I'm Amazed at God's Longsuffering

It's very easy for me to say, "Lord, why do you not strike now?" whenever I'm injured. When I think of how often I say, "Lord why not now?" I also remember when the disciples asked for fire from Heaven in Luke 9:54. The response was that Jesus rebuked the disciplines for making such a petition. It's time to think about God's longsuffering.

Arthur W. Pink said in "God's Long Suffering":

God's Long Suffering  

How wondrous is God's patience with the world today. On every side people are sinning with a high hand. The Divine law is trampled under foot and God Himself openly despised. It is truly amazing that He does not instantly strike dead those who so brazenly defy Him. 

Why does He not suddenly cut off the haughty infidel and blatant blasphemer, as He did Ananias and Sapphira? (Acts 5:1-10). 

Why does He not cause the earth to open its mouth and devour the persecutors of His people, so that, like Dathan and Abiram, they shall go down alive into the Pit? (Numbers 16:1-35). 

And what of apostate Christendom, where every possible form of sin is now tolerated and practiced under cover of the holy name of Christ? 

Why does not the righteous wrath of Heaven make an end of such abominations? Only one answer is possible: because God bears with "much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." (Romans 9:22). 

God bears long with the wicked notwithstanding the multitude of their sins, and shall we desire to be revenged because of a single injury?

I'm really ashamed to think at the many times I wish God will avenge me right here and right now. There are times He chooses to to but most of the time He doesn't. There's much blasphemy in the world and there are still many who blaspheme God and have so much material prosperity. Yet Psalm 37 tells us never to be envious of the wicked. Psalm 73 (notice that it's 37 backwards) has David envying at the prosperity of the wicked. It's very hard to think that all this prosperity is just temporal. Remember the rich man went to Hell and Lazarus went to Heaven (Luke 16:19-31).

So why does God have His longsuffering? 2 Peter 3:9 says this about God's purpose for His longsuffering towards sinful mankind:

The LORD is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

When I think of God's wrath, I should remember God gave chances to people. God gave Adam and Eve forgiveness and promised them the Savior. The wicked Cain was still given space to repent. The world was given 120 years to repent while Noah built the boat. God still extended His patience with Sodom agreeing to spare it for the sake of ten people. Ahab and Jezebel were given all the chances to repent before they both died and went to Hell. That's just a few examples of how God doesn't always immediately strike the wicked.

This makes me think that whenever I say that this and that should have happened, I ask myself, "Am I in the place of God's sovereign will that I should be the judge of everyone?" The answer is no. I have no right to say that so and so should have died and lived or that life isn't fair. Right now, what people need right now is mercy and grace to be forgiven of their sins. I didn't deserve forgiveness either and God's grace makes it easy for me to forgive others and pray for them. I'm called to judge sin according to God's standards but I'm not the final judge because that's already God's responsibility.