How Long?

Have you ever found yourself in a season that seemed to last forever? Perhaps it was a season of suffering or hardship that kept you returning to this statement..."how long will this last?"

David echoed this prayer....he too asked God, "How Long?" We call it a Lament. A Lament is defined as a "passionate expression of grief or sorrow." Can anyone relate? David's song went like this:

Psalm 13

"How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts

and day after day have sorrow in my heart?

How long will my enemy triumph over me?

3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, 4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. 6 I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me."

I wrote the song as a response to this same question that was shaking my world as I knew it, and I believe is shaking us all now: "How Long?" I love how we feel the same emotions that David experienced being chased for his life and on the run from the King. We might not be chased, but we are chased by anxiety, betrayal, sorrow. In verse 5 we see a turn...a "BUT".

This signifies something is changing...his circumstances have NOT changed, but his heart cry has. He declares once again, "But I will trust in your unfailing love, my heart rejoices in your salvation, and I will sing the Lord's praise for He has been good to me."

In the midst of our questions right now, and our longings, can we turn to God and sing with all our hearts...BUT I will trust!! For me singing has always been that way to declare to my heart God's truth. It is also one of the ways I remind myself of God's never changing character, his kindness and his unfailing love.

Perhaps your heart needs to declare that today, that's why I wrote this song several years ago. It might not sound like David's version (though I'd love to hear his), but perhaps it will help your heart like it has mine to TURN to God instead of running away when things get hard. Be encouraged my friends.