”But rather because of this I was mercied, in order that in me first Christ Jesus should demonstrate the all-patience towards a pattern of the [ones] being about to be believing upon Him unto life eternal.”
-But God. It doesn’t actually say “But God” here, but that is totally the idea. Paul could have been the poster child for getting his just desserts, but instead he got mercy. That’s the word - “but [something else entirely]”. I can’t tell you how many times Scripture has one of these so-called blessed-buts. Things look one way, they are trending in one direction, but God [ ]. Fill in the blank. God had something else in mind all along, and He was just waiting for the optimal time (kairos) to bring it to make it happen.
-And so here we have the first of the worst, Saul the all-star sinner, the blaspheming persecuting death-dealing enemy of the Cross, fully deserving of whatever wrath and punishment the Lord might have chosen to pour out on his sorry keester. Don’t stand too close, right? Don’t wanna get hit by that bolt of lightning aimed in his general direction. But the mercy-full God - Jesus - poured out mercy. He made Saul an example - not of punishment but of patience - and turned Saul the faith-busting disciple-breaker into Paul the faith-building disciple-maker. Talk about a plot twist. Paul was first of the worst, but he now becomes the poster child for God’s perfect patience. God is full of mercy AND patience! Phew! The actual Greek phrase says, all long-suffering. All of it. All that is needed, and then some. All that, and a bag of chips. It’s not just perfect patience, it’s infinite. Inexhaustible. The willingness to endure and wait as long as it takes for someone to believe on Jesus, to come home to Him in their hearts. Paul shows us in the clearest way possible that no one is beyond the reach of God’s mercy and grace, not ever, not as long as the Lord is willing to wait. The Lord stood there, taking all of Saul’s insults and curses and threats, all the hatred and violence, He took it all, and finally just said, “Saul, why are you doing this?” That’s all it took. Why are you persecuting Me? Why are you opposing Me? Why are you doing this? This could actually be a great way to approach those who are far from God, who are perhaps fighting Him or running away from Him in their hearts. Friend, why are you doing this? Why are you living like this? Could you please help me understand why you are doing this?
-But doesn’t Scripture tell us that the first thing that God’s love is like is that it is PATIENT (1Corinthians 13.1)? Love gives, but I wonder if perhaps the most important thing it does is wait? Love is indeed patient, as much as anything. Looooooong-suffering. Willing to waaaaaaaait. Patient (and merciful) with delays and not-yet-and-far-from-perfections, patient with the wounds and warts and waywardness of others, patient with their selfishness and self-centeredness, with their messes and messiness and me-first-me-better-ness, with their missteps and mistakes and miscellaneous misanthropies. Love is patient. It suffers long. It waits. It waits for the harvest. It waits (and keeps looking and hoping) for the Prodigal. God’s all-patient love. It doesn’t come naturally. Nope, it’s supernatural. It’s E(x)ternally-Sourced, made and bottled in the heart of God. Gotta get it from Him.
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