A long fuse

The Irish are known for telling stories, enjoying their "beverages", and wearing their emotions (including anger) on their sleeve. I definitely have the first and third one down. The command to be "slow to anger" is definitely on my list of top ten most difficult commands in the Bible. I would have what most would say a, "short fuse" it doesn't really take a lot to get me annoyed or angry, I typically get over it just as fast but still watch out. Part of growing up is learning to not have such a quick temper because basically, people will hurt you, annoy you, and upset you... that's life and you might as well get used to it.

As I read the Bible, I'm amazed at what a long fuse God has. Many think that the way He is shown in the Old Testament especially is that He's a rather harsh and angry God. But this morning I was reading 2 Chronicles 33 and about how what an evil king Manasseh was, and you read in verse one, he was allowed to be king for 55 years! God has been known to strike people down for a whole lot less than what Manasseh did. But then you get to verse 10 and how God laid the smack down on him, and then verse 12 about how he truly humbled himself before God and repented of his ways. And in verse 13, we see how God forgave him. After he made it back to Judah, he removed all the evil he had put into place before and really showed how he repented in his heart and didn't just say "sorry" to get out of being punished. You can't help but think of how God knew that's what he was going to do, and that's why he didn't just strike him down early in his reign. God is so unbelievably patient with us, it amazes me! To think of all He puts up with as we choose to ignore His warnings and commands, fail to thank Him for the amazing ways He works in our lives, and how we may even choose to turn our backs on Him completely, and yet He still is willing to welcome us back to Him with open arms just like the dad with the prodigal son. God's mercy and grace amaze me pretty much on a daily basis, and how I get irate when someone speaks to me badly or cuts me off... Our God is so good and how He treated Manasseh definitely laid some gnarly conviction on my heart on how I should be dealing with situations.