Be aware! This is the plea from Peter as he writes to Christians not long before his death. God is not slack concerning promises to save or condemn. Consider the examples of...  

1. Angels who are cast into hell  

2. Evil men and women in the day of Noah  

3. Sodom and Gomorrah   

While these examples remind us of God's judicious wrath, Peter wants all of us to be comforted by the fact that God "knows how to the rescue the righteous." Even in the midst of evil, the Lord is looking to the righteous and providing a way of escape.