Dear Amy,
What is the most unanswered question in the Bible?
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
― Psalm 13:1-2
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
How long, O Lord?
Why doesn’t the Lord answer? Doesn’t he know how hard it is to wait on him? Why won’t he at least tell us how long? Imagine how much more straightforward it would be if he did. “Hang in there, Amy, for eighteen months. And for you, Simon, six years.”
Why does he not answer?
Actually, this is not all that hard to understand. Paul points us at two reasons in his letter to the Ephesians.
… he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, …
― Ephesians 1:4, 15-18
Having the eyes of our hearts enlightened that we may know what is the hope to which he has called us⸺the first reason is our faith, which requires us to use the eyes of our hearts rather than the eyes of our faces. Waiting is faith building, oh how it is that! Waiting confidently on the Lord, not doubting⸺it changes us. It grows our faith. Hear two questions from the Lord in the waiting time: “Do you trust me, Amy?” and the second, harder one: “How much do you trust me?”
Trust is what David clings to in our psalm. And knowing how long would require less trust.
The second reason is our holiness. We were chosen in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Our sanctification, our steadily increasing holiness, is a work of the Holy Spirit, but it is also our own most earnest hard work. What better work is there to do in the waiting time, that at the time of fulfilment we may be found to be holy and blameless in his sight?
Habbakuk also cries out with the same question.
O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?
― Habakkuk 1:2
In his particular case, the Lord answers, and praise him for that answer in which we also can rejoice.
“Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.”
― Habakkuk 1:5
And so it is for us. We would not believe if told the work the Lord is doing in our own waiting time. It is a work of faith, of holiness, and of fulfilment of promises.
Praise the Lord, wonder and be astounded, Amy, for he is doing a work in our lives which we would not believe if told! 🙏