One of the most frequently repeated phrases in the book of Psalms is “How Long?” Psalm 79, verse 5 uses it, “How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever?” I like the way The Message puts it, “How long do we have to put up with this, GOD?” I keep thinking of the children in the back seat bored with the journey who constantly ask “are we there yet?” or “How much longer?”
You might be going through some great trial in life and wishing it were over. You might be facing a major life change, but can’t see the ultimate outcome from where you are. You and I are missing something and we know it. It becomes clearer in times of trials and suffering. Like the Psalmist we ask “How much longer must I put up with this?”
Isaiah told Israel to wait. “Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Jesus told us also to wait. He told us that he has gone to prepare a place for us and he will return. We don’t know when. We are to wait, watch, and work until he does return. One of Fanny Cosby’s forgotten Hymns puts it this way:
Wait on the Lord, wait cheerfully, and He will thy youth renew;
Wait on the Lord obediently, whatever He bids thee do.
Wait on the Lord, for whom hast thou on earth or in heaven but He?
Over thy soul a watch He keeps, whatever thy path may be.
Chuck
“Both day and night belong to you; you made the starlight and the sun. You set the boundaries of the earth, and you made both summer and winter.” (Psalm 74:16-17)