“Gracious and merciful, slow to anger.”
“What characteristic of God are you the most grateful for?” My therapist asked during a session.
Thinking for a moment, I responded, “His patience.”
I am overwhelmed when I think about how patient God has been with me through the years. If I were God, I would have given up on myself a long time ago. And if I were God with any patience toward me, I would have been constantly frustrated with my slow progress.
Thankfully, two words in our vocabulary do not exist in God’s vocabulary.
Expectation and Frustration.
Because God is all-knowing, sovereign, gracious, and kind, He is absent of expectation. Think about it, our frustrations come primarily as a result of unmet expectations. God knows how we will respond, fall short, or have an epic fail.
Knowing everything about us, He still sent His Son to die for us. God’s love is unconditional. (Romans 5:8)
God announced early on that He would be unhurried when He appeared to Moses and declared, “The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, ‘Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness’” (Exodus 34:6, NLT).
This declaration of God’s unhurried nature echoes throughout the Old and New Testaments. (Numbers 14, Nehemiah 9, Psalms 86, 103, & 145, Jonah 4, Nahum 1, Joel 2, Romans 2:4, 2 Peter 3:9, James 5:7-8)
In Joel’s prophecy, used often in times of fasting, he calls us to open our hearts to the patient nature of God towards His people. “Rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love” (Joel 2:13, NRSVUE).
The Hebrew word for “rend” is “kara, ” meaning to rip, tear, and make wide open. In Biblical times, while fasting, people would tear their clothes symbolically of their sadness and dissatisfaction with their sinful condition. Joel asks us to cut open our hearts in utter awe and humility that God is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love rather than giving us what we deserve.
God’s graciousness speaks to His unhurriedness. We may deserve immediate punishment, but God is about the opposite. A grace-filled God chooses to wait patiently for the individual who is struggling until they are ready to move toward Him. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
God’s mercy speaks to His unhurriedness. God is compassionate and sympathetic toward our condition, resulting in the gift of Jesus’ death and resurrection. God is also empathetic through Christ, who experienced and understands the hurts and trials of this world. (Hebrews 4:14-16)
God being slow to anger speaks to His unhurriedness. God’s grace and merciful nature hold back the anger humanity deserves for disrespecting God’s promises, defaming His name, and disregarding the Way He made for us. Make no mistake: God will not hold His wrath back forever. (Isaiah 42:14)
God’s steadfast love speaks to His unhurriedness. The different translations of Joel 2:13 capture God’s amazing, beyond-human love for us.
- Abounding in love. (NIV)
- Filled with unfailing love. (NLT)
- Abounding in loving devotion. (BSB)
- Great kindness. (KJV)
- Abounding in lovingkindness [faithful to His covenant with His people]. (AMP)
- Always ready to forgive. (GNT)
These characteristics of God make Him eager to wait on us and give us the time we need to return to Him. “Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry, and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish” (Joel 2:13, NLT, bold added for emphasis).
With our “everything is an emergency” mentality, we may find the patience of God challenging to grasp. In the same breath, we hopefully will find His unhurriedness refreshing. Once we can calm down our same-day-delivery world long enough to relish God’s patience, might we also find ourselves to be grateful?
Because I know, God, that you are not in a hurry, in faith, I will…
I pray that as you pause for a moment to take a deep breath, you are more keenly aware of God’s patient presence in your life. May the rhythm of your breathing become slow and intentional as you align your pace to the unhurriedness of God. May any frustrations you sense with God’s timing melt and grateful faith rise. In Jesus’ name, so be it.
Meditate: God is patient.
Reflect: Do you find yourself frustrated with God’s timing or grateful? How can God’s pace speak to your pace? How have you experienced God’s grace? What is a time when God’s timing seemed to be at the last minute? In retrospect, can you see how the timing made sense?
Deeper: Isaiah 14; Joel 2:10-14; 2 Peter 3:8-15a
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(Bible References: NRSVUE – New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, NLT – New Living Translation, NIV – New International Version, AMP – Amplified Version, GNT – Good News Translation, BSB – Berean Standard Bible)
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