The Attributes of God
by Arthur W. Pink
The Patience of God
Far less has been written upon this than the other
excellencies of the divine character. Not a few of those who have expatiated
at length upon the divine attributes have passed over the patience of God
without any comment. It is not easy to suggest a reason for this, for surely
the patience of God is as much one of the divine perfections as is His
wisdom, power, or holiness, and as much to be admired and revered by us.
True, the actual term will not be found in a concordance as frequently as
the others, but the glory of this grace itself shines forth on almost every
page of Scripture. Certain it is that we lose much if we do not frequently
meditate upon the patience of God and earnestly pray that our hearts and
ways may be more completely conformed thereto.
Most probably the principal reason why so many writers
have failed to give us anything, separately, upon the patience of God was
because of the difficulty of distinguishing this attribute from the divine
goodness and mercy, particularly the latter. God's patience is mentioned in
conjunction with His grace and mercy again and again, as may be seen by
consulting Exodus 34:6, Numbers 14:18, Psalm 86:15, etc. That the patience
of God is really a display of His mercy, that it is indeed one way in which
it is frequently manifested, cannot be denied. But that patience and mercy
are one and the same excellency, and are not to be separated, we cannot
concede. It may not be easy to discriminate between them, nevertheless,
Scripture fully warrants us in affirming some things about the one which we
cannot about the other.
Stephen Charnock, the Puritan, defines God's patience, in
part, thus: "It is part of the divine goodness and mercy, yet differs from
both. God being the greatest goodness, has the greatest mildness; mildness
is always the companion of true goodness, and the greater the goodness, the
greater the mildness. Who so holy as Christ, and who so meek? God's
slowness to anger is a branch ... from his mercy: 'The Lord is full of
compassion, slow to anger' (Psalm 145:8). It differs from mercy in the
formal consideration of the object—mercy respects the creature as miserable,
patience respects the creature as criminal; mercy pities him in his misery,
and patience bears with the sin which engendered the misery, and is giving
birth to more."
Personally, we would define the divine patience as that
power of control which God exercises over Himself, causing Him to bear with
the wicked and forbear so long in punishing them. In Nahum 1:3 we read, "The
Lord is slow to anger and great in power," upon which Mr. Charnock said:
"Men that are great in the world are quick in passion, and are not so ready
to forgive an injury, or bear with an offender, as one of a lower rank. It
is a lack of power over that man's self that makes him do unbecoming things
upon a provocation. A prince that can bridle his passions is a king over
himself as well as over his subjects. God is slow to anger because great in
power. He has no less power over Himself than over His creatures."
It is at the above point, we think, that God's patience
is most clearly distinguished from His mercy. Though the creature is
benefited thereby, the patience of God chiefly respects Himself, a restraint
placed upon His acts by His will; whereas His mercy terminates wholly upon
the creature. The patience of God is that excellency which causes Him to
sustain great injuries without immediately avenging Himself. He has a power
of patience as well as a power of justice. Thus the Hebrew word for the
divine patience or longsuffering is rendered "slow to anger"
in Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 103:8, etc. Not that there are any passions in the
divine nature, but that God's wisdom and will is pleased to act with that
stateliness and sobriety which is becoming to His exalted majesty.
In support of our definition above let us point out that
it was to this excellency in the divine character that Moses appealed, when
Israel sinned so grievously at Kadesh-Barnea, and there provoked Jehovah so
sorely. Unto His servant the Lord said, "I will smite them with the
pestilence and disinherit them." Then it was that the mediator Moses, as a
type of the Christ to come, pleaded, "I beseech You, let the power of my
Lord be great, according as You have spoken saying the Lord is patient" (Num
14:17). Thus, His "patience" is His "power' of self-restraint.
Again, in Romans 9:22 we read, "What if God, willing to
show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much patience the
vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." Were God to immediately break these
reprobate vessels into pieces, His power of self-control would not so
eminently appear; by bearing with their wickedness and forbearing punishment
so long, the power of His patience is gloriously demonstrated. True, the
wicked interpret His patience quite differently "because sentence against an
evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men
is fully set in them to do evil" (Eccl 8:11)—but the anointed eye adores
what they abuse.
"The God of patience" (Rom 15:5) is one of the divine
titles. Deity is thus denominated, first, because God is both the Author and
Object of the grace of patience in the saint. Secondly, because this is what
He is in Himself: patience is one of His perfections. Thirdly, as a pattern
for us: "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe
yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience"
(Col 3:12). And again, 'Be therefore followers [emulators] of God, as dear
children" (Eph 5:1). When tempted to be disgusted at the dullness of
another, or to be revenged on one who has wronged you, call to remembrance
God's infinite patience and longsuffering with yourself.
The patience of God is manifested in His dealings with
sinners. How strikingly was it displayed toward the antediluvians. When
mankind was universally degenerate, and all flesh had corrupted its way, God
did not destroy them until He had forewarned them. He "waited" (1 Peter
3:20), probably no less than 120 years (Gen 6:3), during which time Noah was
a "preacher of righteousness" (2 Peter 2:5). So, later, when the Gentiles
not only worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, but also
committed the vilest abominations contrary even to the dictates of nature
(Rom 1:19-26) and thereby filled up the measure of their iniquity, yet,
instead of drawing His sword for the extermination of such rebels, God
"allowed all nations to walk in their own ways," and gave them "rain from
heaven and fruitful seasons" (Acts 14:16,17).
Marvelously was God's patience exercised and manifested
toward Israel. First, He "endured their conduct" for forty years in the
wilderness (Acts 13:18). Later, when they had entered Canaan, but followed
the evil customs of the nations around them, and turned to idolatry, though
God chastened them sorely, He did not utterly destroy them, but in their
distress, raised up deliverers for them. When their iniquity was raised to
such a height that none but a God of infinite patience could have borne
them, He spared them many years before He allowed them to be carried down
into Babylon. Finally, when their rebellion against Him reached its climax
by crucifying His Son, He waited forty years before He sent the Romans
against them, and that, only after they had judged themselves "unworthy of
everlasting life" (Acts 13:46).
How wondrous is God's patience with the world today. On
every side people are sinning with a high hand. The divine law is trampled
under foot and God Himself openly despised. It is truly amazing that He does
not instantly strike dead those who so brazenly defy Him. Why does He not
suddenly cut off the haughty infidel and blatant blasphemer, as He did
Ananias and Sapphira? Why does He not cause the earth to open its mouth and
devour the persecutors of His people, so that, like Dathan and Abiram, they
shall go down alive into the bottomless pit? And what of apostate
Christendom, where every possible form of sin is now tolerated and practiced
under cover of the holy name of Christ? Why does not the righteous wrath of
Heaven make an end of such abominations? Only one answer is possible:
because God bears with "much patience the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction."
And what of the writer and the reader? Let us review our
own lives. It is not long since we followed a multitude to do evil, had no
concern for God's glory, and lived only to gratify self. How
patiently He bore with our vile conduct! And now that grace has snatched us
as brands from the burning, giving us a place in God's family, and has
begotten us unto an eternal inheritance in glory, how miserably we requite
Him. How shallow our gratitude, how tardy our obedience, how frequent our
backslidings! One reason why God allows the flesh to remain in the believer
is that He may exhibit His "patience to us" (2 Peter 3:9). Since this divine
attribute is manifested only in this world, God takes advantage to display
it toward "His own."
May our meditation upon this divine excellency soften our
hearts, make our consciences tender, and may we learn in the school of holy
experience the "patience of saints," namely, submission to the divine will
and continuance in well doing. Let us earnestly seek grace to emulate this
divine excellency. "Be therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in
heaven is perfect" (Matt 5:48). In the immediate context of this verse
Christ exhorts us to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to
those who hate us. God bears long with the wicked notwithstanding the
multitude of their sins—and shall we desire to be revenged because of a
single injury?