Different time-zone

2Peter3:8-9 '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.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.'

I'm an action person.When I see a job that needs to be done,I find a way to get it done before others even realize there was a need.It drives me nuts when I see other people drag their feet when there should be action in a needful situation.So waiting on God who does not operate in the same time zone as I do has been very hard.(CAN I GET A WITNESS?)

When I read 2Peter3:9,I must admit that in my mind,I was arguing with apostle Paul.I felt that God was slow in nearly everything.He waits until our lowest point before revealing his power.He waits until the people we love are dead before he reveals that he is our comforter.He is slow in punishing the wicked.He sees the poor and the weak but does not stretch out his hand.He sees the homeless but does not provide.

But when I read the verse again,I realize the problem is not with God but with me.The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise,as some understand slowness.My perception of when God should act is completely different from his.My view of the world is different from his.My view is from that of a carnal,a mortal whose understanding is limited.His is from that of being an eternal,Holy,all knowing God.

2Peter3:9 reveals that God and I have the same burden,that we want the lost to be saved.But my understanding of slowness is inaccurate.I have for most of my life felt that things should happen almost immediately.However,as I have gotten older,I have learned that most often that is not even possible.I have had to learn to be patient.I have had to wait on people to change.I have had to learn to wait on circumstances to become so difficult for people that they are forced to change their thinking so change could come.Change cannot and will come immediately.

2Peter3:8 teaches us that with the Lord a thousand years is like a day.Time is not something that God worries about.God does not make decisions based on the clock,calendar or length of men's lives.He is not in a hurry.He is patient.Time is not a factor for Him.It is for me.It is for you.But it is not for Him.Previously when I prayed,I asked that God would grant me my prayers ASAP,'God reveal to me now','God show me the direction now',but I have realized that God does not work that way.God who sees a thousand years as no different from a day is not going to reveal whatever I ask to me immediately.He does not operate within the elements of time or for the purpose of time.He only operates within the confines and boundaries of a redemptive purpose.2Peter 3:9 lets us know that his purpose is not timely, but redemptive.It only has to do with souls and spiritual maturity.If we have a lesson to learn by waiting,then He makes us wait.If we will grow spiritually or mature in our faith by His delay,then He delays.It really has nothing at all to do with our immediate physical needs.It has everything to do with where we are at in the redemptive process.

Moses spent 40 years in Pharaoh's court and schools of higher learning.Fow what?So that he could be a lonely shepard for the next 40 years.Moses was put into a place where he had to learn to wait on God and release all personal understanding of time.This was going to be absolutely necessary when he began leading the nation of Israel in the wilderness.Forty more years of waiting on God in the wilderness was going to be the result of his 40 years of waiting on God in the desert.God knew that the nation of Israel had to learn the same lesson of waiting on His timing and He needed Moses to lead the nation since he had already learned that lesson.Neither was God going to give them the promised land over night.Exodus23:28-29 tells us that He would not drive their enemies out in a single year,but rather little by little until they had increased enough to take the land.

The motive for God's delay has nothing to do with purposeful impediment. He is simply waiting on our maturity level to rise to a place where we can then take the land(revival, finances, etc).If God were to give us a thousand soul revivals in a year,we would lose most of them if we are not genuinely prepared to get them rooted to the church.That is why revival does not come easily.God is waiting for us to reach that level of spiritual maturity to take the land he has for us.

Friends,God's timing is not about time.It is about the redemptive process.When we are ready,it will come.He does not delay.He is not late.He is waiting on us.Therefore let us prepare Him an habitation.


When I'm down you are there for me
When I lay my head, you are there beside me
You are there for me when I'm lonely
You are there for me when I'm alone

Humbly I come to you
So gently You speak to me

I can't always hold on to the things of yesterday
Bring me something new
Maybe we can be together
I will always come running back to you

You are holy
You are worthy
Lord you're always faithful to me
I will wait on you Lord