with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise

I was in danger of misunderstanding the above extract from 2 Peter 3:8, 9 this morning. Being anxious to claim the fulfilment of His many promises to me, and seeking to deal with the many delays, I was initially looking to thes,e verses for comfort. Certainly, the Lord is not slack concerning any of His promises, but these verses point to a specific promise (singular), the promise of His coming again.

It’s been 2,000 years, so in His sight the delay in His return is as a mere two days! Even so, why the delay? Well, the last part of verse 9 tells us, He is “longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” Peter goes on to describe a rather terrifying end to all things, and uses these truths to admonish us to “be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless” (verse 14).

Father, I know that it is Your intention that those of us who belong to You should live before the world in such a way that the reality of “Christ in us the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27), should be obvious and inescapable. In view of the coming judgement, Peter asks those of us who belong to Him “what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness” (2 Peter 3:11)? We have failed miserably in these things. Lord have mercy upon us. We need your help, I do. Forgive us and change us Lord. Start with me in Jesus Name Amen.