Beyond the Weekend

August 18 | God is Patient

August 18, 2015

Text: Exodus 33.12-34.9

When you read the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5.22-23 you’re really reading about the character of God. God is loving, at peace, joyful, gentle, and so on. As the Holy Spirit restores the image of God in us, we begin to bear the characteristics of God.

God is patient. In Exodus 33 Moses asks to see God’s glory. God declines because he knows it’ll kill Moses, but does agree to pass by and reflect a fragment of his being. And as the Lord passes by he declares his name saying, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. . .” (Exodus 34.6). God is describing his own character to a terrified Moses.

The term “slow to anger” is also translated “patient” and is precisely what the term “patience” (makrothumia) means in Galatians 5.22. So as we grow to be like Jesus, we grow in patience. It’s who God is, and it’s who he’s forming us to be.

Today, as you welcome God into your day, thank him for being slow to anger—a patient God. Ask him to help you

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