Good morning. In my recent fishing excursion in Canada, I happened to hit it just right with the weather. It seemed as though every smallmouth bass in the lake, and there were a lot of them, had rushed to the shore line area in eager anticipation of being caught. Such a thing doesn’t often happen, but when it does it is pretty special.
Usually, there is a certain amount of grief for every fish that “got away”. The larger the fish, the greater the grief. But when they are biting one after another, I confess that the attitude becomes a bit more like, “Who cares? There is another one ready to smack my topwater bait just as soon as I can cast it out.” When the fish are really biting you don’t much concern yourself with “the one that got away”.
God isn’t like that, not at all. God grieves for each and every one of us who choose not to accept His grace and His love.
We read in 2 Peter 3:8-9 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.
The question which Peter was addressing was why our Lord seemed to be taking so long to come back and claim His own? What is God waiting for? His people are suffering, so get us out of here!
The answer is twofold. First of all, God doesn’t consider time the way we do. He is above and beyond time, with time itself being an aspect of His creation. Second, God’s delay is purposeful. What we see as delay is the patience of God on display, because it is true of the Lord our God that He is: not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Not all will come to God. Not all will accept His grace. Not all will lift their arms and cry, “Daddy!” But God’s desire is to gather in every one of us. God’s desire is that none will get away. It is God’s heart that none will suffer eternal torment but that all will experience the joy of knowing Him in eternal glory. Each and every one of us.
Vern