Patience with Mankind

God is patient. He invented patience. He is the author of love and patience.

1. He created Adam and Eve. Sin started with them, when they were told to not eat of the fruit "in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it or you will die." Genesis 3:3 They sinned, eating it though they were told not to. "And the Lord God said, 'The man has now become like one of us knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.' So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken." Genesis 3:21-23

2. Then things were looking up for the side of good in good vs. evil. "Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain...Later she gave birth to his brother Abel." Genesis 4:1-2 Good was winning. People were making love, being fruitful and multiplying. Yay for good! (The act of pro-creation is a God created, holy thing under the correct circumstances but that is for another blog post.)

3. "Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.'" Genesis 4:6-7 We have free will to chose our actions, good or evil. Cain gave into evil and murdered his brother Abel. Evil won that round.

4. God was patient. Generations of mankind later lead to Noah. "The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on earth, and his heart was very troubled." Genesis 6:5-6 People were so evil that God said, "'I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created'...But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord." Genesis 6:7-8 We also know that the earth was, at that time, "corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways." Genesis 6:11 Then the famous story about Noah and the ark that most of us heard as children: Noah along with his family and seven pairs of male and female animals were all safe on the ark when God flooded the earth. God spared him and his family because, "I have found you righteous in this generation." Genesis 7:1 So the earth had a reboot so to speak, a restart. Evil prospered but now a fresh start for all that is good in the world.

5. Another example of God's mercy is found in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the book of Genesis. "Then the Lord said, 'The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.'" Abraham said, "Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of fifty righteous people in it?" Genesis 18:23-24 Well, the Lord says if fifty righteous people are found in the city, He will spare the city for their sake. There is a back and forth between Abraham and God in which Abraham asks the same question in lesser increments. If "five less than fifty?" ..."forty?"..."thirty?"...."twenty?"..."ten?" "[God] answered, 'For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.'" In the end there were no people worth salvation or redemption left. Further, the outcry to the Lord against the people of that city was so great that God sent angels to destroy it. God always demonstrates his abundant mercy. He shows continual grace and mercy for the sake of the few.

6. Fast forward to the story of the blessed family line of the son's of Israel which then go Egypt where they were enslaved for 400 years, generations of slavery. Moses leads them on an "exodus" in the aptly named book of Exodus in the Bible. God shows miraculous plagues: the plague of blood, the plague of frogs, the plague of gnats, the plague of flies, the plague of livestock, the plague of boils, the plague of hail, the plague of locusts (apparently it takes some people, like pharaoh, a lot to believe God. Sound familiar?) In Exodus 10:3 God says, "How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?" Well, pharaoh finally let them go, but chased after them. Next God empowers Moses to part the Red Sea. The people safely cross the dry land between miraculously parted walls of water. When Pharoah and his army try to follow (and attack/enslave the people again) God did a miracle through Moses in which Moses stretched out his hand over the Red Sea so that the waters drowned the entire army. "Not one of them survived." Exodus 14:28 The good guys win.

7. When the Israelites were near "the promise land" that is "a land flowing with milk and honey". Deuteronomy 26:5-9 sums up the story: "My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor. Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors and ethe Lod heard our voice and saw our misery, toil, and oppression. So the Lord brought us our of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey." The Israelites were fearful to claim the land the Lord promised them, didn't trust in or follow the Lord and spent the next forty years wandering the desert. Evil wins. Boo.

8. After 40 years wandering the desert, they finally take possession of the promised land. Good wins.

9. The entire Bible has story after of God's patience and longsuffering, His great mercy and abundant grace and love that surpasses all understanding. Time after time humans choose evil and evil prevails, then good, then evil, then good, then evil. In the old testament sacrifices are required as a part of atonement of sins.

10. Enter Jesus Christ. The lamb that was slain. God's truest example of His mercy for us. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16 "This is the verdict: Light has come to the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." John 3:19 During a dispute, Peter rose up and spoke up in Acts 7:7-11 saying, "'Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”'

As most of us know, the future in this book of the history of mankind is foretold in the book of Revelation in the Bible. "'Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.'" Revelation 3:3 We do not know the date or time but Jesus will return. Our future is foretold in Revelation. "'Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain (As a chronic pain sufferer, I especially love that part), for the former things have passed away.'" Revelation 21:1-4 In the end we, saved humans, can look forward to being reunited with God, walking closely with the author of love Himself!

I grew up in the 80s and90s when movie action heroes like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Steven Seagal kicked bad guys' butts and had cool taglines as they walked in slow-motion away from explosions. Well, let me tell you that the ultimate hero is God. Forget your grandma's stuffy church. Churches are a part of organized religion which can be good or bad as the people involved. No, God, is much greater (words are insufficient). He created you. He wants a relationship with you. Not a religion, a relationship. God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and you.