The Bible is filled with encouragements to “wait on the Lord” but it is also filled with the truth that the Lord waits too. When Israel saw enemy armies marching toward them in Isaiah’s day, they ran down to Egypt for help. The Lord offered His protection and warned that Egypt would fail them, but they chose to trust in human help. The Lord’s gracious response was this …
“Therefore, will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious to you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of justice: blessed are all they that wait for Him. For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: you shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the voice of your cry, when He hears it, He will answer you.” – (Isaiah 30:18,19)
How much higher the Lord’s ways are than ours! When people shun our help, our response is often, “Fine then, don’t come crying to me when things go wrong!” But not the Lord. He waits to be gracious. He waits to hear a cry for help. He waits to dry tears and welcome the prodigal back home with open arms.
The word “longsuffering” describes this ‘long-tempered, long-patience, and long-sympathy,’ attitude of God. As we await Christ’s return, He reminds us… “The Lord is not slow regarding His promise to return (as some imagine), but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” – (2 Peter 3:9)
Precious souls are worth the long wait. And this is our joy each day… “Account that the longsuffering of our Lord is resulting in salvation” – (2 Peter 3:15).
Perhaps it's someone near and dear to you.
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