Dear Amy,
How do you untangle a Gordian knot?
Perhaps you know the legend of the knot so complex and tangled, for which the one who released it would be bestowed with glory and honour? Alexander the Great famously drew his sword and sliced it apart.
For the problems we face in life, or the problems faced by those we know⸺problems so complex and tangled that they are utterly beyond us, intractable problems, Gordian problems⸺shouldn’t we expect the Lord simply to slice them apart triumphantly as did Alexander? Why does he not do this?
What do we find instead? That the Lord’s response to our prayers, his mighty work of great power, is so painfully slow that we can barely see headway. How can our faith withstand this? How can we endure the waiting, the ongoing nature of such a problem?
Could there be another way to see this?
Peter tells us straightforwardly what we should expect.
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
― 2 Peter 3:8
Oh dear. In the light of this verse I remember chuckling self-deprecatingly to myself that all my problems would be sorted out in a couple of days. God time is slow, slow, slow time. Isn’t the waiting simply infuriating?
There are three observations that enable us to endure.
Firstly, let’s notice that Peter addresses his readers as beloved. That’s us! We are beloved of the Lord, and whatever the situation and no matter how long the waiting, we must not forget that. Notice the tenderness and understanding here, as Peter articulates that the wait may be prolonged. The Lord is not oblivious of nor indifferent to our pain in the waiting.
Secondly, let’s notice that Alexander the Great was in fact a brutal warlord who left in his wake death and destruction. Slicing through the knot in the way that he did reflects who he was. The Lord is so completely not like this. Consider the very next verse.
The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
― 2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is so unlike the brutal warlord. With infinite patience and painstaking attention to detail, he unpicks and untangles the most intractable problems in our lives, with such gentleness and amazing kindness, prepared to take as long as is necessary, not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance. It is not slowness at all. It is in fact gentleness and kindness and meticulous restoration.
Thirdly and finally, let’s notice the symmetry in Peter’s characterisation: with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. For sure, some things take such a long time, and we struggle to understand why this would be so. But for others or even for these at just the right time, in a moment, in a twinkling of the eye, the Lord does his work of great power and quite suddenly everything is different. Praise the Lord!
Leave the Gordian problems to the Lord, Amy, and trust that with infinite patience, gentleness and kindness and great power, he knows just what to do! 🙏