May 11, 2016
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Waiting Well

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Holy and Mighty God, You are amazing. Giver of all that is great and glorious, I thank You.

Read 2 Peter 3:1-7

[1] Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. [2] I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. [3] Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. [4] They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” [5] But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. [6] By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. [7] By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

This morning take some moments of silence. Ask God if he wants to say anything particular in the quiet–and listen.

How is your waiting? Peter gives here perhaps the fullest description of what we are waiting for in the whole of the New Testament. His intention is that we are not complacent and that we are well-informed.

I grew up in church in an era when we talked a lot about end-times stuff. “Life was filled with guns and war and everyone got trampled on the floor,” the song went. It continued: “I wish we’d all been ready” (Larry Norman). I remember going to bed at night worrying that Jesus would return like a thief in the night and rapture everybody else except me. (I wasn’t really sure what rapture was, but knew I should be worried.)

Today, it appears, we don’t talk about these things so much. Peter wants us to be sure to know that Jesus is coming back: in the same way that God created the heavens and brought a flood, he will come. Peter wants to encourage us to live with expectancy and to warn us about coming judgment. His argument in verse 7 is that the coming of Jesus will be, among other things, accompanied by fire–and the results of fire damage are as violent and aggressive as those of water. The implication is that those who are found outside of a relationship with God will have to deal with the horror that they have chosen. Peter’s ambition is to encourage you and me to live with confidence that we are friends (1), to live with clarity that there is a day of judgment coming and to live with courage beyond ourselves.

Apply

Who do you need to warn urgently? How are you going to do it with mercy and in a way that they will listen and have a chance to respond?

Closing prayer

Lord, I need to keep short accounts with You, because one day I know I will need to give account to You.

Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.

© 2024 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.

Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.

View all readings

Get ENCOUNTER:

in your email:

in Print:

Become a Member | Visit our store