Let's talk about patience.

Not mine (because it's seriously lacking), but God's.

If you haven't read the story of the Israelites in the Old Testament from the time God delivered them from Pharaoh to when they inherited the Promised Land, I highly recommend it.

And if you can do it chronologically, that's even better. It has really helped me to grasp and understand the history. (I'm using The One Year Chronological Bible.)

So, back to patience.

I've known for a while how patient God was with the Israelites while they were wandering in the wilderness for those 40 years after leaving Egypt (they were sometimes disobedient and what I would call whiny, forgetting miracles God had performed within days, etc.).

But I never really thought about God's patience after the Israelites finally made it to the Promised Land. See, once Joshua and the other leaders of his generation died, the Israelites basically shunned God.

They forgot everything He'd done for their ancestors. How he'd saved them so many times. How He had literally rained food down from the sky so they wouldn't die of starvation - among tons of other miraculous things.

They worshipped false gods, and the Bible says they actually "did evil in the eyes of the Lord."

So God appointed Othniel to lead them, and they turned back to God. The land once again had peace, for 40 years.

Then Othniel died and the Israelites betrayed God again. So He gave them another leader...

Lather, rinse, repeat.

What amazes me is that every single time the Israelites repented and cried out to God, He saved them. He didn't say, "Nope, sorry. You had your chance." He gave them chance after chance after chance...after chance.

And He does the same for us.

I can't judge the Israelites of that time. Because how am I any better? Every day I fail. And every day God rescues me.

"Then the Lord raised up judges [leaders], who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshipped them...Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, He was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies..." Judges 2:16-18.

What other gods are you serving? Money? Work? Fun? Even good things can become false gods if you're putting them first in your life. We're all guilty of it - goodness knows I am.

But don't worry...God never runs out of patience. Like, ever. His patience is literally unending. He will always be with you.

All you have to do is ask.