HOW LONG, O LORD, HOW LONG?
“How
long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with
my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?” (Psalm 13:1-2, NIV)
Many
times during the last decade I have cried out to God, “How long, O Lord, how long?” It has been a very difficult and seemingly never ending battle the past thirteen years as I have tried
to recover from CFIDS (“Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome). Just
as the Israelites moaned under the oppression of the Egyptians and longed to be free (Exodus 2:23-24), so, too, those of us
who are sick long for complete healing and the joy of once again living life free of limitations. I know that many of you who struggle with chronic illnesses and/or pain can identify.
Many
days I have felt like the prophet Jeremiah, when he says in Lamentations 3:18, “My splendor is gone and all that I had
hoped from the Lord.” In Lamentations 3:1-20, Jeremiah pours out all of
his complaints to the Lord as he experiences the hopelessness and distress of seeing the complete and utter destruction of
God’s holy city, Jerusalem. As he looks around at the cannibalism of mothers
eating their children (Lamentations 2:20), and sees young and old lying together dead in the streets (Lamentations 2:21),
he is overwhelmed with grief and sadness (Lamentations 2:11). However, at the
end of Lamentations, Jeremiah sings a different tune. He remembers God’s
great faithfulness and goodness to His people (Lamentations 3:21-24), and He is encouraged once again.
When times are
tough and no answers are forthcoming, when our complaints against God are as long as Jeremiah’s, we need to remember
and meditate on the great faithfulness, mercy and goodness of our Mighty God. We
must wait patiently for the Lord, as Psalm 37:7 commands. In the end, we know
that God will come through for us and work things out for our good, as Romans 8:28 says.
What a mighty God we serve!
Dear
Jesus, help us to patiently wait upon You in our daily struggles, knowing that You promise to bring good out of them in Your
time.
