“Beloved… with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you.” 2 Pet. 3:8-9
Heavenly Father, you’ve never been late for anything. You don’t necessarily do what we want when we want it. But neither did we, for our toddlers. In the fullness of time, you sent Jesus (Gal. 4:4-7); and in the fullness of grace, you’ll send him again.
We are unapologetically impatient for that Day, Father. There won’t be any more death, pain, or mourning; or any goodbyes, good riddances, or “Good griefs!” Never again will we experience broken hearts, broken families, or broken anything. Wars, pandemics, and all forms abuse, slavery, and evil… they won’t be a “distant memory”; they won’t be remembered at all.
A couple of phrases we’ll never utter again are “unanswered prayer” and “Why did you?” Instead, throughout the landscape of the new heaven and new earth, we’ll forever declare, “Our God has done all things well.”
Father, until that Day, you will remain actively at grace-work—redeeming your every-nation family, enthroning and dethroning earthly rulers, bottling our tears in preparation for wiping them away (Psalm 56:8; Rev. 21:4).
Grant us joy in our waiting, strength in our weariness, and peace in our restlessness. In these “mean times,” help us be more preoccupied with neighbor loving, and less paralyzed by “navel-gazing.” May we count our Gospel-riches more than we pine our temporal loses. A BIG, So Very Amen.
