“How long, O Lord? Will you forget us forever?
How long, O Lord? Will you hid your face?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
And every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, O Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
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 to the Lord
For He has been good.” -Psalm 13
How long, O Lord? Will you forget us forever?
How long, O Lord? In so many ways, that’s the only phrase I’ve been able to repeat as I think of what has happened in Virginia these past days. I’m sure I am not alone in asking the question “Where was God in all of this?” And while theologically I am convinced He was there and that He will redeem the situation for His glory, it doesn’t remove the questions of “why” or the pain of seeing lives ended tragically.
How long, O Lord? Will you hid your face?
How long, O Lord? This past month I had the opportunity to lead a manuscript study of the Old Testament book of Amos. In preparation for the study, I spent much time pouring over current event news articles and sadly the shootings in Virginia are one among many messed up things going on in the world today. Spend 10 minutes looking at some of these news articles about Darfur, Modern Day Slavery, Philippines, or Afghanistan and it is not very hard to see all of creation screaming to be rescued from pain. But who hears those groans? Do we even hear them any more?
How long, O Lord? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts?
How long, O Lord? It’s so easy to emotionally want to disconnect from the pain in this specific tragedy as well as other horrific events. It’s so easy to move on and ignore the hard questions and the unknown, yet my heart yearns to cry out in anguish over the suffering that so many are going through right now. And I feel like we need to. My heart longs for the day when our Lord will return and set things right. When he will put an end to the bitterness of this world.
How long, O Lord? I urge you to pray this psalm with me and wrestle with the fact that while we are saved though Jesus, we are still living in a world that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and are still waiting for our Lord’s return.
Pray with me for the InterVarsity staff and other Christian workers/professors at Virginia Tech that they will cling to God’s promises amidst the questions and pain and that they will have wisdom from the Holy Spirit in counseling students. (click here for more info on how to pray for them)
-sarah
