The long-suffering savior

“The Lord is not slow and keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He’s patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”  -- 2 Peter 3:9

 
God is totally Sovereign. That is, in terms of His control and authority, He is completely unrivaled. He knows the beginning from the end (Isa. 46:10), and is working all things out for good (Rom. 8:28) and in accordance with his plan (Eph. 1:11). Our problem, of course, is our finite vantage point. We simply cannot see what God sees, and hence we often struggle in our efforts to try to understand God’s plan, namely to understand what God is up to. Be rest assured, however, that God is true to His word (He keeps His plans) and His is the best of all possible plans. Surely the Apostle Peter serves as a prime example of someone who is “just didn’t get it,” and yet even he became someone (after Pentecost) who exemplified a stalwart resolution in trusting God, even to the point of death.  (Ecclesiastical tradition holds that the Apostle Peter was also crucified, albeit in an inverted position).

God is the ultimate Promise-keeper. What God says, He does. Yahweh operates on His own timetable, and His timetable is perfect. In fact, time itself is His creation, for He exists from all eternity.  Furthermore, what we may perceive to be “slowness” is simply patience to the Lord.  And this patience itself has a purpose:  Maximal Redemption. That is, God knew from all eternity who would receive Him and be saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8). Hence, what appears to us as slowness is simply the outworking of God’s plan for all who would receive him (John 1:12) to, in point of fact, receive him. God desires that every human being would come to repentance and experience salvation, reconciliation, and everlasting newness of life. Even though there are some who would contend that God does not want every person He creates to be redeemed, this position is self-evidently inconsistent with “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”  When I read this passage, I’m inclined to think that the Apostle Peter would disagree with a notion that God wants not to redeem all.  Because God is all-loving, His all-loving nature desires all to come to His open arms of Love.
 
Question for the Day:
Am I trusting that God has a glorious plan and will carry it out accordingly?