Presently I am meditating upon Psalm 13 where it is written…
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, 4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
This isn’t the only time in Scripture the question of “How Long?” is asked. It is also found in Ps 35:17, 74:10-11, 89:46, and then most interestingly Rev 6:10. It seems that God’s people regularly ask… aren’t always given an answer… and wait.
The question is not about God… more than likely it exposes our own weak faith that God will act according to our time table. And that is when frustration grows… unless…
The unless is found in verses 5 and 6 though. The way to deal with impatience is: 1) Trust in God’s unchanging love! 2) Rejoice in the salvation God has given. 3) Worship God for His bountiful blessings.
I have found that when I do those three simple things, all the worries about God not acting according to my fleshly timetable vanish as the some of an extinguished candle. This is how our faith grows in God… by getting our mind off the things we want to who God is.