Tag: Patience

The Glory of the Lord and hope for sinners

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

“The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.” (Ex 34:6–8)

We are all seeking hope. We want to believe something good will come of our lives, the world in which we live, and the world we leave to our children and grandchildren. We hope the future holds the answer to our questions, and the fulfillment of promises we believe to be true about the world in which we live. However, the hope the world holds onto is unknown hope. In other words, we don’t know if it will happen, but we hope it will. 

In contrast to worldly hope, there is a hope that is known, that is sure and present. It is the hope the Lord provides. On the heels of the golden calf episode in Exodus, Moses asks the Lord to show him His glory. The Lord agrees. He tells Moses He will pass by him while proclaiming His name. As well as He agrees to show Moses His back but not His face, because no man can see the face of God and live. 

The name God uses in His discourse is LORD – Yahweh. He proclaims Himself to be a God of mercy, patience, steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiveness and justice. 

These attributes about God represent God’s glory. They show the greatness and weightiness of God. 

His attributes, His glory, comforts the sinner because forgiveness is possible, due His mercy, grace, slowness to anger, steadfast love and faithful. While God is a God of justice, He is also willing to forgive those who repent of their sin. We have time to repent because God is long suffering with us. The moment we transgress His commands, we deserve to be destroyed, but we are not. Instead we are allowed to continue living. God’s long suffering doesn’t mean God is a pushover. He will punish sin. He will continue to visit His wrath on mankind until they repent. Our God is a God of justice. But His justice is tempered by His love, grace, mercy, and long-suffering. God is not out to get you. He is not waiting for you to mess up so He can fire His wrath in your direction. He is a gracious and merciful God. A God in which we can place our hope. Hope because we know He will not change. What He promises will happen. 

If you are searching for hope, quit searching in the world. Turn to the God of the Bible, the Lord, Yahweh. In Him we find hope because in Him we find life. We find a relationship and provision. 

What should we think of God’s command to destroy an entire nation?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals3 Comments

In The God Delusion Richard Dawkins says,

“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

But is this true? Is God who Dawkins makes Him out to be? In order to understand where Dawkins is coming from, we need to look at what the Bible says. One of the events to which he might be referring is God’s command to destroy the Amalekites.

Destroy the Amalekites

The nation of Israel first encountered the Amalekites when they were wandering around in the desert. They were at a place called Rephidim and the Amalekites attacked them. This was the battle where God had Moses hold his hands up. When his hands were up, the Israelites would prevail, but when they went down, the Amalekites would prevail. Ultimately, with the help of Aaron and Hur holding up his hands, the Amalekites were defeated (Ex 17:8-13).

After the battle was over, God promised that one day He would destroy the Amalekites. In Exodus 17:14 God said to Moses,

““Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”” (Ex 17:14)

By the time we get to 1 Samuel 15, God was ready to make good on that promise.

“…“The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”” (1 Sa 15:1–3)

When we read this, we might think that is a bit extreme. Some, like Dawkins, may even go so far as to call God an unjust Tyrant for not only destroying the military, but the whole nation — women, children, and cattle. Every last thing was to be destroyed.

What should we think of God’s command to destroy the entire nation?

As we think through God’s command, we need to keep several things in mind.

(1) We don’t deserve God’s mercy.

You see, we are all sinners. Paul confirms this when he says in Romans 3:23,

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Ro 3:23)

When we talk about sin, what we are actually talking about is us living in rebellion to God. Rebellion means that we reject God’s way of doing things for our own way of doing things.

All those who live in rebellion against God are sinners who deserve God’s punishment. Paul makes this clear in Romans 6:23 when he says…

“…the wages of sin is death…” (Ro 6:23)

In other words, the payment we deserve for our sin is eternal punishment.

What these verses tell us, then, is that we don’t deserve salvation. Instead, we deserve condemnation. But, and this is a very big beneficial but, because our God is merciful, He doesn’t always give us what we deserve. Instead, God gives us what we don’t deserve. He gives us salvation from sin, death, and ultimately His punishment. Everyone who calls themselves a Christian has experienced God’s mercy and grace because we are all getting what we don’t deserve.

(2) God is a patient with us 

One of the reasons we experience God’s mercy is because He is patient with us. If God wanted, He could have destroyed us the moment we took our first breath. That’s because we are born sinners. No one is innocent. Honestly, God could destroy us the moment our life begins and still be just. God’s holy and His holiness requires Him to deal with sin. In destroying us, we would be dealing with our sin. Thankfully, God doesn’t destroy us the moment we are born, and He doesn’t because He’s patient.

God’s patience explains why those in Israel’s day were allowed to live. While God was determined to destroy the Amalekites and the other nations Israel encountered in the land of Canaan — the Promised Land — he didn’t destroy them right away. For hundreds of years, He allowed them to chase after other gods, commit injustices, and live by their own wisdom. It wasn’t until the cup of God’s wrath was full that He used Israel as His instrument to destroy them.

(3) God uses others to execute His punishment

That’s what we see in 1 Samuel 15. God uses Israel as His instrument to not only punish the Amalekites, but also the Canaanites, and all the other nations in the Promised Land who deserved His wrath.

The Patient Daming of God’s Wrath

John MacArthur, in his sermon The Wrath of God, uses an illustration from Barnhouse to explain God’s patience, His wrath, and ultimately His offer of salvation in Christ. He says,

In His eternal foreknowledge, God the Father foresaw all of the sin that would be committed after the time of Christ, your sin and my sin, and He stored His wrath against it behind the dam of His patience.  And the wrath of God against sin that even today has not yet been committed is also stored up waiting for the day when His patience shall burst into its holy end.  “For thousands of years, that dam has held and God has held back His wrath.  Occasionally throughout human history He stooped to dip His hand into the pent up flood and pour a few drops of wrath on some especially vicious outbreak of rebellion.  But for the most part, God seemed to overlook the sins of man in the centuries before the cross.  It looked maybe as if sin was tolerated, but it was just piling up.”

You know, the dam broke one day, and it broke at Calvary.  And it broke on Christ and drowned Him in all the sea of sin.  And it will break again, and it will drown all those men who are not in Christ.  Christ took the judgment for those who believe.  For those who do not believe, they will take their own judgment.  And the wrath of God awaits them.  Because they hold the truth, no matter what they claim, but they hold it, and suppress it because of their sin.

So we see that God isn’t an unjust Tyrant. Instead, He’s a patient, merciful, and gracious God, who eventually gives us what we deserve, if we don’t repent and turn to Christ.

Question for Reflection

  1. Do you believe God is an unjust Tyrant or a patient and merciful heavenly Father who gives us what we don’t deserve?

Resources

Post adapted from my sermon Portraits of Israel – Saul

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Respectable Sins: Impatience & Irritability | Part 2

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Practical, Respectable SinsLeave a comment

Last time I took up the topic of impatience. Closely related to impatience is irritability, which is today’s topic.

Irritability Defined

“Describes the frequency of impatience, or the ease with which a person can become impatient over the slightest provocation.”[1]

This definition reveals that impatience and irritability are closely associated. So much so that we can say “the person who easily and frequently becomes impatient is an irritable person.”[2]

Irritable people are impatient most of the time. They are the type you have to tip toe around. The grouchy person, the one no one wants to be around those are who we would consider to be irritable people.

As Christians, irritable people do not serve as a good witness for the gospel. They are not able to lead others. They are not good accountability partners. For these reasons, and that irritability is a sin, we should rid it from us.

How do you respond to an irritable Person?

We have two options when it comes to responding to an irritable person:

(1) Jesus’ Example – In 1 Peter 2:23, “when he [Jesus] was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

Jesus did not retaliate and neither should we. Rather, we are to allow God to judge and deal with those who are criticizing or insulting us.

(2) Confront the Person – A conversation with the person who is continually impatient or irritable towards us is at times necessary. We must not be afraid to confront others about their sin, but we have to be cautious here. We should not confront the person until we “have resolved the issue in [our] own heart and can speak to the other person for his or her benefit.”[3]

Remember if we choose to follow step two and the person does not respond well, we should not blow up on them, or walk away seething. Rather, we should revert to step one and allow God to judge and deal with the person. As well as we should pray that the Holy Spirit would convict them and work in their heart to remove their sin.

Questions for Reflection

  1. Have you ever confronted an irritable person? How did it go? Where they defensive or did they respond well?
  2. Why is it important that we not be irritable people?

Resources

[1] Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins, 118
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.,119

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Respectable Sins: Impatience & Irritability | Part 1

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Practical, Respectable Sins11 Comments

This week we are going to take up the subject of impatience and irritability. In order to do them both justice, I will look at impatience today and irritability in my next post in this series. Let’s start by defining impatience.

Impatience Defined

“A strong sense of annoyance at the (usually) unintentional faults and failures of others.”[1]

Notice Jerry Bridges uses the word unintentional faults and failures. These are things that people cannot help given their life circumstances or physical limitations.

For example, if someone’s hearing is bad, we should expect to have to repeat ourselves, or that that they will misunderstand us. When those things occur, we should not become impatient.

There are other unintentional faults or failures that should not cause us to be impatient, but often do, such as:

  • People not running on your time schedule.
  • Traffic / Slow drivers.
  • Parents impatient with their children not learning what they want them to learn quickly.

The Heart Sin Impatience Reveals

The sin of impatience reveals our desire to be in control by desiring others to conform to our expectations. If that is true, then the events in our lives are not necessarily the things that cause impatience, they are just the means by which the sin of control is manifested in our lives.

The Environment Conducive to Impatience

Impatience often, but not always, manifests itself in our homes. While it is easy for us to be patient with those in public places, it can be difficult at times to exercise the same patience with those under our own roof.

Why is this so?

Our homes provide us with a certain level of comfort. The environment and the people are not new to us. We know them and what they think about us. We don’t worry so much about our appearance or even winning them over. Our increased comfort often allows our true character to shine forth. This is why, like it or not, the home is a great place for sanctification.

What does Scripture have to say?

There are several scriptures that speak to impatience. Let’s take a look at them now.

1 Corinthians 13:4

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant”

1 Thessalonians 5:14

“And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.”

Galatians 5:22-23

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Ephesians 4:1-2

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,”

Colossians 3:12-15

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”

Scripture reveals impatience is a sin. When we are impatient, we are not loving, we are not manifesting the Fruit of the Spirit, we are not living in a manner worthy of our calling, and we are not acting as God’s chosen ones.

How to Deal With Impatience

We can deal with the sin of impatience by praying the Lord would convict us and empower us to rid this sin from our lives.

In addition, when we sense ourselves growing impatient, we should preach the gospel to ourselves. Reminding ourselves, as Paul did Timothy, that in saving us God exercised His patience toward us (1 Timothy 1:16). If God, the Ruler of the universe, exercised patience towards us while we were rebelling against Him, then we can exercise patience toward someone who is not running on our schedule.

Moreover, we need to remind ourselves that God is the One who is in control. The circumstances that occur in our lives are sovereignly brought about and are used by Him to teach us and grow us, even the ones that might give us opportunity to become impatient.

Questions for Reflection

  1. In what area(s) of your life are you impatient?
  2. How have things gone when you have confronted someone who is impatient?
  3. How do you react when people are impatient with you? If you have reacted negatively, what was the result?
  4. Can you think of a reason why in God’s sovereignty He would allow you to encounter an impatient person?

Resources

[1] Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins, 116

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Wait on the Lord Always

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

 

“Wait on the Lord.”

— Psalm 27:14

It may seem an easy thing to wait, but it is one of the postures which a Christian soldier learns not without years of teaching. Marching and quick-marching are much easier to God’s warriors than standing still. There are hours of perplexity when the most willing spirit, anxiously desirous to serve the Lord, knows not what part to take. Then what shall it do? Vex itself by despair? Fly back in cowardice, turn to the right hand in fear, or rush forward in presumption? No, but simply wait.

Wait in prayer, however. Call upon God, and spread the case before him; tell him your difficulty, and plead his promise of aid. In dilemmas between one duty and another, it is sweet to be humble as a child, and wait with simplicity of soul upon the Lord. It is sure to be well with us when we feel and know our own folly, and are heartily willing to be guided by the will of God.

But wait in faith. Express your unstaggering confidence in him; for unfaithful, untrusting waiting, is but an insult to the Lord. Believe that if he keep you tarrying even till midnight, yet he will come at the right time; the vision shall come and shall not tarry.

Wait in quiet patience, not rebelling because you are under the affliction, but blessing your God for it. Never murmur against the second cause, as the children of Israel did against Moses; never wish you could go back to the world again, but accept the case as it is, and put it as it stands, simply and with your whole heart, without any self-will, into the hand of your covenant God, saying,

“Now, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. I know not what to do; I am brought to extremities, but I will wait until thou shalt cleave the floods, or drive back my foes. I will wait, if thou keep me many a day, for my heart is fixed upon thee alone, O God, and my spirit waiteth for thee in the full conviction that thou wilt yet be my joy and my salvation, my refuge and my strong tower.”

Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening : Daily Readings, Complete and unabridged; New modern edition. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2006), Morning, August 30.