausting the patience of our God.

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