God’s answers build my faith; His silence builds my patience!

 

At times I’ve felt as if God is too SLOW. I’m praying for something good or wanting God to deal with difficult people and it seems forever before He answers. However He says in 2 Peter 3:8–9 that I should “not overlook this one fact, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

In the OT, “the Lord is slow to anger” is repeated at least ten times in those exact words and illustrated throughout. As a sinner saved by grace, I ought to be thoroughly glad that God is not quick to become angry! That would mean His judgment would be quick to strike.

This expression ‘slow to anger’ is an idiom that literally means ‘long of nose’ which is a bit of a puzzle. Nevertheless, in its context it is about being patient or able to endure trying circumstances with an even temper. In the NT, God says why we should desire His steadfast patience:

James 1:2–4. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Slow to make demands from God is Christian maturity! Back in the OT, this slowness is described as evidence of “great understanding” with an ability to calm others and bring peace where there is contention. It is also a description of someone with “good sense” who can “rule his spirit” and “overlook an offense.”

In the NT, this word is usually translated as patience or long-suffering. We tend to think this word is about resignation because it describes a kind of desperate endurance. However, it is more positive. It expresses an unswerving willingness to wait for what we want from God rather than trying to force things to happen. This kind of slowness is not passive resignation or leniency, more about trusting God’s timing and being able to wait.

This idea of slowness is also illustrated in Jesus’ parable of the unforgiving servant and in His teaching of forgiveness when someone sins against me. The parable connects a right attitude toward forgiving others to be the same as His toward me; slow to anger and full of grace, realizing His forgiveness covers a debt I could never repay. Being slow to anger and having patient endurance is listed as a fruit of the Spirit  It is God’s gift to me and I’m to offer it to everyone:

1 Thessalonians 5:14–15. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

In a negative sense, the NT uses slow to describe those who are foolishly “slow to believe the prophets.” Instead, James 1:19 calls us to be “quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” which is much like God who listens to us, takes His time to reply, but is also slow to become angry with us. Good thing!

Human patience or forbearance in this sense of being slow to anger is not a character trait but a way of life. It is a primary expression of love, for “love is patient and kind” (see 1 Corinthians 13:4). It means to be still, stand one’s ground, calmly survive, remain steadfast, persevere in trust and wait.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Because God says patient endurance makes me ‘complete’ and because His slowness is due to His desire that no one will perish but repent, I can personally apply this. I need to be patient with His slowness, not just for the sake of others but because He could be considering MY need for repentance. He may be waiting for me to change so I am more like Him — before He will answer my prayers. This is a huge reason to not complain that God is slow for maybe it is me who is slow — slow to hear Him and slow to obey Him — and He is using what I am waiting for to show me my need to grow up in my faith.