Israel mourned the day they were told they had to return to wander in the wilderness for forty years as the consequence of their sin (Num. 14:39). They stood on the border of a land "flowing with milk and honey" (Num. 14:8) but were forced back into a desert that would "consume" (Num. 14:33) and kill them (Num. 16:13). Whole families were swallowed by the earth (Num. 16:31-33), fire consumed hundreds (Num. 16:35), and thousands died of plague (Num. 16:49). The wilderness was an "evil place" where the thirsty found no water (Num. 20:5), the hungry tired of manna (Num. 21:5), and serpents bit them (Num. 21:6). They were tempted by prostitutes and idols. Other nations refused them passage and attacked them. They eventually had to fight their way back to the land "flowing with milk and honey." And there was what seemed like an ever-growing list of commandments to keep and judgments to avoid. They had to put up with a lot out there in the wilderness, but someone else put up with even more than they did.

Paul gives us God's perspective on the desert wanderings: "Now for a time of about forty years He put up with their ways in the wilderness" (Ac. 13:18). Had you been an Israelite in the desert, I doubt you would have thought God was the One putting up with things. After all, you were the one in an "evil place" suffering from thirst, serpents, enemies, and temptations! You were the one learning and keeping a myriad of commandments while trying to avoid a capital offense. Yet Paul affirms that it was actually God Who was the One being patient, tolerant, and longsuffering.

We don't truly think of God as being longsuffering. We don't think of God as suffering at all, let alone for a long time. Maybe this is because we don't like to be longsuffering and, if we were like God, we wouldn't be. After all, when you are God, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do, right? Wrong!

Jesus taught the concept of praying, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10) because God's will is not being done on earth as it is in heaven. There have been times of ignorance when God "overlooked" things (Ac. 17:30). God's will from the beginning has not always been honored, even by His own people (Matt. 19:8). We think that enduring the consequences of sin is our burden. We think that the purification process through chastening is all on us. But our struggles with sin are painful to God and hard to endure for Him. We aren't just breaking random commandments. We have "...trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace" (Heb. 10:29). All are painful to our loving God!

What is God doing? Why endure and be patient with us as we come to Him? "What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory?" (Rom. 9:22-23). God is patient with His wrath so we will be drawn to His glory through His mercy and grace.

We need to stop thinking that we are the ones putting up with God, His will, and what He allows to happen to us in this life. We are "vessels of mercy"-incredibly, amazingly, undeservedly filled with God's grace so we could know the "riches of His glory." God has put up with a lot from others but from me, too. Time to stop complaining and start praising!

- Think On These Things, Jan-March 2015