How Long, O Lord?: A Journey From Exhaustion to Hopeਨਮੂਨਾ

"Hey, bro, how are you doing?"

I was on a video call when an acquaintance asked me this question. I'm a little cynical about that question in particular. When people ask, "How are you doing?" I wonder if they really want to know. Often, they're unsure what to do if I'm actually truthful. But I was feeling transparent after a long and challenging week, so I just said, "I'm weary."

As I chatted with others throughout that week, I heard so many people expressing the same thing. I made a list of what people told me they were weary about:

“I'm weary after months of struggling to get by.”

“I'm weary of nonstop stories of tragedy and pain.”

“I'm weary of fear, anxiety, depression, and overwhelm.”

“I'm weary of watching wicked people prosper.”

“I'm weary of health problems and dealing with insurance.”

“I'm weary of feeling alone.”

Weary, weary, weary.

As I listened to those stories and thought about my own experience, my mind was drawn to the honest words of Psalm 13:1-2 NIV. "How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?"

Perhaps you can relate to those words. Maybe over the last few days or weeks, you've found yourself crying out to God: "How long, Lord? How long are we going to face these problems? How long are we going to watch these stories? How long is this pain going to remain in our world?"

If you've been saying "How long?" for a while, then we understand each other’s weariness.

But here's what most of us don't know about Psalm 13:3-6 NIV. We know that opening phrase, but we don't see how the rest of the psalm goes. The psalmist continues: "Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,' and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me."

Did you catch that progression? The psalm starts with "How long?" but it ends with "I will sing to the Lord." It moves from despair to hope, from questioning to trust, from weariness to worship.

That's the journey we're going on together in this plan. I won't pretend your weariness will magically disappear, but I want to show you what God offers to weary believers navigating this adventure called life.

It's okay to feel weary. It's okay to cry out, "How long?" to God. He's not intimidated by your honest emotions or your desperate questions. The psalmist shows us that we can bring our weariness directly to God, knowing that He sees us and hasn't forgotten us.

Tomorrow, we'll discover what separates those who endure their trials from those who give up in the middle of them.