ДОЛГОТЕРПЕНИЕ БОЖИЕ

The Lord carries each of us, so to speak, in His arms from the womb and instructs us until we are very old. What are we? Insensitive, ungrateful, we do not even want to know that the Lord is our most tender Father, Who tolerates our untruths out of His goodness and long-suffering (2). The righteous Lord allows good and evil to grow and mature in this world and is patient with it, not even though the death of sinners and to increase the punishment of the unrepentant and those who abuse His long-suffering. This long-suffering of God, the fruit of His love for creatures, is praiseworthy and amazing. Thanks to this long-suffering, how many sinners and sinners were saved, who should have perished forever if the Lord had not been patient with us, foreseeing our conversion and correction. O wonderful long-suffering! I glorify this wonderful property of God, grace and patience! How many of the greatest sinners have been saved through you! (4). Having imagined all the harmony and beauty of creation, the unchanging order in the existence and life of everything created, you are perplexed and amazed at the thought of how the all-perfect, all-powerful, wise, righteous Creator, the Trinitarian God tolerates the ugly, senseless, disorderly, harmful for many, many lives of people who go in their lives and deeds contrary to their Creator and their reason, conscience, feelings and the wise will of the Creator, causing countless evils to many people like themselves and introducing confusion and groaning into inanimate nature itself, not to mention the people themselves, whose misfortunes and groans are heard everywhere and whose blood flows in rivers. But how salutary are the consequences of this long-suffering and mercy for reasonable, intelligent and repentant sinners who profess the Christian faith - the Gospel! How many were and are saved thanks to this long-suffering! How many sinners and sinners who were pardoned for faith and repentance entered heaven! How many times have each and every one of us been saved and are being saved from the righteous wrath of God, from sorrow and oppression and the present eternal torment, how many have been saved for faith and repentance! Oh, what wondrous qualities are mercy and patience in God! How they encourage and revive every repentant sinner! So the thief came down from the cross - and straight to heaven for faith in the Crucified One and for one-hour repentance! Here is a harlot, known throughout the city, with tears of repentance she was cleansed from the filth of sin and became chaste and entered heaven; behold, the publican who repented received mercy and was awarded eternal life with all his household; behold, Lazarus, poor and sick after death, is carried by the Angels into Abraham’s bosom, for his sins have been cleansed by illness and suffering; How many sinners, known and unknown, sinners who repented, have been pardoned in the space of centuries of Christian history! (10). God’s long-suffering towards demons and people is marvelous. Countless, the most vile and terrible, disastrous iniquities have been committed and are constantly being committed by them on earth, to the insult of the all-good and omnipotent Lord God; and He is still long-suffering to the kingdom of Satan, endures, does not destroy the wicked, even gives sinful people health, wealth, beauty, prosperity, glory, and childbearing; does not destroy them with floods, famines, pestilences, wars, earthquakes, but spares them and spares them in every possible way, expecting their admonition, conversion, repentance, salvation - and if they do not come to their senses and repent, they will be subjected to even greater and more severe punishment. “Let the unjust still do injustice; let the unclean one still become unclean; let the righteous still do righteousness, and let the holy one still be sanctified. Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his deeds” (Rev. 22:11, 12) (10). You might be interested in: