Walk a Little Slower
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” — 2 Peter 3:9 (NIV).
Most of us tend to define “slow” as anything that does not move at the speed we have already deemed appropriate. A webpage takes four extra seconds to load: slow! Our food does not arrive within minutes of ordering: slow! Someone walks directly in front of us at the grocery store at a pace suggesting they have nowhere to be until next week: impossibly slow!
But what if they are not moving too slowly? What if we are moving too quickly?
Maybe the person walking ahead of us is living with chronic pain we cannot see. Maybe every step requires more effort than we realize. Maybe they are recovering from surgery, carrying grief, fighting exhaustion, or simply trying to make it through the store without asking anyone for help. From our position behind them, all we can see is that they are interfering with our preferred pace. We cannot see what their body is carrying, what their heart is processing, or what it cost them to take that next step.
We often view God’s timing from the same limited position. We see the distance between where we are and where we want to be, and we decide God must be moving too slowly. The answer has not come, the door has not opened, the healing has not happened, the relationship has not changed, the prayer we have prayed faithfully still appears to be sitting somewhere in heaven with a status marked “pending.” We know God is able to act, so when he does not act according to our timeline, we may quietly (or loudly) begin to question whether he is listening, whether he cares, or whether he is moving at all.
2 Peter 3:9 reminds us that God’s apparent slowness is not neglect, forgetfulness, or inability. In context, Peter is addressing those who questioned Christ’s promised return because it had not happened as quickly as they expected. Peter explains that what people interpret as delay is actually an expression of God’s patience. He is not dragging his feet—he is extending mercy. What looks slow from our limited perspective may be God making room for repentance, redemption, and the fulfillment of purposes we cannot yet see.
The verse begins with an important phrase: “as some understand slowness.” In other words, our understanding may be the problem. We measure timing by minutes, months, deadlines, and how long we believe is reasonable for us to have to wait. God sees the whole story. In the preceding verse, Peter writes, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Peter 3:8, NIV). God is not restricted by our clocks, hurried by our anxiety, or pressured by the plans we have dutifully written in our calendar. He sees what came before us, what is happening around us, and what must still happen after us. We see one page—he sees the entire story.
Obviously, that does not make waiting easy. The Bible never asks us to pretend delay is painless. David prayed, “How long, Lord?” (Psalm 13:1, NIV). Waiting can be confusing, disappointing, and deeply wearying. But there is a difference between bringing our honest impatience to God and assuming his timing proves his indifference. God welcomes our questions, but he also invites us to trust that his perspective is wider than ours.
“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” he tells us in Isaiah 55:8 (NIV).
Sometimes the pace we resent is the very pace at which God is forming us. We want the answer—he is developing endurance. We want the door to open—he is preparing us to walk through it. We want the situation resolved—he is teaching us to depend on him while it remains unresolved. We are watching the clock—while God is watching our hearts.
And sometimes his waiting is not primarily about us at all. God may be working in another person whose story is connected to ours. He may be arranging circumstances we cannot see, protecting us from something we do not understand, or allowing time for roots to grow before fruit appears. Like the person walking ahead of us, there may be an unseen reason for the pace—and our limited view does not make that reason any less real.
Maybe patience begins when we stop assuming our pace is the correct one. Maybe the invitation is not to demand that God move faster, but to ask whether we are willing to walk with Him at the pace of grace.
Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (NIV).
Biblical waiting is not passive resignation—it is active trust. It is continuing to pray, obey, hope, and take the next faithful step without insisting that we must already know where the entire path leads.
So, where have you decided God is being slow? What prayer, promise, or unfinished story has caused you to question his pace? Bring it honestly before him today. But leave room for the possibility that he is not late. Leave room for mercy you cannot recognize, preparation you cannot yet see, and purposes that extend far beyond your current perspective.
We may think we are waiting on God. But sometimes, in his kindness, God is patiently walking with us—refusing to rush the work he is doing in our hearts. Waiting on us.
Lord, forgive me for the times I have mistaken your patience for absence and your timing for neglect. Help me remember that you see what I cannot see and understand what I cannot understand. Teach me to be patient with others, especially when I do not know what they are carrying. Slow my hurried heart, strengthen me in the waiting, and help me trust that you are never late. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
bytaylormcgee
