“A watched pot never boils.” “Time flies.”
Both are true in their way. Time is just math. Seconds adding up to minutes adding up to hours adding up to days, months and years. But the way it appears to us can change and seem faster or slower.
God has a view of time like no other. He sees time from the perspective of being eternal. Always existing from way before the creation of the world to . . . . forever in the future. So a day, a thousand years – they’re not really that different from where he stands!
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 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 3:8-9)
Sometimes people quote this in reference to the days of creation, but God’s not asking us to change the days of creation into anything other than days. The Scriptures are clear that they were six normal 24-hour days. In 2 Peter God is talking about our waiting for Jesus. Will it be a day before Jesus returns? Will it be a thousand years? It really isn’t a big difference for God. It could be either. But the time will happen when he decides.
And so, we don’t take God’s “slowness” (from our point of view) to mean he’s not out there or won’t come back. Instead, we know that however long God takes, it’s a great time period to live in repentance. A humble heart worked by the Spirit that looks to Christ as our Savior.
In Advent we wait and count down the days. The Lord gifts us this time because he is patient with us, and wants us to come to repentance and true life in Jesus.