God’s Patience with Us

One of the most underrated yet deeply powerful elements of God’s love is this: He waits. The reality of God’s patience with us should melt our heart’s continually. From the very beginning, when He created Adam and Eve, and then gave them free will, His love was expressed through patience, liberty and light. He allowed them to choose. He gave them room to mess up. He didn’t step in with force, even though He had the power to stop the fall of man before it began. That’s the nature of God—He is all-powerful, yet still He waits. This is love in its most mature and holy form.

As His called-out ones living in modern times, God is very patient with us, and He was patient with those living during Old Testament times as well. We need look no further than His very own people and what the Scriptures tell us about their vacillating commitment. One minute they were on fire for God, doing everything they possibly could to please Him, and the next minute, they were worshiping idols and building altars for them.

Rescued but Forgetful

Joshua, the leader of the Israelites, called upon them to choose whom they would serve. This was a pivotal moment, and Joshua 24:23-24 (NLT) tells us, “All right then,’ Joshua said, ‘destroy the idols among you, and turn your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.’ The people said to Joshua, ‘We will serve the Lord our God. We will obey him alone.’” They made a covenant to serve the Lord and be committed to Him alone. Their covenant with Him solidified the kind of partnership He desired. Exodus 19:5 (NLT) tells us a little more about God’s love for them: “you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me.”

Deuteronomy 28:8-13 (NLT) paints a beautiful picture of our Heavenly Father’s heart to bless, elevate, and establish His people when they walked aligned themselves with His Will: "The LORD will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. 9 "If you obey the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways, the LORD will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do. 10 Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the LORD, and they will stand in awe of you. 11 "The LORD will give you prosperity in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock, and abundant crops. 12 The LORD will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. 13 If you listen to these commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom.”

Our Heaven Father rescued the children of Israel from the tyranny of Egyptian slavery. He parted the Red Sea so they could walk on dry land to safety. When they couldn’t find water, they complained, questioning what they were going to drink. Exodus 15:25 (NLT) says: “So Moses cried out to the Lord for help, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. Moses threw it into the water, and this made the water good to drink.” God sweetened bitter water, and when they complained about not enough food to eat, He rained down bread from heaven to feed them.

These are extraordinary blessings, and through His commandments and statutes, God taught His people living in Old Testament times how to keep His blessings flowing into their lives. You would think they’d do everything possible to bask in the glory of His overflow, but they didn’t do this. They refused to remain committed to the One True Living God, still, He did not abandon them as they deserved. Repeatedly, they forgot His power, His provision, and His promises. Instead of trusting His unchanging, perfect character, they betrayed Him. But His faithfulness is unfailing, and His mercy runs deeper than their rebellion. Time after time, they turned their hearts away, yet He continued to rescue them, offering restoration, not because they deserved it, but because of who He is.

Patience from Genesis to Jesus

God has always had a plan to redeem us. In Genesis 3:15, even after Adam and Eve’s fall, He speaks a promise: “And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike His heel.” This was the first prophecy of Jesus. And from that moment on, God waited. He waited generations—through kings and prophets, through wars and exiles—until the appointed time to send His only begotten Son.

He waited to wipe away sins. He waited to bring us into sonship. He waited to place His Spirit within us. And now, even though we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us—proof that we are God’s children—we still complain. Like His people in the Old Testament, we still doubt. We still don’t fully grasp His faithfulness. But He still waits.

The Patient Love of the Father

God’s patience is not passive. It’s intentional. He’s not slow—He’s merciful. As 2 Peter 3:9 (NLT) reminds us: “The Lord isn’t really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed but wants everyone to repent.” He is patient because He loves. He is patient because He sees what we can’t. He is patient because He already knows how the story ends; as Romans 8:28 tells us, He’s working it together for our good.

Let’s not take His patience for granted. Let’s respond with gratitude and trust, remembering what He’s already done and believe Him for what’s next. Because this same God—the one who split seas, sweetened bitter water, rained bread from heaven, and sent His Son—is still patiently loving us today. ■

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

“God’s Patience with Us”,  written for victoryinjesuschrist.life. Copyright© 2025. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.