How Long?
Lord, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph?
—Psalm 94:3
As we look at our world today, we wonder, How long, Lord, until You return to this earth and establish Your kingdom? How long will You allow this perversion of justice to continue? How long will You allow violent crime that takes the lives of innocent people to continue? How long will You allow people to flaunt their sexual perversion day in and day out, everywhere we look?
Sometimes,it seems as though God is late. But God is not late. He will be right on time. As 2 Peter 3:9 reminds us, “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.”
I want Jesus to come back as much as any other believer. But at the same time, I recognize that the Lord wants to bring more souls into His kingdom. And I am thankful that God has allowed us to reach thousands of people with the gospel message through the Harvest Crusades. Though it would have been great if the Lord would have come back 10 years ago, I rejoice that there are a lot more people who have put their faith in Christ because He has not come back. He will return when the time is right.
I feel that in many ways, we are living in the fourth watch, the time just before dawn. It may seem like it will go on forever, but I believe the sun will rise. I believe Christ will return.
Are you watching? He could come back at any time. Are you ready? Because it’s closer than you may think.
For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org.
Copyright © 2006 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000.