2 Peter 3:8-9
Don’t overlook the obvious here,
friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand
years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure
lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the
End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and
time to change.
Scripture
quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002
by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs,
CO. All rights reserved.
My friend John posted a
picture of his dog, Winston, this morning…with the comment that he was
giving himself a week to grieve his beloved pet’s death. John has
posted a picture of Winston every day since he passed…and he commented
that he has “one more day.” At the same time, I know several people who
are caring for loved ones on Hospice care…just waiting for God to call
them home. In some cases, they wonder why it’s taking so long. Still
others believe that changes of one sort or another will come. They are
praying to God and begging Him to intervene…and wishing that He would
hurry up and fix the mess!
Here’s the thing…God’s timing is
perfect – but it is not the same as ours. He will heal our grief and
give us peace…but the amount of time it takes each of us to “get there”
is vastly different. You cannot package these emotions into a set
number of days on the calendar…and God doesn’t expect us to do this. As
for those who are nearing the time when they will to go to heaven…we
cannot dictate this, either. When you are watching and waiting, the
minutes, hours and days may seem to drag by…the suffering may appear to
be unending – and more than you can endure. But God’s got each person
involved in this journey in the palm of His hand. I assure you, He will
operate on a perfect schedule that we will understand someday…if only
when we get to Heaven and visit with Him face-to-face.
Probably
the hardest “wait” many of us have is for God to work in all sorts of
situations that seem impossible and unbearable for us – or deeply
frustrating. I cannot imagine how those who work in in various civil
rights movements must feel as they call on God to help them in their
struggle and fight for changes to occur. The part of this scripture
passage about God restraining Himself on account of us was particularly
poignant as I thought of the escaped convict in New York…and the young
shooter of nine church members in South Carolina. Both lives were
spared as police apprehended them. Could this be so that they have
another chance to hear about Jesus and turn to Him? Remember Jesus’
parable of the 99 sheep and the one who was lost!
I don’t know
what you are waiting on…but at some point in our lives, we are all
waiting. We wait for good things to happen…special milestones like
graduation, weddings, new babies, new houses or jobs, and “big”
birthdays. We also wait for things to change…for relationships to
improve, for children to grow out of bad habits, for hearts to soften
and people to become more tolerant. We wait for death…and for grief to
end. And we wait for Jesus to come back for us – either collectively,
or when we are called to Heaven.
In all of these situations and
circumstances, God is with us…and He orchestrates the details and the
timing. And it is all perfect. We don’t have to understand this…or
even like it! We just have to trust God and believe that He has our
back…that He is with us…and that He loves us so much that He plans every
single second to perfection. Amazing love…amazing grace…amazing
timing…God offers all of this – and more – to each of us. Do you trust
Him to handle every detail? Don’t you think you should?
©2015 Debbie Robus
No comments:
Post a Comment