I don’t know about you, but I’m very grateful that God is patient with our weaknesses! When dear Husband’s health improved, I suddenly felt wobbly. Maybe the pressure, fear, and lack of good sleep just built up. But when he started to get better, I started to crumble! I reminded myself that God is patient and I needed to be patient with myself, too. The verses that kept coming to mind were:

“For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
 so great is his unfailing love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
 so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
 so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
 he remembers that we are dust.
The life of mortals is like grass,
 they flourish like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord’s loyal love (hesed) is with those who fear him.” Psalm 103:11-17

He made us, so he knows our limitations, and yet he loves us anyway and forever. He understands our physical, emotional, and spiritual shortcomings. He has the utmost patience and gentleness toward us. He isn’t looking for Super Men and Super Women. He’s looking for weak people who choose to cling to him trusting that his compassion (mercy, pity) prevents his giving up on us. And that his unfailing, loyal love, devotion, and kindness will follow us from this life into eternity.

Take Abraham. His body and his wife’s body had failed to do one of the basic functions of humankind. They hadn’t been able to conceive a child. Now they were aged and had naturally lost all hope of having a child. But God had a plan! In order for the plan to work however, Abraham had to believe God could do the impossible.  I’m sure God won’t ask me to bear a child when I’m ninety. But he will ask me to believe day by day that he will keep his promise to someday remake my aging body and bring me into his Kingdom to enjoy eternal pleasures.

“Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!” And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith. . . Genesis 15:5,6

“. . . if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.  . . . This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing. Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!”And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb.
Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.” Romans 4:3, 5-7, 15-25

Even when we struggle to believe, he helps us.  When I’m feeling like a spiritual wimp, I remember frightened Gideon. He was a beaten-down nobody to whom God gave an impossible task. When Gideon understandably quailed at the assignment, God patiently reassured him. Over and over.  Just like God does for me.  He patiently builds my faith.

“Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”
And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”
Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and . . . made bread without yeast. . . .he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.
The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”
But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. . . “ Judges 6:17-24

When the day of battle grew near, Gideon needed his faith bolstered. So he asked boldly and honestly admitted he needed God’s miraculous sign. Having received it, he pleaded yet again. God didn’t get angry. Instead, he patiently built Gideon’s faith.

“Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece . . .  That night God did so.… “But if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah.  Listen to what the Midianites are saying, and you will be greatly encouraged. Then you will be eager to attack.” . . . When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship before the Lord. Then he returned to the Israelite camp and shouted, “Get up! For the Lord has given you victory over the Midianite hordes!”Judges 6: 39-40; 7:10-11,15

I’m sure God won’t ask me to trust him to defeat an enemy army. But he will ask me to trust that he will keep his promise to defeat my enemy, Satan, and bring me safely to his heavenly home.  Sometimes I think I hear him saying, “Do you remember how faithful I’ve been in the past?  Can you trust me with this one today?  Can you trust me with your forever?”