“HELP LORD, HOW LONG?” – Friday July 14, 2017

REVERBERATIONS FROM DAVID’S PSALMS

HELP IS ON THE WAY                                        

Psalm 12: 1 “Help Lord, the faithful have vanished…” and 13:1  “How long, O Lord?  Will you forget me forever?”

We know that David struggled all through his young manhood with people on all sides, lying and making up false stories about him.  He got to the point in Psalm 12 that he wasn’t certain anyone around him was Godly, “Everyone lies to his neighbor”(v.2).  At the same time, though, he realized that the Lord’s words were flawless and pure.  Finally, he gets it straight and ends up with, “O Lord, You will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever”(v.7).

There is no question, we have all been through these kinds of times, and we believe and know the same truths David did. Yet in the middle of the trouble, it sometimes gets so frustrating, we just ask God, “How Long, O Lord”?  In Psalm 13, David’s troubles flare up again and he asks, “How Long?” four different times in the first two verses, as he is wrestling with his thoughts and has become impatient with God’s timing.

Wow, can you relate?  Sometimes it really does take a long time for the Lord to answer our requests and prayers, and maybe you have felt the same, “How long?”.  David, finally, just asks for an encouraging sign. He asks, “Give light to my eyes…” (v.3).

I have had the Lord do that in my own life when I asked for it.  There was no final answer.  I just wanted to know He heard me.  He did.  (See David’s 7 Secrets pp. 51-52 for the full story)

Eventually, in his writings, David says what he really knows about how the Lord answers and then guides his life. “But I trust in Your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation.  I will sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me” (v.5-6).

How long? 

Long enough to realize what we already know.  Long enough to realize how the Lord guides our lives, just as He did for David.