Daily Devotions
The thing that amazes me most about this story is God’s patience. The people of Israel are just a month and half out from the day God rescued them from Egypt. All the miracles He did to save them should be fresh in their minds—the disasters He brought on Egypt, the way He protected them and their children from the worst of it, the morning He opened a pathway through the Red Sea and saved them from the soldiers. But here they are, only 45 days later, moaning because they are hungry! And somehow they have magically forgotten all the bad things about Egypt—like slavery and attempted genocide. All they can remember is the food.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m not saying they should have gone hungry in silence. But there’s a difference between grumbling and asking nicely. After all those miracles, they should have known that God could provide for them! Why didn’t they pray?
But they didn’t. They grumbled. And astonishingly, God is very patient with them. He gives them miraculous bread from heaven, the manna that fell on the ground in the desert. He sends quail so they can eat meat. He treats them gently, like the spiritual babies they are. He gives them time to grow up.
God hasn’t changed. He still shows this patience toward us today, the people He loves and calls to be His own. 2 Peter talks about this. It says, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. … And count the patience of our Lord as salvation” (2 Peter 3:9, 15a).
God’s patience is surprising—and yet, maybe not, if we stop to think about the greatest thing He did to save us, laying down His own life for us on the cross. Someone who loves us that much—to live and suffer and die and rise again, all to make us His own—now that is a God who loves us! That is the God who patiently works in us, helping us to grow up more and more, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God” (Ephesians 4:13a).
THE PRAYER: Father, help me to appreciate Your patience and return it with love. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
1. When is it easy for you to be patient? When is it hard?
2. Give an example of another story from the Bible you remember when the Lord shows His patience.
3. If you are willing, share a time when God was very patient with you.