How Long, O Lord?

A friend had gone to many interviews looking for a job. One day, after months of looking, she was again turned down. "If God had given me a job with a salary paying many thousands," she commented, "we would have said, 'Isn't God good!' But God is just as good when He asks me to wait."

When we hang on to faith during disappointment, our faith deepens. If God always answered our prayers quickly, we would be short-changed. The benefits of waiting-of holding on to our confident expectation that God is faithful-are so profitable to us that God, in His grace and mercy, often delays answers to our prayers.

The psalmist said, "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him" (Psalm 62:5 KJV). "It is comparatively easy," said E. M. Bounds, "to wait upon God; but to wait upon Him only, is, I suspect, a difficult and rare attainment."

If I am truly waiting on God...

-I don't feel alarmed if my expectations are not met.

-I'm at peace although it appears that God is not attending to my need.

-I don't get upset if my plans are changed.

-I don't look to anyone but God to remedy the situation. 

We may cry, "How long, O Lord?" but we still hold on to our confident assurance. The root word for "passive" and "passion" is the same, meaning "to endure." While waiting, our hearts are both passive and passionate. We're refusing to act on our own but passionate in looking to God.

Thank You, Lord, for accepting my patient waiting as faith in Your faithfulness.

"No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame" (Psalm 25:3).