How Long, O Lord?
I get my daily news from The Pour Over. They serve up three of the biggest stories brewing and hit just the highlights. Then they add a few words to my daily cup to help me think about the news from a Christian worldview. Finally, they pour out Scripture and a prayer to saturate my heart with God’s hope, love, and peace. It keeps my news intake under 10 minutes and sets my heart on King Jesus, who is over all and in all.
What a great model for us: Facts. Scripture. Prayer.
Facts: Facts of life…the world is consumed with news of war, famine, persecution, hurricanes, economic downturns, soaring gas prices, bombings, and more. And I’d bet it’s also a fact that you’ve known truths and facts in your life of grief and loss, pain and worry, joys and celebrations.
Scripture: We aren’t the first to face facts like these. There is nothing new under the sun. I recently read Habakkuk, a three-chapter Old Testament book. Unlike most prophets, Habakkuk never speaks to the people. He records only his conversation with God. He complains. God responds. He complains again. Then he closes with a prayer.
His complaint?
“O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?” (1:2).
He sees Judah’s leaders distracted by the world instead of leading the people to follow Torah, and he sees the terror of Babylon closing in. His list of facts: the wicked surround the righteous, justice goes forth perverted, the law is paralyzed, destruction and violence are before him. Yes, he questions God’s timing, but he takes his facts to the One who matters most and hears every prayer.
Then, just before the book closes, come the most powerful words:
“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord” (3:18).
Habakkuk pours out his lament over the world’s evil directly to God, and in his waiting he moves to trust and rejoice in the midst of it all. What a model for us as well. From praying “How long, O Lord” to “Yet, I will rejoice in you, Jesus!”
Prayer: These words were written around 612 B.C., yet they’re still a prayer we can join today:
Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
He makes my feet like the deer’s;
He makes me tread on my high places.
(Habakkuk 3:17–19, ESV)
PAUSE for a moment and give God the facts of your life. What news do you want to share with Him?
O Lord, my news is…
Linger.
Take a break.
Breathe in and out slowly.
Yet, I will rejoice in you, Jesus!
Now remember the rest of the story. In this same prayer, Habakkuk declares that God goes out “for the salvation of your anointed” (3:13). That Anointed One has a name: Jesus, the Christ. He was promised to His people. He came, stepping into our violence and grief by going to the cross for our sin. And He is coming again soon to make all things right.
So when the news is heavy, and you find yourself asking, “How long, O Lord?” remember this: He was promised. He came. He is coming. Until then, we wait, we pray, and like Habakkuk, we rejoice in the Lord.
What a great model for us: Facts. Scripture. Prayer.
Check out this song Anthony wrote way back in 2011, based on the book of Habakkuk, called In You I Wait.
