The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises as some count slowness, but is patient toward you. – 2 Peter 3:9
Have you ever looked at the clock only to find that the day is almost gone and you didn’t get nearly enough done? Or maybe the opposite is true… you were done with your day, but the clock says there’s more time left. Either one can be frustrating.
Peter had to be frustrated, as well. He was dealing with scoffers who confused new believers who were under persecution by questioning the validity of their faith because Christ had not yet returned as Peter had said. Peter’s comment got straight to the point, “Do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8; cf Psalm 90:4). One thing is certain, time is not the same to God as it is to humans.
Why does God delay? He “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). Time provides the opportunity to share the message of the Savior’s love with more people, and He gives them time to repent and believe. Time gives the believer the opportunity to become more like Christ and serve his fellow man.
Christ’s return is delayed because of the Father’s long-suffering love. Know that God is never late, He is always on time. It is not a matter of if He will return, but when. Until that day, take the opportunities as they present themselves. Ask the Holy Spirit to work in you, as well as in the governing officials of this nation, as you grow closer to Him, and as you tell others of the Savior.
Today’s Verse: 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.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: 2 Peter 2:1-9
2 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
