Patience of God

Published on Facebook, March 3, 2010

By Bud Powell

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I will wait.

Isaiah 30:13-18

13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.
14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.
15 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.
16 But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.
18 ¶ And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
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The sins of Israel were begging for the judgment of God, for He is righteous altogether, and will certainly punish those who live in them, as Jesus affirmed.

Judgment was like a will, leaning out and bulging in the middle, ready to fall when least expected, destroying everything. It would come, because Israel had despised the word of God and loved oppression, perverseness, and the deceits of their prophets.

But God is not like we are, and will not allow His wrath to turn Him aside from His purpose of saving His people.

Therefore He would wait, and not bring the judgment that they so richly deserved. This is greatest display of His power. This was a power greater than that which created the world out of nothing, even greater than the power of redemption. In His providence and grace He shows His power over all that He created, men, angels, demons, Satan himself.

In his patience, however, God shows His power over Himself. He has other things to do than judge and destroy the wicked. It will surely come, but not until He has finished His work of grace and mercy, and all the elect are gathered in.