Former Blackout Artist

The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?” Jonah 4:4

In recent days we’ve been focusing our meditations on the fruit of the Spirit. You will recall that the first three fruit we’ve talked about (Love, Joy, and Peace) are the inward fruit, the fruit that comes directly from God. And now we begin our focus on the outward fruit, the fruit that the Spirit gives us with the expectation of extending it to others. And so today’s meditation is about the fruit of Patience.

I don’t know about you, but when I think about some of the accounts in the Old Testament, the stories that tend to stand out the most to me are those that display our righteous and holy God’s judgment and wrath on the people for their continued disobedience and sin.

We remember in Genesis when God commanded the 40 days and nights of continuous down pours that flooded and destroyed everything on the earth, except for Noah’s family and the animals that found refuge on the ark. Then in Exodus we recall the plague that God sent to discipline the people after Moses came down from Mount Sinai and found the Israelites worshipping the golden calf. Who can forget how He utterly destroyed the evil villages of Sodom and Gomorrah by raining down fire and brimstone from the heavens? Or that time when David impulsively decided to transport the sacred Arc of the Covenant and his carelessness resulted in the death of one of his men?

But God also revealed enormous patience with man. Despite their constant complaining and stubbornness during their journey to Canaan, God remained faithful to the Israelites and delivered them from all of their enemies. We remember the Lord speaking to the prophet Isaiah to inform Hezekiah that he was gravely ill and to get his affairs in order, but then we read that God listened to Hezekiah’s heartfelt prayer and graciously extended his life for an additional 15 years.

But arguably nothing in the Old Testament would reveal God’s kind and merciful nature more than how he patiently dealt with His angry and disobedient prophet, Jonah. Time and again Jonah bemoaned and refused to obey God command for him to go warn the people of Nineveh, and over and over God showed enormous patience with him. And not only that, but God would speak to Jonah on at least two occasions and reason with him. “Why are you so angry, Jonah? Do you have a right to be angry?” And both times Jonah replied, “Yes! Yes! I have a right to be angry! I’m so angry I wish I were dead! Please, go ahead and put me out of my misery!”

I’ve often wondered why God would be so patient and tolerant of Jonah. Had I been God, I think I might’ve granted Jonah his wish by putting him out of his misery and appointing a different prophet to go preach the warning to Nineveh. But not God. And because He spared His reluctant prophet and the people of Nineveh after they repented, we learn that not only is God a just God, but thankfully He is also an extremely patient God. When I think of the number of times in my life that I too have willfully disobeyed God, the number of times in which I’ve expressed anger towards Him, the number of times that I’ve wished bad things upon other people… I begin to see just how patient God has been with me.

So when I take a moment each morning to reflect on these things, the Holy Spirit helps me throughout the day to remember to be more patient with others. To be more tolerant of others. And to be more kind to others.

How about you? In what ways has God revealed His patience to you personally? Perhaps taking a moment each day to think about this might bring out the fruit of Patience in you, too.