“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering towards us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

Longsuffering. That word kinda makes me cringe when I think of it in context with God. I see Him rolling His eyes with His head in His hand thinking when will this child of Mine ever stop complaining and see what I have done for her. As parents, I’m sure you can relate, right??

We may not think much about it. A simple “Ugh it’s Monday” or “Ahhh I don’t wanna go to work” or “I don’t feel like cooking” and that’s our whole outlook on that particular situation. Now we are in a mindset of the negative. But our “ugh Monday” is a cancer patient’s “Thank you for another Monday”. Our “ugh work” is a recently unemployed mother’s “Thank you for the job opportunity”. And our “ugh cooking” is a starving man’s “Thank you I have food to cook!”. And when we look at it in that perspective, we are complaining about the gifts God has blessed us with. Ouch….didn’t see that one coming.

The children of Israel were the same way…so we are not alone in this. In Exodus 14, they cried out to Moses, “Why have you taken us from Eygpt to die in the wilderness?”. The Lord had brought them out of Egypt and the first sign of trouble, they forgot what the Lord did and started complaining. So God parted the Red Sea for them. Again, in Exodus 15:24 “And the people complained against Moses saying, What shall we drink?”. So the Lord made the bitter waters sweet. But oh how quickly we forget. Just a few short verses later in Exodus 16, “Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses….” because they didn’t have any food. So God provided Heavenly Manna for them. AND…He provided just enough for each to have exactly what they needed. Exodus 16:18 – open your bible and take a look 😉

I could go on…but you get the gist. The people complained and God blessed. Over and over again. Wow. Talk about longsuffering. I can’t say I have EVER been that patient with my children. 🙂 But I think my favorite part of the story is the very last verse in Exodus.

Exodus 40:38 “For the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.”

Throughout ALL THEIR JOURNEYS. Even after the murmuring, the complaining, the idol worship…EVEN after all that, God STILL stayed with them throughout their journeys. Again….talk about longsuffering.

We are so underserving of the patience and love that He gives us. So next time we are about to complain about washing dishes….instead thank God that you had a meal to dirty those dishes. Next time we want to complain about cleaning our house….instead thank God we have a home! It’s that easy to change our outlook from a mindset of complaining to a mindset of thankfulness!

Lord, help me to never complain about the blessings You have provided me with. Amen!