“The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
– 2 Peter 3:9
Oh, there is so much in this verse. I just want to think about it and pray according to it from two angles, one with the reminder this verse gives us of God’s patience with us. Aren’t you glad God is patient with you? I think of, well, ultimately my sinfulness, your sinfulness, how we have rebelled against God, how we deserve eternal judgment for our sin. Praise God He has been patient with us in so many ways to bring us to Himself. And then even as His children, how we are still prone to disobey, how we’re still prone to not trust Him, how we’re still prone to rebel against Him. He’s patient toward you. I love that phrase. 2 Peter 3:9, God is patient toward you.
2 Peter 3:9 Tells Us God Desires Our Repentance
And then it says He’s not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. I want to picture the love of God in a John 3:16 way. He loves the world so much and He gave His one and only Son, that whoever anybody in the world who believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. He wants all to reach repentance. And so you just think about that with the people around you that you will interact with today, God doesn’t want any of them to perish. He wants all of them to reach repentance. Do you want them to perish? Do you want them to reach repentance? If so, let’s just start to pray.
2 Peter 3:9 Leads us to Ask God to Help Us Love Others
God, help us to love them like you love them. Help us to love them so much, You sent your Son. God help us to love them so much we open our mouths and we speak to others about the good news of Your love, about Your love for them so that they won’t perish. Help us to see people around us today as perishing.
Everyone who hasn’t put their trust in You, Jesus, as perishing. And as people who You desire, You wish, long for them to reach repentance. God, we pray that You’d help us to long for them to the point where we proclaim the good news of Your love to them. Proclaim the gospel to them, knowing how patient and loving You have been toward us. God we praise You for not wishing that we would perish, but wishing that we would reach repentance.
This Leads Us to Pray for the Church in Afghanistan
We love You God and we praise You for 2 Peter 3:9, and we pray it together over Your church in Afghanistan. We pray specifically today for missionaries who have gone to Afghanistan and from all kinds of different nations, that You would help them to speak boldly and wisely about the gospel.
God, we pray that You would help them to speak the gospel boldly and wisely amidst all kinds of threats against them. We pray that You would help them to be a picture of Your love and Your mercy, that more and more and more people might reach repentance in Afghanistan. We pray this knowing You’re not wishing that any person in Afghanistan should perish. You want them all to reach repentance. God, we pray, bring it about, bring many people in Afghanistan to know You, and bless our brothers and sisters who live there, were born there, bless missionaries who’ve gone there, to work together to spread the good news of Your love to more and more people there. God, we pray all of this in light of Your patience and love in 2 Peter 3:9. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
