God, Why Are You Waiting?

We have been discussing the end times at Hope Church recently. For some of us, this cannot come fast enough. For others, it no doubt provokes feelings of fear and anxiety. I think it can be helpful to remember that God is being incredibly patient, but His patience has an inevitable ending. Let’s remember, God is not slow, but His timing is perfect.

“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that 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, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. (2Peter 3:8-10 ESV)

In his classic book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis addresses God’s timing in a way which reminds us that His timing is perfect. He writes, “God wants to give us the chance of joining His side freely. I do not suppose you and I would have thought too much of a Frenchman who waited till the allies were marching into Germany and then announced he was on our side.”

God will invade – we know “the rest of the story” as we have been studying it together in the Book of Revelation. It is interesting to think that God truly desires for no one “to perish.” He is being incredibly kind and patient. But someday, He will come like a thief, and no one will be able to ignore that reality.

Lewis goes on to muse, ”I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realize what it will be like when He does. When that happens, it is the end of the world. When the curtain falls on the stage, the play is over. God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on His side just then, if you wait to see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else — something that never entered your head to conceive — comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left?” (Mere Christianity, 1952)

I think this simple truth is one of the things which has impacted me the most through our study of Revelation. On the day the Lord returns, some will celebrate as the old hymn says, What a day of rejoicing that will be! For others, it will be a no good, very bad day. It will be the day to end all days. 

Lewis writes that when we all see Jesus, it will be impossible to ignore. He says, “For this will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing: it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it.” (Mere Christianity, 1952)

I hope this simple truth encourages you today. What are you waiting for?

Expectantly,

Shawn