“We often confuse God’s timing with ours. A country newspaper had been running a series of articles on the value of church attendance. One day, a letter to the editor was received in the newspaper office. It read, “Print this if you dare. I have been trying an experiment. I have a field of corn which I plowed on Sunday. I planted it on Sunday. I did all the cultivating on Sunday. I gathered the harvest on Sunday and hauled it to my barn on Sunday. I find that my harvest this October is just as great as any of my neighbors’ who went to church on Sunday. So where was God all this time?” The editor printed the letter, but added his reply at the bottom. “Your mistake was in thinking that God always settles his accounts in October.”
“That’s often our mistake as well, isn’t it — thinking that God should act when and how we want him to act, according to our timetable rather than his. The fact that our vision is limited, finite, unable to see the end from the beginning, somehow escapes our mind. So we complain; we get frustrated; we accuse God of being indifferent to us; we do not live by faith” (Larry R. Kalajainen, Extraordinary Faith for Ordinary Time; via Sermons.com newsletter).*
Some believe that if God doesn't immediately punish disobedience and indifference, He never will. But there could be a reason for His withholding of judgment. There were mockers in Peter’s day who castigated Jesus for not coming in their generation as He promised (2 Peter 3:3-4; Matthew 16:27-28; 24.34). After all, it had been 35 years or so and He hadn’t returned yet. The reason for the delay according to Peter was to provide an opportunity for repentance (2 Peter 3:9). But don’t doubt God’s resolve just because He is patient. Jesus did come again in judgment through the agency of the Roman army and judged Jerusalem and the temple, all within the window of that generation just as he promised.
God loves you!
Mike
*Michael Duduit, preaching.com
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