But the same is true of man’s relationship to God’s government. The day of judgment has been delayed thousands of years, when in truth sin deserves to be punished immediately. The world is allowed to continue in its sinful state and sometimes the most notable of evil doers live the longest. Fallen mankind draws entirely the wrong conclusion from this. Instead of thanking God for his delay, they despise ‘the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God [leads them] to repentance’ (Romans 2:4). They conclude that God is indifferent to sin, or incapable of bringing them to justice, or they interpret his delay in judging them as a sign of weakness, as if perhaps he can’t bring himself to do what he has threatened to do. They are sure they are never going to be called to account and so they become more confident in doing evil and experiment with new forms of wickedness. Some atheists even mock God by demanding him to put in an appearance at their meetings. All of this tries the patience of God, but he will not allow his eternal plan to be taken off course. For the sake of the elect, God will put up with the wicked, though they urge him to destroy them prematurely.