Longsuffering means patient endurance and steadfastness under provocation, offense, hardship, suffering, abuse, insult, mistreatment, and in the face of adversity. The word is made up of two Greek words meaning long and temper so long-tempered. God has a long fuse when He is stirred to anger. God is patient with sinners and He uses tremendous self-restraint. He does not fly off the handle and immediately retaliates based solely on emotions and without forethought. We should never think of God as succumbing to or being reckless in His anger. God’s attributes of mercy and love are an intertwining part of God’s longsuffering nature.
[Ex 34:6] The Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. NIV says many verses like this with similar wording are the great self-characterization of God which runs like a golden thread through the OT.
[II Peter 3:8-9] “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Because God lives in eternity, He waits patiently. His delay is not because He doesn’t care or is indifferent. Quite the contrary, verse 15 says, “bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation.”
James 5:7-8 Be patient, therefore brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and late rains. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Here James is using creation, farming in particular to show how we should patiently wait for the Lord’s return.
Jesus definitely demonstrated longsuffering. He was persecuted, mocked, insulted, scorned, blasphemed, rejected, betrayed, attacked, arrested, falsely accused, beaten, and murdered. Why did it have to be that way? Why did He have to suffer so to bring us salvation. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He asked the Father if there was another way, he know nothing was impossible with God. But He said not my will but yours. That is a longsuffering statement. Heb 2:9, He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. He endured it all gracefully, without retaliation, for you and for me. And on that cross after all the mistreatment, He said Father forgive them for they know not what they do. I Pt says, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps.
Rom 5:3-4 – More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. It is a process and an order. It appears that character is produced after suffering and endurance takes place. We want to just skip to good character and not go through the prior.
Longsuffering and patience are fruits of the Holy Spirit. He wants it so much produced in you. They are His qualities. There is a famous funny saying that goes: God, I want patience and I want it right now! But fruit is not grown over night. To have the fruit of patience you must learn it through experiences and exercise it through situations and circumstances. It is like a muscle you use to become stronger; it takes time.
