Understanding God: He Perseveres and is Long-suffering
Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” – Genesis 15:13-16
Another lesson we can learn from God’s personality is His persevering and long-suffering nature. He does not just write off people due to their sins or inadequacies. Rather, He gives them enough time to come to terms with their waywardness, repent and retrace their steps. He is long-suffering.
From our reference scripture today, we read about God’s proclamation to Abraham regarding what would happen to his descendants several years down the line. God told Abraham his descendants would become captives in a foreign land and would be enslaved for about 400 years, after which He would rescue them and relocate them to the land He had promised to Abraham.
But the catch there was that this land was being occupied by the Amorites. But they would be dispossessed of it after 400 so that the people it was promised to, the Israelites, could take possession of it. The question then is, why would God wait for 400 years for the Amorites to level up their excesses before they are punished for their wayward ways?
There is only one way to answer this: it shows the persevering and long-suffering nature of God. He was going to punish the Amorites for their sins, but He was not going to slam the hammer on them immediately they missed the mark or not long after that. He would wait for 400 years with the hope that the Amorites would repent and amend their ways so that He could rescind His decision, or continue doing their thing to the point that He would have enough, evict them from the land and give it to another people.
The latter turned out to be the case. But then 400 years was enough time for a people to get their acts together. Unfortunately, the Amorites did not and they paid dearly for it.
Selah!
Also read:
- Men in the Bible: A Blind Believer
- The Benefits of Wisdom: Discernment and Expression
- The Best Mathematical Equation
- WD-40 and Duct Tape
- Healed of Body Rashes
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