How Long, Lord? A Prayer for the Waiting

David wrote some of his songs on the best days of his life,
and this one on one of the worst.
The Bible does not say which bad day it was.
(He had plenty to choose from:
a jealous king throwing spears at him,
years of sleeping in caves,
and enemies who wanted him gone.)

Whatever the trouble was,
it had gone on a long, long time.
His enemy was winning.
David prayed, and nothing changed.
He prayed again, and still no answer came.
So he picked up his harp
and sang exactly what he felt.

"How long, LORD?
Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I worry all day
with sadness in my heart?
How long will my enemy
stand over me and win?"

That is four "how longs" in a row.
(Anyone who has sat in the back seat
on a very long drive
knows that question well.)

David sang it to God himself,
straight to the face that seemed to be hiding.

"Look at me, LORD my God!
Answer me!
Light up my eyes again,
or I will sink down and die.
Then my enemy will say, 'I beat him!'
and everyone against me will cheer
to see me fall."

And then, with nothing around him changed,
with the enemy still out there
and still no answer from God,
David's song began to change.

"But I trust your love," he sang,
"the love that holds on and never lets go.
My heart will be glad when you rescue me.
I will sing to the LORD,
because he has been so good to me."

The rescue had not happened yet.
David sang about it anyway,
because he remembered the times before:
the lion and the bear,
the giant with his sword,
the spear that hit the wall
instead of him.

Six short verses.
Tears at the start,
a song at the end,
and the same trouble all the way through.

But a song can trust a rescue;
it cannot bring one.
David grew old and died,
and God's people went on asking his question.
"How long, LORD, must I call for help?"
the prophet Habakkuk prayed,
and still the promised King did not come.

Then another man prayed in the dark.
His enemies stood over him and jeered.
God's face seemed hidden from him too.
Still he trusted his Father, the way David had.
"Come down from that cross!" they shouted.
He stayed where he was.
He sank down into death,
the very thing David had begged to escape,
and his enemies thought they had won.

On the third day God answered.
The eyes that closed on the cross opened again.
Jesus had come back from the dead,
never to die again.

His friends are waiting now for him to come back,
and sometimes they still pray David's prayer:
"How long?"
And Jesus answers, "I am coming soon."