Understanding Slowness.

One of my new year resolutions for 2020 is growth and maturity. There are so many ways I want to see growth and maturity in this life God's given me, as I enter the beginning of this new decade. 

I have recently started a devotional on my Bible app, and here's one thing that I've learned so far... that the process of growth and maturity doesn't happen overnight. This is a journey; our lives as followers of Jesus Christ is a journey, and it's full of unexpected turns... we fail, we fall, we break... but we have hope. Every time we face a wall, we are able to confidently recall our Savior's words: "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) 

...But what about when we just can't seem to be easily swept by this hopeful news? What do we do when we can't see the growth happening, or when our prayers don't seem to have been answered by God, or even heard in the first place?  

Slowness disappoints us.

When God doesn't immediately answer our prayers, when things don't turn out the way we expected... when the wifi suddenly cuts off and the TV screen freezes, when your laptop is taking forever loading the files, when your siblings take forever preparing to leave the house, when your friend is late and keeps you waiting in the cold for 2 minutes.... slowness disappoints us. In a world where speed is desired in every part of life, slowness is wanted by basically, no one. We expect things to change with a push of a button, a single move of your finger. Similarly, we often expect God to answer us with a single "please". 

The author of Peter in the new testament reveals something interesting about God, in 2 Peter. 

"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)

How could this be? Honestly, God seems so slow in answering my prayers most of the time. I've been praying for a godly man to appear in my life, to fall in love, to get married, and to have beautiful babies. I've been praying for financial support of some kind to help me out here. I've been praying for direction. I've been praying for... so many things. I keep telling myself the verse from Mark, "Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you." (Mark 11:24). I've been trying really hard here to believe that it's given to me already. I've been trying real hard, God. 

Nope.

None of these things seem to happen yet. And I'm disappointed. Slowness disappoints us. 

Is God slow?

Is God slow? The Bible is full of God's promises to us, and we know that God is faithful to us. We know that because God promised us to invite us into covenant with Him, and He was faithful to this promise. He was faithful, even if this meant He had to sacrifice His own beloved son to die on the cross. God is faithful to us and His promises. Let's look at 2 Peter 3:9 again. 

"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)

The Lord is not slow. Rather, he is patient with us. 

He is patient with us, who are so impatient with everything. He is patient with us and wants us to come to repentance so that we may not perish but dwell with him. This is a whole new way to see God and his faithfulness in answering our prayers.

We often rush into his presence with a flood of desires, hopes, pain, and burdens. And the Lord patiently hears us, even when our minds are overwhelmed with ourselves, and we don't even see Him. 

Imagine going on a date with someone you love, who finally came to see you after rescheduling it for months because he/she is always busy with things other than you. Then your date just keeps talking about him/herself, and don't even look at you. Ouch. 

Prayer is a place of intimacy with our heavenly Father. Of course, we can tell him everything and anything, and He will still be there, patiently listening to us. But there is a reason for His patience.

It's a way of inviting us to repentance. 

His patience is an invitation to repentance. His seemingly "slowness" is an invitation to repentance. He loves us so much, that he wants to give us a chance to repent so that we may be forgiven and not perish. He wants us to enter his forgiveness through repentance but also wants us to have free will- to choose to do so ourselves. So the only way both can be fulfilled is for Him to patiently wait. God doesn't have to wait for us, God doesn't have to give us free will, God doesn't have to hear us complain about everything. 

But he chooses to do so. 

He chooses to have a personal relationship because he loves us, and wants to be with us. God wants us to be the creative, thoughtful, and free-willed creature as the way He created us. Even when we have sinned, even if the cost of retrieving us is the life of His one and only beloved Son. God wants us to enter His presence with repentance, and awaits for us patiently, so that we may be forgiven. 

When we understand "slowness" from this perspective, I think the way we see our lives, the way we pray, the way we enter God's presence will start to change a little. This change will not happen overnight, but it will happen. This journey will not be easy but we have the help of the Holy Spirit to guide us and strengthen us each step of the way. Jesus has already shown us how to live, and he has overcome the world and declared victory. 

And most importantly, God is not slow in keeping his promise. Rather he is patient with us and wants us to come to repentance, so that we may not perish but dwell with Him. Hallelujah, what a Savior.