This is Back to the Bible for Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Back to the Bible Radio Transcript
Series: How to Connect with God, Week 1 of 3
Program Title: Why Is God so Longsuffering?
Dr. Woodrow Kroll
July 14, 2011
Woodrow Kroll: In Noah's day, God put up with unbelief.
Tami Weissert: He endured disobedience during Moses' time.
Woodrow Kroll: And later, He demonstrated patience with Jesus' disciples.
Tami Weissert: So why is God so longsuffering?
Woodrow Kroll: And what does that mean for you and me today? Hi, I'm
Woodrow Kroll.
Tami Weissert: I'm Tami Weissert.
Woodrow Kroll: And this is Back to the Bible.
Tami Weissert: Longsuffering. Wood, the word itself describes what it
means. How and why does God put up with us the way that He does?
Woodrow Kroll: Because God loves us so much that He wants to put plenty
of time between our offense and His response, time for us to repent and
come to a right relationship with Him.
Tami Weissert: We look at the story of the Israelites, and it's easy to
become judgmental. But we can get over that when we examine our own
life.
Woodrow Kroll: Yes. His patience and longsuffering are still there for us
today.
Tami Weissert: Let's find out more about God's purpose for longsuffering.
Here's Dr. Kroll with today's Back to the Bible study.
Woodrow Kroll: We're talking about connecting with God. Today, when we
connect with God, we want to learn that not only is God faithful, He is
patient as well. He is longsuffering. This is the kind of God you want to get
to know. In order to help you get to know Him, we are going to go right to
the Bible to the Book of Exodus.

You recognize that Exodus 34 comes right on the heels of Exodus 33. In
Exodus 33 is the story of the golden calf and Aaron and the people making
this horrible idol. Moses has to come down from the mountain, and he's
frustrated at the people. He throws the tablets of stone down—the Ten
Commandments. He breaks them.
On the heels of all of that, we get to Exodus 34:1: "And the LORD said to
Moses, 'Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these
tablets the words that were on the first tablets [now watch this] which you
broke.'" I love that. It's God's way of reminding Moses what he did wrong,
because Moses was angry, and he threw these tablets of stone down. So
God says, "You make two more tablets of stone. I'll write on them like I did
the first ones."
Verses 2-8: "'So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to
Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on the top of the mountain.
And no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all
the mountain; let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain.' So he
cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the
morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him; and he
took in his hand the two tablets of stone. Then the LORD descended in the
cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. [Now,
listen to this] And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, 'The LORD,
the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and
transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and
the fourth generation.' So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the
earth, and worshiped."
What's going on in this passage? Basically, what you see in this passage is
God telling Moses about Himself. Notice who it is who is proclaiming
something about the Lord. It's the Lord Himself. This is not just some voice
out of the heavens. This is not a book that Moses found, a secret book
somewhere that talks about a god. This is God personally teaching Moses
about the character of God.
If you're going to learn about someone's character, who better to learn it
from than that person himself or herself, and especially if that person is God.
Here we have God teaching Moses something about who God is and how
God is going to act. And what I find interesting here is the Lord God (verse
6) is merciful. He is gracious. He is longsuffering.
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Today we're going to key on that word "longsuffering." We want to learn
when you connect with God what you can expect, and also, what God will
expect of you when you connect with Him.
What does it mean to be longsuffering? When it says that God is
longsuffering, when it says He is slow to anger, it simply means God is not
easily steamed. God is not easily provoked. He doesn't boil over in His anger
quickly. God puts up with a lot. If I could say it in the vernacular of today
(and I don't mean to be crass about this), if I could say it in the way we
would understand it today, it takes a lot for God to blow His stack. He is so
gracious and so compassionate and so loving that you're not going to find
God easily getting angry.
So when you see God angry, just imagine what happened that got God to
that point. The word "anger" here (which is part of this word "longsuffering")
comes from the word that means "nose" or "nostril." That's interesting. How
do you get between nose and anger? Think about this: It means the rapid
movement of the nostrils when you are breathing rapidly, and specifically
talks about horses. You've seen enough movies or enough television where
there are battle scenes where they're using horses. Hollywood is great at
this. Generally, an army or a general is moving through a thickened, wooded
area before they get out into a huge open plain where they do battle. And as
they're moving through this thickened, wooded area, generally, even though
it may be a warm, summer day, you're going to see mist or fog just to add
to the whole thing. And they always show a close-up of a horse's nose.
When a horse breathes and you can see the breath coming out of the
horse's nose, you see those nostrils vibrating back and forth. It's all
Hollywood stuff to make you understand that something terrific is about to
happen.
It's from that word that means the blowing back and forth, the movement
back and forth of the horse's nostril, that the Hebrews got the picture of
being angry.
What does that mean to us? It means that when God is angry, it's not a
usual thing. But it is a very significant thing, because how often do you see
the nostrils of horses vibrating back and forth getting prepared for battle?
That's what the word "anger" is—the word "aph."
The other word is the word "arek," and that means to defer or to put off. So,
the word for "longsuffering" in the Bible means that God is going to defer His
nostrils vibrating. He is going to put off His anger. He will watch you, and He
will watch me, and He will see things we do that really would cause a lesser
person to get ticked off immediately, and God will be compassionate.
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Let me give you some examples from Scripture. Exodus 20:12, the first of
the Ten Commandments with promise: "Honor your father and your mother,
that your days may be long upon the land." The word "long" there is literally
"prolonged" upon the earth. You will not be cut off. You will not be destroyed
because you've been unfaithful to your father or mother. You won't be taken
out and be stoned as the law requires. But if you honor your father and
mother, you will enjoy long life. Your days will be prolonged. That word
"prolonged" is exactly the word for "to defer anger."
Another example, 1 Kings 3:14, God promises Solomon: "So if you walk in
My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David
walked, then I will lengthen your days."
"I will prolong the day of your death. I will defer your death till the furthest
possible day. I will give you long life." And Isaiah 48:9, God promises Israel:
"For My name's sake I will defer My anger."
All of this comes to mean, then, that God is longsuffering. He defers His
anger. Does that mean He doesn't get angry? No. It doesn't mean that at
all. Anger is there. The response to anger is simply deferred. In other words,
God won't quickly respond to you when you do things that anger Him. You
anger Him; He just doesn't quickly respond. He is so gracious and
compassionate that He defers His response to that anger to the last possible
moment.
If this is the character of God I'm going to connect with (God is one who
puts off until the last possible time His response to the things that anger
Him), shouldn't I be putting off until the last possible moment things that
anger me? Or should I just blow up at every little thing that happens?
Earlier today, we were talking about God being longsuffering and putting His
response to the anger that we cause Him off until the last possible minute.
Let me suggest to you: You might be asking yourself, "Wait a minute. What
does God have to be angry about? He's a good God. He's kind of a jolly elf
person in heaven. He's a spiritual Santa Claus, if you will. Why would a
grandfatherly type like God ever get angry?" Your perception of God is way
off. That's not what the Bible says at all.
Let me take you to the New Testament to 1 Peter. While you're finding that,
let me just suggest to you that God has plenty to be angry about. And one
of the things that angers God is when people refuse to believe. When the
evidence is out there, when the Word is before us, and He tells us what He
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wants us to know, and people say, "That's not for me. I don't believe it."
When we refuse to believe, our unbelief angers God.
Here's what the Bible says, 1 Peter 3:18-20: "For Christ also suffered once
for sins, the just [that's Jesus] for the unjust [that's you and me], that He
might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the
Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who
formerly were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the
days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is,
eight souls, were saved through water."
Do you see the word "longsuffering" there? What does God have to be
longsuffering about? One of the things He has to be longsuffering about is
the way we treat what He tells us. He tells us the Truth, and we don't
believe Him. Our unbelief causes God to be angry. But He is longsuffering,
so He puts off the response to our unbelief until the last possible time. I
have watched God delay His response to ungodly people who taught the
very opposite of what God's Word says to their classrooms—ungodly
professors. Professors who claimed there was no God, there was no heaven,
there was no hell. I have watched God put off His anger until the last
possible time with people like that.
Here he's talking about God's anger in the days of Noah. Noah preached
righteousness for 120 years, and God forestalled His anger. He put off His
anger. He deferred His anger. Was God angry? You better believe He was
angry. Was there a consequence to that anger? Yes, a universal flood. But
God gave people 120 years to repent of their sin.
God is gracious. And in that graciousness, in that compassion, that drives
Him to be longsuffering. When you connect with God, you're going to
connect with a God who puts up with a lot.
The day comes when the flood's going to come. The day comes when
judgment will come. What God does is: He's the kind of God who says, "I'm
going to defer that as long as I can to give you as much opportunity as you
need to repent of your sin and come to Me in faith. If you fail to do that,
judgment is on its way."
My counsel to you would be to repent at the earliest possible time, because
you never know when that line is crossed, when the anger of God will give
way to the judgment, when His patience will finally have run out, and His
longsuffering toward unbelief will be forever behind Him.
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Unbelief. That's one thing God has to be angry about. What about
disobedience? It's not the same as unbelief. Unbelief—you don't believe what
God says. In disobedience, you know what God says and you believe it, but
you want to be disobedient to it. You don't care what God says.
Let me give you an example of that: I'm going to back to the Book of
Numbers, chapter 14. This is the chapter where Moses is pleading with God
not to destroy Israel. Israel has been murmuring against God. Everything
that God gave them they didn't like. God would give them more; they didn't
like that. God brought them out of Egyptian bondage and was willing to take
them right into the Promised Land, and they weren't willing to go. And on
the heels of them failing, their refusal to enter Canaan, this is what happens,
Verse 11: "And the LORD said to Moses: 'How long will these people reject
Me? [That's disobedience; that's what we're talking about.] And how long
will they not believe Me [that's unbelief; that's what we just talked about],
with all the signs which I have performed among them?"
See, God never leaves us without a witness to Himself. Even today, the
person who claims to be the biggest atheist in the world still has the Bible to
read.
So God says, "How long will they not believe? How long will they be
disobedient to Me?" And then He says (verse 12), "I will strike them with the
pestilence and disinherit them [He's talking about Israel], and I will make of
you a nation greater and mightier than they."
God is saying here to Moses, "Look, Moses, you've been faithful to Me. You
haven't disobeyed Me, and you have believed what I've told you every step
of the way. These people haven't. So let Me just destroy them. Let Me just
cut them right off. And from you I'll make another nation."
Now, watch what Moses does. Verses 13-19: "And Moses said to the LORD:
'Then the Egyptians will hear it, for by Your might You brought these people
up from among them, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land
[Canaan]. They have heard that You, LORD, are among these people; that
You, LORD, are seen face to face and that Your cloud stands above them; and
You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.
Now if You kill these people as one man, then the nations which have heard
of Your fame will speak, saying, "Because the LORD was not able to bring this
people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in
the wilderness." And now, I pray, let the power of my LORD be great, just as
You have spoken, saying, "The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy,
forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth
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generation." Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the
greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt
even until now.'"
What a tremendous blessing it is to have someone pray for you who has
your best interest at heart. This is the kind of person you want to become
the premier of your country, the president of your country. This is the kind
of person you want to lead your church, lead your organization. Someone
who will intercede to God and ask God, "You know, God, sure, they've done
wrong. And they've been unfaithful to You. And they've been disobedient to
You. But would You just stretch Your response time a little bit longer and
give them one last opportunity to repent?"
That's what Moses is asking God to do here. "They have been unfaithful.
They have been disobedient. But what I 'm asking you, God, is to do this:
I'm asking You to put up with it just a little bit longer."
You have read the rest of the story. You know what happens. God doesn't
destroy Israel. He doesn't raise up a new nation from this man Moses. God
puts up with Israel's shenanigans just a little bit longer. He puts up with
their complaining. He puts up with their disobedience. He puts up with their
lack of faith. And ultimately, He leads them into the Promised Land.
But remember who gets there. None of these people; just their descendents.
There is a price to be paid for unbelief. And there's a price to be paid for
disobedience. There's a price to be paid for being a sinner. But God in His
mercy and, specifically, in His longsuffering, puts off His response as long as
He possibly can.
Listen. If God can withhold His anger from you, don't you think you ought to
be able to withhold your anger from someone else? The distance between
God's mercy and your need is a great deal farther than the distance between
somebody else's need and your mercy. You can't do to me anything nearly
as bad as what I've done to God. And you can't be holier than I am nearly as
much as God is holier than I am. So if I can accept God putting off His
response in anger to the last possible moment, if I can accept that, then
don't you think I can live that way too? And shouldn't you be able to live
that way too?
You know those crying babies in church? And you just want that mother to
take that baby out and stuff a sock in it. Don't you think you could be a little
more patient and longsuffering if God was to you?
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That new pastor you have, not doing things the way the old pastor did. Don't
you think you could be a little longsuffering toward him, given how
longsuffering God has been to you?
Those unthinkable Junior High boys, those guys that you want to say to
them, "Can you say juvey hall?" Don't you think you could be longsuffering
to them if God has been longsuffering to you?
Your inattentive husband. The guy just doesn't have a clue. He hasn't said,
"I love you." He said, "I said it once. If I ever change my mind, I'll tell you."
Your inattentive husband. Don't you think you could be a little bit more
longsuffering to him and his inattention?
Your thoughtless neighbors, your disobedient teens, your overbearing boss.
Just list the names of people and the relationship you have with them:
Immature Christians; non-understanding people, your father and mother.
They're just cranky about everything. But they're getting old. Don't you
think we could be a little more longsuffering if we connected with God and
appreciated how longsuffering He's been to us?
Tami Weissert: Thanks for joining us today here on Back to the Bible.
Wood, your list of examples—babies, family members, neighbors—is a little
convicting. How do we go about becoming more longsuffering?
Woodrow Kroll: Unfortunately, experience is the best teacher. Maybe the
next time we have to put up with a selfish neighbor, or a boring sermon, or
a cranky child, instead of complaining we ought to be praising God. These
scenarios are the ones in which we learn longsuffering. It's the tough times
that teach us life's greatest lessons.
Tami Weissert: Tomorrow, Wood, we will continue talking about
longsuffering.
Woodrow Kroll: We will. If God is longsuffering toward us, then how can
we be longsuffering too? We're going to talk about how to become more
patient toward others. Listen, if there's ever a lesson any of us need to
learn, it is certainly that lesson. That's tomorrow here on Back to the Bible.
As always, it's been a joy to have you as a part of our listening family today.
I hope you have benefited from today's study in God's Word. And if you
have, why don't you contact us and let us know? It would be such an
encouragement to our staff here in Lincoln, Nebraska. It helps us to get to
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know you better. So tell us what the program today meant to you, or how
you will apply it to your life. Thanks so much for doing that.
God bless you. I'm Woodrow Kroll. My prayer is the same every day at this
time, that you would have a good and godly day, for of what lasting value is
a good day if it's not also a godly day?
Scripture used in today's program was based on the New King James Version
of the Bible.
Copyright © 2011 The Good News Broadcasting Association, Inc. All rights reserved
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