HOW LONG?
Psalm 74
How long? Innocent, excited children count the days until they can claim the gifts under the tree.
How long? A family struggles to make ends meet, living from paycheck to paycheck with lean times in between.
How long? A friend endures chemotherapy, wondering when life and health and hair will return.
How long? A couple face days with ambivalence, joyful that a son is in rehab, reticent yet hopeful that he will complete the program and stay clean.
How long? Aging parents live in limbo, homeless, awaiting permits and progress on a new residence nearer children and grandchildren.
How long? A widow grieves for the husband she buried Thanksgiving weekend, imploring when she will feel whole again?
How long? Church members wait by a hospital bedside, pleading for a man left unconscious from a wreck days ago.
How long? The psalmist Asaph asked that same question. He declared, “We see not our signs, there is no more any prophet; neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
Asaph consoled his doubts with this affirmation: “For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.â€
Imagine the “how longs†in the years immediately prior to the birth of Christ. For 400 years, it seemed God was silent. No prophet spoke. No new promise or sign was given.
Yet a young girl in Galilee named Mary still hoped and believed and rejoiced declaring, “he hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy. Yes, God was working salvation, awaiting the fullness of time when He would send His Son to earth. God promises; He fulfills; He knows how long.
Whatever our struggle, our longing or our need, Lord, give us hope and strength to trust in You, no matter how long.
Sarah Fletcher
Tennessee
