The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
How do some count slackness? When you think of a slacker, you probably have in mind someone who loafs instead of hustles, one who shirks their responsibility and just gets by instead of doing their very best. Or, possibly the one who begins with great enthusiasm only to slack off before finishing what was started.
The idea that Peter is presenting here with the use of the word slack is “to delay or tarry in accomplishing something that was promised”. The Greek word is only used this once to refer to the Lord and His promises, and is found here to illustrate a very important point.
Perhaps you have wondered sometimes why the Lord doesn’t “do something” about a situation. It may be something that is laid out very plainly in the Word of God and the Lord’s commitment to do whatever that “something” is cannot be mistaken or misunderstood. The Lord said He would do it, so why hasn’t He done it already?
That’s a perfectly natural question to be thinking and even to be asking Him, but you may not always get the answer that you are hoping for or in the timeframe that you are expecting. That does not mean that the Lord has slacked off. No, it’s not because you have been less perfect today than usual, so He decides to slow-walk the answer to your prayers. God’s timing is always for your good and for His glory, even if it seems like just the opposite.
It seemed like Jesus was slack in responding to Lazarus’ sisters when they sent for Him to come and heal their brother. In fact, by the time He got there, Lazarus was dead and buried! By any way of looking at it in the natural, it would seem that the Lord really was slack this time. But, one thing that is easy for us to forget in this world that is constrained in so many ways, not the least of which is time, is that God is eternal and omnipotent; there is nothing that is beyond His ability and He is not affected by time, for He is timeless!
When Jesus came to the tomb of His friend, Lazarus, it seemed as if both time and His ability to help had both ran out. But God! Before it was over, Jesus had called Lazarus to come forth out of that grave. Even though he had been dead and beyond hope, Jesus was just in time for an awesome display of the glory of God. Jesus is never late and the situation is never beyond His control.
Now is a good time to take all of those worries and maybe even some doubts, and lay them all at the feet of Jesus. Things that you have been believing for and crying out to the Lord for, not just based on what you would like to see happen, but solidly based on the promises of God’s Word. Things that, in spite of all the prayers and tears, are still not resolved — the answer is still forthcoming and may even seem to be never coming. But praise be to God, He is not slack concerning His promises. Hold on to those promises for the Lord is not slack!
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