2 Peter 3:8-9
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Let me read to you this parable by Jesus - Matt 18:21-33 [parable of the unmerciful servant].
God is a patient. God is patient with us. He is described as “slow to anger” many times in the OT. The motivation for His patience is the redemption of man.
• Jesus demonstrated exceptional patience. For a man who is righteous and all-wise, it is quite amazing to find Jesus, surrounded by people who were spiritually ignorant and slow in understanding, not to lose His cool.
• For the most part of the Gospel accounts, the disciples were found to be lacking in understanding, slow to believe, self-centred and foolish.
• Yet Jesus bears with their shortcomings and imperfections.
Why was He so patient?
(1) Jesus did not see time as an essence (why the hurry?), and
(2) Jesus knows that the Father’s purpose was still intact. Everything was moving along well, and God’s plan was still on track.
The disciples needed room to grow; they needed time to comprehend. Some things cannot be rushed.
• You hardly see Jesus in a hurry, even though He has only three years to train up His disciples.
• In fact, on one occasion, He delayed His trip on purpose when He heard of Lazarus’ death. The motivation for patience is the purpose of God.
Today, we live a fast-paced, production-line type of lifestyle. We want things to be churned out quickly and orderly, and keeping the same quality.
• We go for fast food, quick fix, express ways, prompt service, rapid transit and instant noodles.
• If possible, we want a shortcut to spiritual growth, we want to mass-produce disciples.
• Yet we know that this cannot be true. Relationship takes time. This is the number one test that Pastor Chip Ingram highlighted.
Jesus speaks of the spiritual life in agricultural terms – it is about the vine and the branches, the tree and its fruit, the seed and its crops.
• It cannot be rushed, and there is no shortcut to it. There is nothing a farmer can do to speed up the harvest.
• Discipling a life, mentoring a life, parenting a life, takes time. There is no overnight magical sprouting of children. We need to give it or give them time.
Let us learn from Jesus in at least these THREE ways:
(1) TRUST GOD’S TIMING
Jesus has a view of time that is different from ours. He knows when “my time has not yet come” (John 2:4) and when “the time has come” (John 17:1).
• Time works for Him, not against Him. We tend to view time as working against us – ‘we’ve not enough time; we’re running out of time, time is not on our side.’
• To God, “a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (3:8)
The NT uses two Greek words for time – chronos (length) and kairos (right moment).
• Both are in God’s hands - for how long and at what time. We can be patient because time is on God’s side, and God makes everything beautiful in His time
• Look at Israel’s experience in the wilderness journey - Num 9:15-23 [read]
• What an amazing experience that was, to be able to SEE and MOVE at God’s pace.
(2) SEE THE BIG PICTURE (that is, God’s purpose)
We are impatient because we are afraid things will be messed up.
• But in what sense are they messed up? In our sense; that is, according to our way, our plan, and our time.
• We are impatient because we expect God to act according to our agenda.
• “Why are you late?” Martha asked Jesus. “If you are earlier, Lazarus might not have died.” She had a plan in mind, but so did Jesus. And they were different.
2 Pet 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
• If you understand His purpose, if you can just see the BIG PICTURE, then you will not be so impatient with God.
• In our vastly limited vision God seems slow, but in reality, He is keeping perfect timing. There is a purpose for the apparent “delay” and it is good.
• Martha and Mary got to see it first hand, when Lazarus walked out of the tomb. God’s delays are not necessarily God’s denials. He just does things differently!
We often feel that we are the ones waiting for God, but 2 Pet 3:9 says God is waiting for “everyone to come to repentance.”
• 1 Pet 3:20 says “God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.” So that men will repent and be saved.
• There is always a higher purpose. The wait is always for our good.
An artist went to visit an old friend and saw her weeping, because she had just ruined a beautiful handkerchief that had great value to her. There was a spot of indelible ink on it.
The friend asked her to let him have the handkerchief and said, “Give me time with it.” A few days later, he mailed it back. When she opened the package she could hardly believe her eyes. The artist, using the inkblot as a base, had drawn on it a beautiful design. Now it was more beautiful and valuable than ever.
Sometimes the thing that breaks our hearts becomes the basis for a more beautiful outcome in our lives. Be patient with the setbacks over which we have no control. In God’s hands, it can be turned into something beautiful.
(3) USE YOUR WAIT WISELY
Maintain a positive attitude of trust.
Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting. The wait is not a waste of time.
• God works even in the waiting rooms of our lives.
• We saw that in the lives of Joseph, Moses, David and Daniel. They spent many years in seclusion, unnoticed before God called them to greatness. Those were preparation time.
JOSEPH was in the prison for a long time (after butler release 2 more years), doing time for a crime he had not committed.
• It looked like God had forgotten him but He was in actual fact working behind the scenes to accomplish His eternal purposes.
• MOSES spent 40 years in seclusion, tending to sheep before he had the burning bush experience.
When DAVID fights Goliath, he already had an intimate knowledge of his God.
• His faith did not come overnight; it came through the years of tending to his father’s sheep.
• He fought off a lion and a bear and knew first-hand the presence of God, the power of God, the protection of God. No wonder he dared fight Goliath.
• With a sling and a stone, the things he is most familiar with. He has been playing with them all along.
The “wasted” time is actually “preparation” time. The waiting room is actually our classroom.
• So let us focus on the walk with God, rather than the answer He is going to give (at the end). Focus on the relationship with God, rather than the result that God can give.
A boy realised that God had made him fast. He wanted to have a race in his village to prove his speed. People from his village and the surrounding villages were invited, either as competitors or spectators. A wise man came to watch the race, which the boy won easily. Everyone congratulated him and he felt proud.
Some months later, he wanted another race, and a wider net was cast to invite more people. Again the boy won the race, everyone congratulated him and he felt proud and important.
The wise man decided to organise a third race for the boy. This time, he invited only two competitors – a blind man and an old lady. When the whistle was blown to start the race, the boy burst off the line as before. When he crossed the finish line, he noticed that he had run alone. His competitors were hardly off the starting point.
There was no cheer this time from the embarrassed crowd. The boy then asked the wise man why the applause was not like before.
The wise man told the boy to run the race again, but this time, he instructed him to hold the hands of the blind man and the old lady and finish the race together. He did so, and when he passed the finish line, the crowd cheered and applauded.
The boy asked, “I don’t understand! Which one of us are they cheering for? Who won?”
Wise man said, “Young boy, for this race you’ve won much more than in any race you have ever ran before, and for this race the crowd cheer not for any winner!”
… Inspiring stories, The Three Races, by Darren Edwards
Winning is not everything. We don’t need to be the quickest, the fastest or the first.
• Henri Nouwen has said that all his life two voices competed inside him. One encouraged him to succeed and achieve, while the other called him simply to rest in the comfort that he was “the beloved” of God. Only in the latter half of his life did he truly listen to the second voice.
• Listen more to the second voice. Be patient. God is working, in you, in your family, in your children, in your relationships, and in our ministries.
