Today’s devotional: can you exhaust God’s patience?
Is it possible to exhaust God’s patience? What would it take to make God wash his hands of us completely? In this devotional from Lifetime Guarantee Ministries, Anabel Gillham looks at Biblical examples of people who put God’s patience to the test… only to find that God’s love for us is greater yet:
Can we disappoint God to the degree that He will finally say, “That’s it!” and just give up on us? I don’t think so. The children of Israel did a lot of things that disappointed God and He disciplined them for their folly but He never disowned them. David, although we sing his praises and consider him to be one of the Bible “greats,” really got into an awful mess with Bathsheba and God still called David, “A man after God’s own heart.” Peter denied the Lord but the Lord gave him another chance—which Peter took. I love the picture of Peter throwing his tunic on to cover himself then jumping into the water and running to see Jesus (John 21:6-7). It’s pretty difficult to find a well-known Biblical character that has a perfect record.
And we analyze ourselves and remember all the wrong steps we have taken’and ask, “Does His patience never, ever give out?” Yes, but losing His patience with us will never ever result in our being separated from Him. That just won’t happen. Most of us have had children who disappointed us, but we never ceased to be their parent. His patience doesn’t wane because of our errant ways, our sinful lifestyle, or our poor performance.
Read the full devotional at Lifetime Guarantee Ministries.
Our sins can frustrate, anger, and disappoint God. But the one thing they cannot do is negate His desire to see us redeemed and restored through Jesus Christ.
Do you ever worry that your sin or rebellion has caused God to completely abandon you? Have you experienced God’s forgiveness even after you were sure He had given up on you?
It all goes back to that “prayer of salvation”. When we sincerely pray those words, it is like reaching upward where God will grasp your wrist just below the hand and you likewise will grasp His in the same manner. You are in God’s grasp. Even when you fail Him (and we do so many times) we may lose our grip but He will NEVER loosen His grasp. We are Christians forever and though we may be poor and wretched, His love is longsuffering and His grace is limitless, when we are faithful to confess and repent. If you have never uttered that prayer, please be encouraged to do so.
God said in his word that he would NEVER leave us or forsake us and since he is not a man that he would lie, I believe we as Christians can rest in his word. Since we already trusted him for salvation, I think we can trust him to keep what he promised in his word. So have faith and believe in him until the very end.
We are so blessed as believers in this unforgiving and evil world that we live in, is only here in the blink of an eye…..We believers have the assurance of an eternal home absent from the presence of Sin AND access to the TRUTH by His AWESOME presence.
God is love and love is God
we must not take undue advantage of God’s patience As it is written in Hebrews 10:26-If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? …. “The Lord will judge his people.” 31It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Our Lord is magnanimous, he did lose his cool with Isreal but he’s always blessed and taken care of them. He still does it in our everyday lives. Thank You my Lord for all the things you’ve given me.
I think we definitely can “try” God’s patience but that’s because He is a loving God who wants us to be more and more like Him. I don’t think that we will ever do anything that will cause God to reject us unless it is, of course, a deliberate denial and refusal of Him. And, even then, it isn’t Him rejecting us, it’s us rejecting Him. After a definite heart changing salvation experience, I believe we are firmly in His grasp and He will see us through everything. We become infants in Christ and as we grow, many of us will stumble, fall and fail. Many of us will mature more quickly than others. But, that’s growth as in any child or children. The key thing is to never quit trusting in Christ, regardless of your successes or your failures. Remember that Christ said that “unless they come to me as little children they cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Also, when Peter asked the Lord one time, “Lord, how many times do we forgive our brothers, seven?” And the Lord replied, “I tell you not seven times but seventy times seven.” And, at the moment of saving grace we become adopted into His family, his brothers and sisters.
no God is longsuffering and plenteous in mercy read story of Jonah
Absolutely yes! There is coming a time when God’s patience will be exhausted and His wrath will be poured out upon those who have rejected Him.
Jamie, can you back that up with scripture? Your answer was absolutely yes! For those of us who like to know where you got that answer, please give scripture references. Thanks.
Jamie. I agree with Linda. I feel that ANYTIME anyone says ABSOLUTELY then it needs to be backed up with scripture. Are you talking about the day that Christ returns to earth? If so then please give the scripture. I do agree with you, I just would like the scripture to back it up.