If there is a God, why do we have wars, and suffering, and famine in the earth? If He is all powerful, why doesn’t He do something about it?

This is a frequent complaint we hear about God. Why doesn’t He do something about it? Someone wisely said, God doesn’t collect all His accounts on Tuesday. In other words, God is very patient.

In the days of the apostle Peter, people had the same complaint. Where is God? Why doesn’t He do something? Peter responded that God has promised that He will judge all wrongdoing, but not necessarily according to our time-table. Peter says in 2 Peter 3:8,9, “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 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.”

God is patient because He wants to give us time to repent – to turn to Him for forgiveness and restoration. If God were selfish He would judge us right away, but He is generous and is willing to wait for us to come to our senses and turn to Him.

Sometimes, I have trouble understanding how God can be so patient. I read of a father who usually took his son to school in the morning, but one morning he was not able to do it, so asked his wife to take the boy. The mother and son finally got through the early morning traffic and, on arriving at school, the boy jumped out of the car, turned back to his mom, and asked, “Mom, how come we didn’t run across any stupid drivers on the way to school today?”

I can relate to that because I have problems being patient, too, but I have seen that the more I realize my own imperfections, the more patient I become with others.
But that isn’t why God is patient, for He has no imperfections. If anybody has a right to be impatient, God surely does.

Now, some people may appear to be patient, but in reality they just don’t care. While a kid is tearing the house apart, a parent can appear to be very patient, when in reality he just doesn’t care. Not so with God. He does care. In John 3:16, we read, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God cares.

God is perfect, and God cares deeply, and yet He is so patient because He wants us to repent and turn to Him to find cleansing and newness of life.

Our question may be, God, why don’t YOU do something? God’s question to us is very similar, “Why don’t YOU do something? Like maybe repent and turn your life over to Me?

Listen to “How does God’s unique perspective and specific plan help us understand His great patience?”