Do you ever think God is just sitting up in heaven watching every move you make, waiting to catch you doing something wrong? Maybe you have never thought that, but I would guess many of you have.

If you have ever thought that, I have good news for you. God is watching us, but He has a different purpose than trying to catch us doing wrong. The apostle Peter records the following words: “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” (Second Peter 3:9 ESV).

The desire of God is that each person on this earth would repent of their sins and be obedient to Him. He does not desire that anyone should be lost. The nature of man, however, is to do what he wants.

There are several examples of this in scripture, and I want to look at a few of these. Maybe when one who is lost sees the desire of the heart of the Father, he/she will decide to change.

The first example is found in Genesis 6. “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them’” (Genesis 6:5-7).

As God looked out to destroy mankind, He found Noah, “a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). He immediately instructed Noah to build an ark that would safely keep him, his family, and a boat full of animals safe from the flood that was to come.

But it took time to build that ark; and, based on the nature of man, those watching him asked Noah about what he was building. Based on the nature of God, God would have forgiven those that wanted to change. Sadly, they didn’t; and God destroyed everyone and everything not in the ark.

The second example is found in the book of Jonah. God sent Jonah to the wicked city of Nineveh to preach to them. God said, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me” (Jonah 1:2).

You know the story. Jonah didn’t want to preach at Nineveh, and he ran in the opposite direction. Jonah ended up in the belly of a great fish to “reconsider” his decision.

Jonah did go and preach, “And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them” (Jonah 3:5). 

Though Jonah was successful, he wasn’t happy that Nineveh repented. He thought they should have been destroyed. God, however, was pleased. “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it” (Jonah 3:10). 

Our third example is found in Genesis 18 and 19. God told Abraham his plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham bargained with Him by saying, “Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it?” (Genesis 18:24). 

Abraham continued to reduce the number and we know that not even ten righteous could be found in the city. Each time Abraham gave Him a number, God agreed to spare the city.

Finally, the angels God had sent had to physically remove Lot and his family because of their delay. Lot’s wife could not resist the temptation to look back, an act God had specifically forbidden; and she was turned into a pillar of salt.

In each case, God tried to keep these people from being destroyed. He does the same with us today. But eventually the day will come for us when we will face the judgment. “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” (Second Peter 3:10).

Where will we be when that time comes, and in what condition will we be found? “…what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (Second Peter 3:11b-12a). 

“Therefore, beloved, sine you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. …”Take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity” (Second Peter 3:14, 17-18).

Remember, God does not want us to be lost.

Sandra Oliver

 

.