How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?
Psalm 13:1
This is a psalm penned by King David, a psalm of transition, in discouragement and despair, when he was in trouble. Have you ever asked this question to God at any time, have you felt whether He still loved you or has forgotten you or how long do I wait, am fed up. Oh, I have, many times, even recently, often I just heard silence. The question is repeated four times, so David must have been desperate for a deliverance, great anxiety, while he waited wondering will God turn up? He thought God must have been so busy that He forgot David.
2 Peter 3:8 says with the Lord one day is as 1000 years and 1000 years as one day. 2 Peter 3:9 says that God is not slack concerning his promises towards us but our timing is not His timing, He is working His redemptive purpose in us. This is why in Proverbs 3:5 (TPT version). Note here we are asked to TRUST God like we would when we never check a chair’s legs before sitting, we just take for granted that we are safe, like when a baby jumps fearlessly into a father’s arms, with full confidence, not on our opinions. And, we are asked not to make our own decisions but be INTIMATE with God in all our matters. He will lead us.
Let us visit Abram’s tent, he was 75 years old when God called Him promising (Gen 12:1-3) to make Him a great nation and his wife Sarai was well known as “barren” Gen 11:30. Abram had his own plans and he thought his servant Eliezer could be his heir, but God sabotaged that plan (Gen 15:4) and made him count the stars, so numerous would be his offspring. He must have gone around telling people what God told them and now years passed by as each year dawned, they thought, this year we would have an offspring. Sarai finally said, it’s pointless waiting so let Hagar be the surrogate mom and Abram at age 86 thought that’s a perfect idea and without consulting God, he resolved his childlessness, which messed up matters. Abram was 99 and Sarai 89 when God changed their names to Abraham (Father of nation) and Sarah (princess) and a year later Isaac was born. That was an impossible wait, God was teaching them that He is God and He can do the impossible, if He has spoken something He is well able to do it. God expects us His children to live by faith, the “just shall live by faith.”
In my own personal experience I have realized, sometimes God is putting us through a process like he trained Joseph to take up a position as second to Pharaoh, sometimes it is because God wants us to be “Still and know that HE IS GOD!” He waits sometimes until our prayers get desperate which shows our helplessness and we turn to God to take care of our matters. He has always answered for my ” How long?” questions, transforming me, spiritually building me, enlightening me , and always arriving faithfully to help me out of the situation. So, if you are in this state of mind, don’t hesitate to pour out your heart to our Father, He is patient, loving and caring.
Sol Lalitha Menon