Patient

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. 2 Peter 3:9, ESV

HERE IS THE HEART of God toward us and toward our children: His desire is that we would not perish but instead that we would all reach repentance.

Sometimes, when we’re waiting for those we love to come to repentance or grow in grace, it can seem as if God is so very slow. But hasn’t God always worked to bring about his purposes rather gradually?

After Adam and Eve disobeyed in the Garden, God began working slowly, over centuries, until “the right time came,” when “God sent his Son” (Galatians 4:4) to deal with the disaster of the Fall. This means that for all those years, God was preparing the world for the coming of the Savior. God was patient toward his children, sending prophet after prophet with warning after warning, giving them time to respond to his mercy. Consider the patience of Jesus. Those closest to him were so slow to understand and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken and all that he had taught them. But Jesus didn’t give up. He was patiently at work, sending his Spirit to transform a group of confused men into apostles, who then boldly proclaimed the truth of the gospel.

God doesn’t demand instant recognition, instant repentance, and instant maturity from his children. So neither should we demand that our children respond to his grace on our timeline. He is willing to go over the same things again and again, in situation after situation ordained by his sovereign grace. We need to give God time to work in the lives of our children. We should expect him to work as much through their failures as he does through their obedience. After all, isn’t that how he works with us?

I thank you, God, for your patience toward me and toward ________. Won’t you fill me with your patience as I wait for your powerful grace to accomplish all that you intend in ________’s life?