The Patience of God
Hosea 6:4
4 O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah,
what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a
morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.
God's words to Ephraim (Israel) - "What shall I do to you?" - weren't those of an angry God asking Israel what punishment He should mete out but of a heavenly Father who asked what He needed to do to bring His wayward child back into fellowship with Himself. By this time in Israel's history, God had shown His people incredible mercy and blessings. He had sent His prophets to correct them and had even disciplined them. So far, nothing had worked; the people were still in sin and rebellion.
Yet God, in His amazing, self-sacrificial love, hadn't given up on His people. This is a picture of an incredibly patient God, of whom the apostle Peter wrote, "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
Has God ever laid on your heart His desire for you to pray for and witness to someone you know needs Jesus, yet months or even years go by, and you don't see any change? If so, don't lose heart. Instead, focus on the patience and promises of God for that person's salvation. Keep praying, keep witnessing and keep living out the life of Christ in front of that person. And as you do, take this attitude to heart: God hasn't given up on this person, and neither will I.
God Bless You steemians.
Reference: 365 Essential Questions from the Bible
www.barbourbooks.com
The Grim Reaper Preacher says, "Try reading the Bible from cover to cover - you'll like it."
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Hey, @deathlyhorror God Bless You too
God's mercy is new every morning thank you for so much love Lord
Please help me resteem
https://steemit.com/@isaacpromzy
I need more upvotes so I can help a sick brother who is in need
The patience of God is amazing my brother. How many things do you tolerate every day!
Dios es bueno y siempre estará atento a nuestras oraciones.
God patience is more than what human can imagine.
Pls don't forget to use the sc-g tag next time.
God is love and a passionate lover, saviour and king...
The promises of God never fail the do not lie we must have patience.
His patience is abundant. We need to learn and imitate that because sometimes we are the opposite, we are so impatient when we're waiting for His promises while He is so patient regards our sins.
We can't just measure the patience of God towards judging us when ever we offend Him.
At times when i study some passage of the Bible I see what some Kings did and you still discovered that God still had patience in passing Judgment for a while just to see if they will repent.
Our God is a lovely and patience God.
The point I want to draw your attention to is: We should never take the patience of God for foolishness, because several christians now take advantage of that.
God is not happy with that.
Most a times God just want to give us an opportunity so we could repent.
Thank you so much for throwing light to this aspect @deathlyhorror
Thanks for taking you time to read at all.
You can check out my blog @Orisfina for religion post as we study the Bible piece by pieces together
Good post!