31 Days of Hope - Day 8

“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?” 

 Psalm 13:1-2

How long, O God? Have you ever prayed a similar prayer? I have. At first glance, these verses don’t look like they offer much hope, but they have impacted me over the years because of how they are worded. David, the man who prayed these words, doesn’t ask God why he’s going through his struggles. Instead, he asked, “How long?”

That’s convicting to me. When I go through a hard season, my normal question is “Why?” Why are You allowing this? Why am I still here? Why aren’t You answering? But David didn’t do that. It’s like he accepted that hardships were a part of life, and instead just wondered how long it would be until he was through the current trials he faced. That was the question he cried out to God with in his prayers, and his words challenge me to do the same.

I read recently in her Children of the Day study, what Beth Moore wrote:

"What if we did come to expect that life was going to push us with pressure to compress us? If we’re not prepared, when they push, we are moved. But if we are prepared, we plant our feet, bend our knees, and hold tight with all our might.” 

And so we, like David, can choose to ask “How long?” instead of “Why?” We can choose to plant our feet firmly before the ground starts shaking around us and know God has His reasons for allowing our hardships.

And with our feet firmly planted, we can endure through whatever comes our way.