How Long, O Lord?
Have you felt like the psalmist, anguished in your darkest hour?
How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long will I store up anxious concerns within me,
agony in my mind every day?
How long will my enemy dominate me?
—Psalm 13:1–2, emphasis added
Have you wondered why God seems to have hidden His face from you? Why He seems to ignore the evil being exalted over you and over our world?
The psalmist cried out, “How long?” four times in this psalm. How many times did he cry out before he sat to write?
Have you lost count of the number of times you’ve cried out to God for help? For answers?
How long, O Lord, will you allow evil to continue?
How long will death take away those I love?
How long will my prayers seem to fall to the floor?
Consider Me and Answer, Lord My God
When we don’t get the answers we long for, it shakes us.
Our disappointment can sink us into despair—or anger.
Even the oldest and most Spirit-filled souls struggle to understand all of our heavenly Father’s purposes and ways. We long for answers.
Consider me and answer, LORD my God.
—Psalm 13:3–4
Restore brightness to my eyes;
otherwise, I will sleep in death.
My enemy will say, “I have triumphed over him,”
and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
But . . .
The three-letter word “but” breaks our hearts when it robs us of what we want, but when we trust in the Lord, this word becomes glorious.
But I have trusted in your faithful love;
—Psalm 13:5
my heart will rejoice in your deliverance.
My world is falling apart, Lord, but I have trusted in your steadfast love. You will never leave me.
I’m facing relentless trials, Lord, but I remember who You are and rejoice because You are our Deliverer. It’s what You do for Your children.
Evil surrounds me, Lord, but Your strength is mine. I can move forward with faith and confidence no matter what my eyes see or the world proclaims, because You never fail. You always accomplish Your will.
I Will Sing to the Lord
The psalmist agonized four times over how long God would allow evil to touch his life, but then he worshiped the Lord.
I will sing to the LORD
because he has treated me generously.
—Psalm 13:6, emphasis added
How could he lift his voice in praise so soon? What changed?
The psalmist could worship even though his circumstances remained the same, because God, too, remained the same—and our unchanging Lord is gracious to all His children.
Despite the psalmist’s sorrows and trials, and despite what he saw and what his emotions told him, he remembered the truth—God had treated him generously.
In ways we may never see or know, God has been more gracious to all of us than we realize. Every day, He treats us with kindness.
Consider the sun and rain. Don’t we take them for granted? These are gracious gifts from God. Ask a farmer. He knows (Matt. 5:45).
What about the air we breathe? Don’t we take it for granted? Fresh air in our lungs is a merciful gift. Ask someone with asthma. They know (Job 12:10).
We even take Jesus for granted. Salvation in Christ is the greatest gift anyone can receive—and none of us seek Him. He sought us (Rom. 3:10–12; Eph. 2:8–9).
In unmatched love, God sent Jesus to shine into the darkness of our world. But His own betrayed Him, beat Him until He was almost unrecognizable, and nailed Him—their Messiah—to the cross. The world plummeted into its darkest hours when they crucified our Lord.
But the darkness did not overcome Him (John 1:5).
God used the darkest hours of the deepest evil to accomplish His greatest work—the generous salvation of our souls. Let our voices sing His praises.
How Dark Is Your Darkness?
I don’t know what you’re going through, but if your life is anything like mine, you’re surrounded by darkness.
People you love are dying or have died. Wives are facing life without their husband. Children are grieving the loss of their dad.
People you love live far away. You can’t comfort them with a hug or a meal. You can’t hold their hands and pray with them.
A nation you love is being torn apart as it embraces the illusion that God is either non-existent or irrelevant. People are destroying themselves as they call evil good and good evil.
But no matter how dark our darkness gets, we can remember this truth: God is doing a great work that cannot fail.
God Is Doing a Deep Work
If you belong to God, you can be sure He’s appointed any and all suffering—even the deepest—to do a great work in and for you.
He’s using every ounce of sorrow and pain to make you like His perfect and radiant Son, filled with abiding peace and joy.
We can trust God’s molding and shaping process as He changes us. And we can trust His results.
If you’ve never trusted in Christ (or if your loved ones have not), God may be allowing evil and suffering to bring you (or them) to salvation. As long as there’s still breath, God is giving more time for them to see the glorious truth—to see the light—and turn from their sin and rejection of Christ.
No matter how dark our darkness gets, we can remember this truth: God is doing a great work that cannot fail.
God’s Deepest Work
Whatever you’re going through today, let this truth strengthen your soul: God does His deepest (and greatest) work in our darkest hours.
God alone can take the dead and give them life. Christ pierces the darkness with His light and makes His enemies into His friends—into children of God.
Stand firm, my friend. Watch and see. He’s doing a great work in—and for you.
The One who died and rose from the dead on the third day will not—cannot—fail you.
Trust and believe.
This post appeared on Revive Our Hearts.
