The God of Long Nostrils: A Sermon on Patience

Devotional

Day 1: God’s Long Nostrils: Slow Anger as Divine Strength

Patience begins with God’s character, not human effort. When Moses asked to see God’s glory, Yahweh revealed Himself as "slow to anger"—literally "long nostrils," an ancient idiom for restrained power. This divine patience isn’t indifference but deliberate mercy, holding back deserved judgment to make space for repentance. Like the Israelites at Sinai, we test this patience daily, yet God’s commitment remains unshaken. His restraint becomes our model: strength under control, love in action. True patience flows from recognizing His grace toward us first. [41:11]

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”
(Exodus 34:6-7, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you mistaken God’s patience for absence? How might embracing His “long nostrils” reshape your response to others’ failures?

Day 2: When Annoyance Reveals Our Hidden Standards

Annoyance often exposes unspoken rules we impose on others. Like the preacher’s humorous admission of testing his wife’s patience, irritation flares when people breach invisible standards we’ve never clearly communicated. This mirrors Israel’s frustration with Moses’ delayed return—a crisis born of unmet expectations. Patience requires examining our hidden demands and choosing grace over grievance. Every irritation becomes a mirror: What does this reveal about my heart? [37:11]

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.
(Philippians 2:14-15, ESV)

Reflection: What recent annoyance points to an unspoken rule you’ve set? How might voicing expectations kindly prevent future frustration?

Day 3: Patience Is Power Restrained, Not Weakness Endured

God’s patience at Sinai—withholding judgment on idol-worshipping Israel—proves patience is power in chains. Jonah hated this truth, accusing God of being “slow to anger” toward enemies. Yet divine restraint creates space for redemption. Like a parent refusing to retaliate against a tantrum, godly patience absorbs pain to preserve relationship. This strength grows not from grit but the Spirit’s fruit within us. [43:15]

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.
(2 Peter 3:9, ESV)

Reflection: When have you mislabeled patience as passive? Where might God call you to actively restrain power for love’s sake?

Day 4: Grieving Change, Keeping Covenant

Resistance to new methods often masks grief for what’s being lost. When Jesus’ disciples abandoned fasting, John’s followers mourned not just practices but the era they represented. Churches facing change must honor both pioneers and innovators—the saints who built programs and those adapting them. Patience listens to the stories behind “We’ve never done it this way,” remembering every generation stands on someone’s shoulders. [57:00]

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.
(1 Peter 4:8-10, ESV)

Reflection: What change in your community stirs unease? Who from the past might you honor while embracing the new?

Day 5: Feasting with Tax Collectors: Patience as Open Table

Jesus redefined patience as proximity. By feasting with sinners, He modeled God’s “long nostrils”—staying present with those still changing. When criticized, He didn’t condemn John’s disciples but reframed their fasting as future grief. Patience trusts the Spirit’s timing in others’ journeys, refusing to rush or reject. It keeps the table open, knowing transformation comes through abiding, not demanding. [53:20]

And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
(Matthew 9:15, ESV)

Reflection: Who feels “too messy” to invite to your table? How might practicing Christ’s patient presence impact both of you?

Sermon Summary

Patience begins with an honest admission: people are annoying. Annoyance often reveals a hidden standard that somebody else never agreed to meet, and impatience says more about the offended heart than about the person who failed it. The fruit named in Galatians 5 is makrothumia, “long-tempered,” and the Old Testament gives it the vivid image of God’s “long nostrils,” air taking a long time to come out before it gets hot.

God reveals that name at Sinai, after Israel has seen plagues, the Red Sea, thunder, lightning, covenant, and then a golden calf. God possesses every right and every power to bring judgment immediately, yet God says He is compassionate, merciful, slow to anger, full of unfailing love and faithfulness. Patience is not weakness, helplessness, apathy, or pretending hurtful things did not happen. Patience is strength under control, the choice not to strike even when there is power to do so.

Jonah shows how offensive God’s patience can feel when it is extended to people who have done real evil. Jonah throws God’s own name back at Him almost as an accusation: God is slow to anger, and that is exactly why Nineveh might be spared. God’s long nostrils, however, keep the door open because God does not want anyone destroyed but wants everyone to repent. God gives prevenient grace, justifying grace, and sanctifying grace to everybody, including people who are hard to like and people who have caused deep wounds.

The Holy Spirit makes patience more than a command or an example that believers must somehow copy. John Wesley calls it a gracious temper wrought in the heart by the power of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit grows this fruit in people who agree to join God’s work, enabling them to hold the door open for one more person.

Jesus models that patience with John’s disciples when they question why His followers are not fasting. Jesus does not shame them, rush them, or demand that they become like His disciples. Jesus tells them the truth through the picture of a wedding and makes room for their grief, because their leader has been taken from them.

Change in the church calls for that same long-nostriled love. Grief often hides behind words like, “We’ve never done it that way before.” A program or practice may carry the memory of somebody loved, somebody who built it, somebody whose faith helped keep the church standing. God draws His people closer to Himself and therefore closer to each other, so patience listens for the grief, honors those shoulders already bearing the church, and keeps love at the center.

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Key Takeaways

1. Patience exposes hidden expectations Annoyance often starts where an unspoken standard has been broken. Patience asks what expectation has been placed on another person and whether that expectation has been shaped by love or by control. The Spirit does not merely help believers tolerate irritating people; He reveals the pride and fear underneath irritation. [37:11]
2. God’s patience is powerful restraint God’s slowness to anger does not mean God is indifferent to evil or unable to act. God sees clearly, possesses all power, and yet holds judgment back so that mercy can make room for repentance. Long nostrils name a holy strength that refuses to let wrath have the first word. [42:55]
3. God keeps the door open God’s patience serves His desire that everybody would come to repentance. Prevenient grace reaches toward people who seem unlikely, undeserving, or even offensive to those already inside. Jonah’s anger warns against treating God’s mercy as a resource reserved for preferred people. [48:19]
4. The Spirit grows patient hearts Patience is fruit, not merely personality or self-management. The Holy Ghost works a gracious temper in the heart, giving believers power to endure, listen, and love where natural reactions would demand quick resolution. God equips His people for the kind of patience He Himself shows. [50:35]
5. Change deserves patient, grieving love Resistance to change may be carrying memories of people who built something with sacrifice and faith. Love does not dismiss that grief as stubbornness, and change does not have to mean throwing away the people who came before. The church stands on many shoulders and grows best when patience honors both heritage and present need.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[35:45] - People Are Annoying
[37:11] - Hidden Standards and Impatience
[38:20] - Long-Tempered and Long Nostrils
[39:40] - Sinai and God’s Name
[42:16] - Patience Is Strength
[44:28] - Jonah Resents God’s Mercy
[46:28] - Patience Keeps the Door Open
[49:49] - The Spirit Produces Patience
[52:31] - Jesus Makes Room for Grief
[55:52] - Patience Through Church Change
[59:36] - Grace Draws People Together
[61:19] - God Builds Love in His People
[63:18] - Prayer and Christian Discipleship
[69:58] - Go in Grace and Peace

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Exodus 34:5-6
“The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,’” [41:15]

Galatians 5:22-23
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” [50:35]

2 Peter 3:9
“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.” [48:19]

Jonah 4:2
“And he prayed to the LORD and said, ‘O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.’” [45:26]

Observation questions

In Exodus 34, what qualities does God proclaim about Himself when Moses asks to see His glory, and where does “slow to anger” fit among those qualities? [41:19]
According to Galatians 5:22-23, is patience presented as an isolated trait, or as part of a larger fruit produced by the Spirit?
What does Jonah say he already knew about God, and why did that knowledge make him unwilling to go to Nineveh? [45:26]
In 2 Peter 3:9, what purpose does God’s patience serve for people who have not yet repented? [48:24]

Interpretation questions

God had every reason and power to judge Israel after the golden calf, yet He named Himself merciful, gracious, and slow to anger. How does this show that patience is strength rather than weakness? [42:42]
Jonah knew that Nineveh had done real evil, yet he resented God’s mercy toward them. Why can God’s patience toward people who have caused harm feel offensive or unfair to those who have been wounded? [45:46]
If patience is fruit of the Spirit rather than simply better self-control, what does that suggest about how believers grow when their natural reaction is anger, irritation, or quick judgment? [50:35]
When someone says, “We’ve never done it that way before,” what kinds of grief or love for the past may be underneath those words? How might recognizing that grief change the way others respond? [57:06]

Application questions

Think of a person who has been irritating lately. What unspoken standard or expectation might be behind that irritation? Have they ever agreed to meet that standard? [37:11]
Where are you most tempted to confuse patience with avoiding a hard conversation, pretending a wound did not happen, or simply giving up? What might strong, truthful patience look like in that situation? [43:37]
Is there someone toward whom you have felt like Jonah—someone you struggle to believe deserves mercy, another chance, or an open door? What would it look like to ask God to work patience and love in your heart toward that person? [49:28]
God’s patience keeps the door open so that people can repent and come near to Him. Who in your life may need you to keep the door open through prayer, kindness, a conversation, or simply refusing to write them off? [48:37]
When change happens in the church, workplace, family, or community, do you usually move quickly toward change or resist it? How can you show patience to people on the other side of that difference? [59:40]
Is there a tradition, program, habit, or place that carries memories of someone you love? How could you share that story in a way that helps others understand the love and grief connected to it? [58:05]
What is one situation this week where you need to trust that the Holy Spirit can grow patience in you instead of relying only on your own short fuse or willpower? [01:01:19]

Sermon Clips

47s

“It's all about love. It's all about God's love. wrapping it up. Do you have no fuse? Peter did Jonah. It's okay. God's got you. He's gonna build it in you because he wants us all to love each other and love every person that's gonna walk through that door and love the world around us and to have patience with them to keep the door open.”

34s

“When very hurtful things are being done to you, that's when patience is the is toughest. Right? It's not all it's also not just saying, hey, I see what all those evil people did to me. Patience isn't that either. Patience isn't something entirely different. It is when you have the power to change something and you don't.”

36s

“It's something that's too important to just trust us to do it on our own. Does that make sense? It's a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It's something put in us that we agree to join with or we don't agree to join with. Right? Praise God. We don't have to he didn't set some example that we just have to follow. He's equipping us. That's exciting to me. That's so exciting to me.”

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