Have you ever made travel plans that demand an early wake-up time? You carefully set your alarm clock and double-check to make sure it is correctly set. You know, not p.m., but a.m.! You keep on staring at that "on" button as if it is going to turn itself off. And then, just in case, you set another alarm for the ultimate fail-safe scenario.

Why this familiar ritual? You realize that you have an early morning rendezvous with a jet that isn't going to sit on the tarmac waiting for your grand entry. If you miss that flight, you will have a lot of disappointed family members or business colleagues on the other end.

But most of the time you don't need to go through such precautions. It seems our body clock has an internal alarm system that goes off even earlier, and then we spend those restless moments tossing to and fro before the alarm does its thing. But why is this? We are "restless" because timing is essential, and we have a responsibility to fulfill our obligations to others.

Is God asleep?

Have you ever considered we are not alone in being restless before such encounters that demand specific timing? Perhaps you have never considered that God is also restless toward a needed future event. It doesn't involve a takeoff. It involves a landing. The arrival runway is right here on planet earth. It's called "the second coming."

Unfortunately, people have come to the conclusion that Christ missed His flight; that He is running late or is not returning at all. This thought has been around a long time.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the apostle Peter commented on this idea: "Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation'" (2 Peter 3:1-4).

What were these scoffers thinking? God's alarm has not gone off. He's missed His flight! Why? He either doesn't exist or He doesn't care.

Exploring God's innumerable attributes

Well, nothing could be further from the truth. As Peter says, let's get stirred up! Did you realize that God's desire for us is to develop a personal intimacy with Him by focusing and reflecting on His innumerable attributes? No, not just His nature; but again, how He feels toward us.

Many of us are familiar with the all-encompassing verse of 1 John 4:16 that declares, "God is love." But that reality begs the question: "Can one live on love?"

Perhaps a narrower segment of our reading audience is familiar with Jesus' own self-disclosure regarding the Godhead: "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working" (John 5:17). Yes, we have a God whose love is in motion and is in the process of expanding the citizenry of His Kingdom. That's you, potentially!

But beyond being loving and working, there is another fascinating attribute that describes our Maker. God self-discloses this part of His divine personality by sharing: "For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns. The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory" (Isaiah 62:1-2). God trumpets His "restlessness" for His promises to be visited on every person.

The perfection of God's grooming

The Israelites might have thought God was asleep, as hundreds of years went by under the lash of the Egyptian whip. All seemed quiet. There was no tangible arrival of the divine will. But little did they realize that even when it appeared quiet, God was working "loudly" beyond the bounds of human comprehension. He was allowing the Egyptians to become even more puffed up about their human, but limited, potential.

He was "restlessly" grooming the man Moses whom He would use as a deliverer. Moses would grow up in the palaces of the slave masters themselves, so as to learn all the knowledge of Egypt (Acts 7:22). God continued to take His time as He allowed this one-day deliverer to lead the armies of that same nation in exploits against Ethiopia (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Chapter 10).

Finally, in preparation for his future calling, God had Moses learn to shepherd for 40 years. God, Creator of time and master of timing, was grooming Moses to be a wise and able leader who could lead an army of people into the wilderness as well as guide them with the tenderness of a shepherd.

In the fullness of time

Again, 1,000 years later, it may have seemed as if God had again become a cosmic absentee landlord, as there was no official "voice of God" from the post-exilic times of Malachi to the era of national frustration under the boot of the Roman occupation—a period of 400 years.

But little could anyone realize or fully appreciate the restlessness of God in preparation for the future preaching of the gospel. He restlessly and "loudly" worked in this "time of quiet" by allowing the Greeks to spread their language, the Romans to build their roads and the Jews to spread their synagogues around the Mediterranean basin.

Paul fully appreciated God's restlessness for His promises to come true, declaring, "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman…" (Galatians 4:4).

No, God was not asleep in His heavenly bed or asleep at the switch. He was holding the switch and guiding all human traffic as He chose the time and place to once and forever interrupt all human history. Humanity would never be the same after the first coming of Christ. God not only had pinpoint accuracy as to when His Son was to be born, but how the message would be effectively spread. Restless? God? You can stake your life on it.

The restless Father below

How restless is our Heavenly Father to rescue humanity from its errant ways? Perhaps it is best understood in the following story.

A Quaker family lived in Pennsylvania during the American Civil War. Against the father's wishes, the son Jonathan enlisted in the cause of the North. Well, time passed and there was no word from Jonathan. One night the father had a dream that his son had been wounded in action and needed the care of a father.

So the father left the farm and discovered where the troops might be. He made his way by horse-drawn buggy until he came to the scene of action. He inquired until he found the commander and asked about his son.

The commander replied that there had been heavy action earlier in the day and many had died or been wounded. Some still were left out in the fields. But he gave permission to the father to go and try to find his son.

It was about dark, so the father lit a lantern, and the light fell across bodies strewn across the vast battlefield.

The task seemed impossible. How could he find his son among all those dead and wounded? He devised a plan. Methodically he would comb the scene of action with his lantern. But that was unfruitful. As he came upon body after body, he almost despaired.

Then he began calling loudly, "Jonathan Smythe, thy father seeketh after thee." Then he would walk a little ways and call again, 'Jonathan Smythe, thy father seeketh after thee."

He kept diligently at his search. Then he heard a very faint, barely audible reply, "Father, over here." And then, "I knew you would come." The father knelt down and took him in his arms, comforting him with his presence. He dressed the wound and then carried him to the buggy. They were going home. You see: The son knew that his father would not be at rest until he had found his son.

"I knew you would come"

Commentaries come to different conclusions in Isaiah 62:1-2 as to who is proclaiming, "I will not hold My peace" and "I will not rest." Some ascribe it to the restless longing of the prophet to proceed with his mission no matter what. Others say it is the divine declaration of God. Why not both? As we have seen from the flow of biblical history, God is working restlessly, even when it seems "quiet" on the world stage or in our lives. He is always coming toward us and for us just like the Quaker father searching for his son.

Can we be as confident as an Isaiah or a Jonathan Smythe about our Father's deep desire to rescue us? Can we believe that He is on His way?

Can we appreciate that the alarm of His own righteousness, like our internal body alarm, has stirred Him to action and that He will "neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:4)?

Perhaps, the encouragement of "This is the way, walk in it," penned by this same "restless prophet" (Isaiah 30:21), is granted additional meaning by the faint voice of Jonathan Smythe registering his assurance: "I knew you would come."