How Long?

One of the hardest things for me to do is wait. I don't know about you, but I don't like to wait. It is not that I am overly action orientated, it is just that when I think something is over, I want to move on. To be honest with you, I don't like waiting for others. I tend to give myself all the time that I need, but when it comes to giving others the same courtesy, I seem to come up short. Grace for me, from me; and hurry up for you, from me. Sounds great, until of course we get to God. 

Waiting on God and for God is hard. You can't manipulate him or control him. You have to wait for him. You can't adjust the timing to fit your schedule. It seems liking planning works up to a point, then you find yourself waiting and wondering. 

One of the questions you read often from the OT writers is How Long?. Read David's words from Psalm 13:1-6; 

 "How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, And my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken. But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, Because He has dealt bountifully with me."

This is just one example. You could find more. Below is just a sample from the Psalms

•  Psa_35:17  Lord, how long will You look on? Rescue my soul from their ravages, My only life from the lions. 
• Psa_62:3  How long will you assail a man, That you may murder him, all of you, Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence? 
• Psa_74:9  We do not see our signs; There is no longer any prophet, Nor is there any among us who knows how long. 
• Psa_74:10  How long, O God, will the adversary revile, And the enemy spurn Your name forever? 
• Psa_79:5  How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire? 
• Psa_80:4  O LORD God of hosts, How long will You be angry with the prayer of Your people? 
• Psa_82:2  How long will you judge unjustly And show partiality to the wicked? Selah. 
• Psa_89:46  How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath burn like fire? 
• Psa_90:13  Do return, O LORD; how long will it be? And be sorry for Your servants. 
• Psa_94:3  How long shall the wicked, O LORD, How long shall the wicked exult? 

I think you get the idea. I like what one author said about the Psalms. God has provided us with his words that we can say back to him. How Long was part of the Psalmist prayers. It was part of the great prophets prayers. It was God giving us words to talk back to him with.

Waiting is hard work. Maintaining our hope and confidence while we wait is hard work. David at the end of Psalm 25: 20-21 says: 

"Guard my soul and deliver me; Do not let me be ashamed, for I take refuge in You. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for You."

David asked that integrity and uprightness, while he was waiting. would preserve him. Isn't that part of the test during waiting? Isn't the temptation during waiting to take matters into our own hands? To circumvent integrity and uprightness for expediency? The OT is full of stories of those who instead of waiting, instead of letting integrity and uprightness preserve them (maybe this was Jesus idea of the narrow way) found a short cut, one that cost them integrity or uprightness. 

Of course, most of these Psalms start out by asking how long and end up in thankfulness around the goodness God. That is how Psalm 13 ends. The word "But" at the beginning of verse 5 transitions away from David's concerns to who God is. 

Even though it seems appropriate to ask How Long, it also seems appropriate not to stay there, but to move on like most, if not all of the Psalms do, to the goodness and faithfulness of a trustworthy God.

Of course, these are Just My Thoughts.....