“And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.” - Exodus 34:5-9
What a stubborn people we are! The Lord is very patient with us. How many times does he, through his Word give us commandments? And how many times, how many reminders, how many years even, does it take us to yield to him as he desires? There are many teachings in scripture which are very clear. What excuse have we not to obey them immediately? Yet we are pitiful, and God is patiently teaching us, and leading us further, deeper, into a fuller understanding. Just because we do not immediately turn to the Lord in everything, it does not mean that we are lost. But we must grow and not look for what appear to be loopholes in order to avoid submitting to God.
God’s anger must be great for the many who claim to know him and yet disobey him. God‘s anger is kindled against his own people who disobey him (Psalm 74:1, Psalm 85:4, Numbers 22:22, Deuteronomy 6:15), and yet he is slow to anger and delights in mercy (Joel 2:13, Micah 7:18).
Let us not use God’s patience as an excuse to delay turning to him in everything. Rather let us consider his patience and bear with our brothers and sisters who struggle in areas we may not. Also see Exodus 34:6, and Romans 2:4.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. - 2 Peter 3:9
“But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.” - Psalms 86:15