Readings for today: Daniel 6, 2 Peter 3, Psalms 119:129-152, Proverbs 28:21-22
I struggle to find words as an infant-sized casket is lowered into the ground. The sobs of the parents ring in my ears. There are stunned and bewildered looks on the faces of those who gather for support. How long O Lord? How long?
I sit at the bedside of a woman dying from cancer. Her body ravaged by chemo and radiation. Her husband stands by her side weeping. Her children and grandchildren struggling to understand how this could happen so fast. So soon. How long O Lord? How long?
I listen to a friend of mine share about the injustices he has faced. His only crime is the color of his skin. Profiled. Pulled over. Humiliated in front of his children. He is angry. He shakes his fist in frustration at a society that simply cannot get beyond its racist past. How long O Lord? How long?
I pray with a family who’s been in country for over a decade. They work hard. They’ve done everything right. Their visa’s been renewed year after year. But because immigration has become a political football, they are about to lose everything. Their home. Their community. They anticipate being denied access to the US and having to start all over again back in a country they no longer consider home. How long O Lord? How long?
I visit a remote village in Africa. The rains are delayed this year. Drought sweeps the region. Livestock are dying. Crops are failing. Children are suffering. Helpless and hopeless, the men and women of the village look to me but I cannot save them. How long O Lord? How long?
I often find myself asking God, “Why the delay?” “What are you waiting for?” “Why do you not end the suffering in our world?” And God answers me from His Word. “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.” (2 Peter 3:8-10) Yes, this world is full of suffering. Yes, this world is full of pain. Yes, this world is full of heartbreak. Evil runs rampant. Sin corrupts all it touches. Creation groans under the strain. This is not how things should be. This is not what God wanted. This was never God’s plan.
The world was designed to flourish and thrive under the care and protection of a high priest God made in His image. The world was designed to house the glory of God as human beings bore His image out to all creation. The world was designed to be cultivated and nourished by the work of our hands. But we abandoned our calling. We abdicated our position. We relinquished our divinely-appointed role. Sin entered the world and the natural consequence for sin is death.
So why doesn’t God act? Why doesn’t God put an end to this world? Think about what you’re asking. On the great Day of the Lord, the heavens will pass away with a roar. Heavenly bodies will burn up and dissolve. Old things will pass away to make room for the new. Those image-bearers who do not repent. Who have yet to bow the knee to Christ. Who refuse to acknowledge Jesus as Lord will be doomed to an eternity apart from God. This is why God is slow to act. He is not slow because He is sadistic. He is slow because He is patient. Time doesn’t pass for Him like it does for us. He is waiting. Waiting patiently for all to repent. Waiting patiently for all to come to faith. And He is at work among us, drawing us to Himself. He holds the suffering close. He is with those who walk through the valley of the shadow of death. He is near to the broken-hearted and crushed in spirit.
So come to Him if you are weary. Come to Him if you are heavy laden. Come to Him if you are weighed down by the stresses and cares and worries of this world. Come and find rest for your soul.
Readings for tomorrow: Daniel 7, 1 John 1, Psalms 119:153-176, Proverbs 28:23-24