Lesson 30: Diligence through time

Read 2 Peter 3:1-18- https://www.bible.com/bible/59/2pe.3
 8 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.
9 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.
10 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.
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.


One of our greatest weaknesses regarding faith is waiting on God. We ask Him for something, or we wait for His promise to be fulfilled, and very soon we grow tired of waiting. Then we begin to think God did not hear us or maybe even that He is angry with us because He did not answer us immediately.

The verses above speak about being patient in waiting for God. He has a perfect plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11), and that plan will be worked out over our entire lifetime. He knows us well enough to know we cannot plan far enough into the future to know what is good for us.

This writer met Buzz Aldrin a few years ago, the second man to walk on the moon. He told how he was not prepared for his dreams to be fulfilled – his dream to stand on the moon. After his successful return to earth he suffered a great deal of mental pain when he felt he no longer had anything left in his life to achieve.

God knows us better than we do. Sometimes what we want, if we insist on having it too soon, can hurt us because we are not emotionally or spiritually prepared to receive it – even if what we want is God’s plan for our life. God wants us to wait with Him while He prepares us to receive what He has for us.

Our verses today are a reminder that God sees all our past and all our future as if it is just a moment in time. Every event of our life is as fresh in His mind as if it has just happened or is happening at this moment. When we find ourselves impatient with God for not answering our prayer, we just need to wait a few moments of His time. (Read 2 Peter 3:8.)

The eternity He has waiting for you is just around the corner. Are you ready for it?

*If Jesus were to return today to call us Home with Him, what would you regret not having completed? Do it today.