God's Perfect Timing
Introduction
God has his own sense of timing: ‘With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day’ (2 Peter 3:8). He has perfect timing: never early, never late. God is never in a hurry, but he is always on time.
We see in today’s passages that the Lord is sovereign over the future (Daniel 4:32). ‘We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth’ (2 Peter 3:13). God is going to vindicate his people (Psalm 135:14).
But what do you do while you are waiting for God to do what he has promised to do?
Psalm 135:13-14
13 Your name, LORD, endures for ever,
your renown, LORD, through all generations.
14 For the LORD will vindicate his people
and have compassion on his servants.
Commentary
Trust in the Lord
When your prayers don’t seem to be answered, you may be tempted to stop trusting the Lord and start chasing other ‘gods’.
Trusting in the Lord may seem a little old fashioned. But the psalmist says, ‘God, your name is eternal, God, you’ll never be out-of-date’ (v.13, MSG).
The great biblical truth is that you become like that in which you put your trust. If you put your trust in ‘gods’ of silver or gold, then you will be like them – spiritually lifeless, blind and deaf (vv.16–18). If you trust in God, you will be filled with life and joy as you become like him.
Keep trusting God, ‘For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants’ (v.14). ‘God stands up for his people, God holds the hands of his people’ (v.14, MSG). Hence, you are called to praise and honour the Lord (vv.19–21).
Remain totally dependent on God and look for him to vindicate you. When things aren’t working out as you wish, be patient. Stop trying to move ahead of God. His timing is perfect. Trust him.
Prayer
2 Peter 3:3-18
3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?..." 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. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.
16 ... His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Commentary
Turn to the Lord
When you look at all the evil in the world – all the wars, environmental damage, violence, institutional torture, injustice, horrific crimes and the amount of suffering – you might wonder why Jesus does not come back now and sort it all out.
Why does God delay? Why has the Lord not returned already?
Peter warns us that people will mock us and say, ‘So what’s happened to the promise of his Coming?’ (v.4, MSG). He says there is a very good reason for the delay. The reason that the Lord has not come already is to give people more time to repent.
God is not in a hurry. ‘With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day’ (v.8).
God is not being slow in keeping his promise. Rather, the delay comes from his patience: ‘He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance’ (v.9). ‘God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change’ (v.9, MSG).
Repentance is all about a change of direction in your life. It is turning away from all the bad stuff and turning to Jesus. By giving people time to repent God is lovingly holding the door open for their salvation. ‘Interpret our Master’s patient restraint for what it is: salvation’ (v.15, MSG).
This theme of salvation is one of the great themes of Paul’s letters, and so at this point Peter refers to them. I find it encouraging that he describes them as sometimes ‘hard to understand’ (v.16) – if you struggle to understand them, you are in good company!
Significantly, Peter then goes on to compare them with the Old Testament (‘the other scriptures’, v.16). In doing so, he demonstrates that the early church and apostles understood the New Testament writings as having the same divine authority as those of the Old Testament.
The Lord will come at a time when we don’t expect him (‘like a thief’, v.10). The world as we know it will be ‘laid bare’ (v.10). There will be ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ (v.13). The New Testament vision of the future is not so much of people ‘going up to heaven’ – rather it is that there will be ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ (v.13).
Again and again, Peter points out that God is faithful to his word and his promises (vv.2,5,7,9,13). The truth is that what God says will definitely happen.
The way to prepare for this certain, but delayed, future is ‘to live a holy life’ and ‘daily expect the Day of God, eager for its arrival’ (v.11, MSG), and ‘be found living at your best, in purity and peace’ (v.14, MSG), and to ‘grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Saviour, Jesus Christ’ (v.18, MSG).
Grace is undeserved love. You grow in grace as you turn to the Lord, dependent on him in every situation you face, bringing your needs to him day by day, as you eagerly expect his return.
Prayer
Daniel 4:37
37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.
Commentary
Thank the Lord
Pride comes before a fall – as I have discovered many times in my own life. Everything we have comes from God. We are dependent upon him for our next breath. He is in control of the past, present and future. Thanksgiving prompts humility.
‘When it comes to life, the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude,’ wrote G.K. Chesterton.
It is relatively easy to pass on a message of encouragement from the Lord. It is less easy to convey a message of rebuke. Daniel found it perplexing and alarming, but he was obedient to the Lord (4:19 onwards).
The mistake Nebuchadnezzar made, and that all of us possibly make from time to time, is to think that what he had achieved was all his own doing: ‘Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?’ (v.30). Be wary of using ‘I’ and ‘my’ in this way!
The lesson that God had to teach Nebuchadnezzar, and sometimes has to teach us, is that everything you have is a gift from God – ‘the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes’ (v.32).
Our spiritual gifts, bodies, families, homes, intellect, looks, money, sporting abilities – are all gifts from God. Your reaction to any success should not be one of pride, self-importance or self-congratulation, but one of praise and thanks to God – honouring him and exalting him for what he has given you (vv.34–37).
Nebuchadnezzar took things for granted and failed to give thanks and glory to the Lord for what the Lord had done for him. Rather, he saw it all as the work of his own hands.
When Nebuchadnezzar was restored he realised that everything he had came from God. Instead of taking the glory himself, he thanked and glorified God, ‘singing and praising the King of Heaven’ (vv.34–37, MSG).
Humility does not mean pretending that you do not have what you have, but rather it means recognising the source of what you have, and giving the praise where it is due: ‘Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just’ (v.37).
His testimony is summed up with these words, ‘He knows how to turn a proud person into a humble man or woman’ (v.37b, MSG).
Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar, ‘So, king, take my advice: Make a clean break with your sins and start living for others. Quit your wicked life and look after the needs of the down-and-out. Then you will continue to have a good life’ (v.27, MSG).
The next generation did not learn the lessons of the past. King Belshazzar broke the command to worship God alone, and ‘praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone’ (5:4).
As with Nebuchadnezzar, beneath the surface there was a deep-rooted fear in Belshazzar’s life – he did not have peace with God. Both were warned by God and told what to do. The difference is that Nebuchadnezzar repented, humbled himself, acknowledged and thanked God, whereas Belshazzar did not.
Daniel himself was ‘well known for his intellectual brilliance and spiritual wisdom’ (v.11, MSG). He was full of the Holy Spirit. There must have been a great temptation to pride. Yet Daniel remained humbly dependent on God, giving him all the glory and honour and thanksgiving.
Prayer
Pippa adds
2 Peter 3:10 says:
‘But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.’
The ‘day of the Lord’ does sound rather terrifying, but verse 11 just tells us to get on with living ‘holy and godly lives’. And verse 12 says to ‘look forward to [and therefore not dread] the day of God and to speed its coming’.
Verse of the Day
Psalm 135:14, MSG
‘God holds the hands of his people’
Thought for the Day
When things aren’t working out as you wish, be patient. Stop trying to move ahead of God. His timing is perfect. Trust him.
Action for the Day
Remain totally dependent on God.
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References
G.K. Chesterton, Irish Impressions (London: Collins, 1919), p.24.
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.
Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.