2 Peter 3:8-10 — But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Something has been on my mind this week.
Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday. Suddenly, stunningly, the King has entered his capital city, been betrayed, been crucified and has risen. Suddenly the pace has picked up, the trap has been sprung, Satan is defeated and the redemption of man has begun.
Now, despite the many educated men who have made estimates, we’re not honestly sure how many years there were between the Garden of Eden and the Garden of Gethsamene, but there were a lot! Nobody has managed to suggest many fewer than 4000. 4000 years of waiting and then boom! Jesus comes, and sets redemption in motion. 4000 years, and then a week turns the curve of history from seemingly inevitably, inexorably downwards to an upwards thrust towards glorious eternity.
Peter pointed out that anyone who thinks God is slow moving is making a big mistake, God’s perspective on time is very different from ours. It seems as though he is waiting patiently, but truly it is not so … He is not waiting to pick the right moment. He is all knowing and unchanging — the moment was always known to Him!
We should take the lesson to heart. As in the grand events of Passion week, so in the small details of our life. We have a foolish tendency, sometimes, to feel that we have “plenty of time”. It is not so. If we consider our own experiences most of us will know that there are times when we have seen the hand of God like a lightning flash in our lives … A death of a relative, the loss of a job or — on the bright side — an unexpected opportunity, or an unanticipated gift.
We are surprised by the events of our lives, but we can know that God is never surprised. Those events are part of His scheme for our lives. That scheme may seem to contain a long deep fall, and yet for each if us there is a moment when we can come to repentance — a moment that can turn the curve of our life from seemingly inevitable disaster to an upwards thrust towards glorious eternity.