How Long, O Lord?

Not only is your affliction momentary, not only is all your affliction light in comparison to eternity and the glory there, but all of it is totally meaningful! Every millisecond of your pain….in the path of obedience is produce a peculiar weight of glory you will get because of that. I don’t care it was cancer or criticism. I don’t care it was slander or sickness. It was not meaningless! Of course, you can’t see what it’s doing. Don’t look to what is seen. Don’t say it’s meaningless. It’s not! It’s working for you an eternal weight of glory. Therefore do not loose heart—John Piper

Yesterday (11/17/2019) a Pastor from our church read the above quote from John Piper.  A portion of his sermon was about how justification in Christ will bring Joy in suffering.   There is a purpose in suffering, even if we don’t know the reason now.

I think I can safely say that we all know the truths and promises of God.  We can recite them and we can easily use them to minister to each other.  We have our “go to” verses we share with others.  But when hardship, suffering, pain, etc. comes our way, we tend to doubt those promises and truths.   I’m there.  I’m not perfect.  I have doubts. I worry.  I cringe.  I ask why.   I ask “how much more?”  It is definitely easier to say and think “don’t lose heart” than actually believe it.  I wrestle with it myself and those days I feel like giving into my pain and depression, I try hard to turn to God in His Word and song.    One song I thought of during yesterday sermon is called



“How Long, O Lord”/ Sovereign Grace:

Lyrics:

VERSE 1
Every valley will be lifted high
And the weak will be the strong
When You come like lightning in the sky
How long, O Lord, how long?

VERSE 2
Kings on earth will scatter when they hear
Thundering sounds of angel songs
Hearts will tremble, filled with holy fear
How long, O Lord, how long?

CHORUS
All our hopes are fixed on You
That Your promises are true
And one day You will return
All our treasures here will fade
So, we long to see Your face
Until then our hearts will burn
How long, O Lord?

VERSE 3
You will conquer every evil thing
Every sorrow, pain, and wrong
They will cease with Your return, our King
How long, O Lord, how long?

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How long, O Lord? (How long, O Lord?)

A few weeks ago, I was able to have a heart to heart conversation with a dearest friend of mine during a celebratory dinner of a couple celebrating their milestone anniversary.   It was so good to talk to her and I can’t remember when was the last time we even saw each other or talked to each other sharing each other’s journey “in the hard”.  We shared so many heart things. One topic that we seem to come back to is Grief.  Grief doesn’t necessarily happen when someone passes away.  Grief is a loss. Period. Simply put.  And I’ve learned over these many many years is to give myself grace and acceptance in this hard road. Others gives us grace and acceptance, but finding grace and acceptance within ourselves is hard (And honestly this also has a lot to do with our old church upbringing as children).  I had to give up a lot of things I use to do with family and friends and had to take some time off from several church serving duties.  It’s so hard and I miss it terribly, and yes, I feel guilty; but I’m trying to slowly realize that it’s for my own health but most importantly OBEYING God’s call for resting until I am well enough to serve again.  It’s always great to be able to talk things through with a dear friend and share heart thoughts, One thing we both concluded was what everyone can relate to: “I can’t imagine going through what you go through.”   Isn’t it funny?  You can look at one person and see their trials as worse than yours, yet others see your trials as worse than theirs.  Is it perspective?  In an earthly sense, It is perspective I think.    I know have addressed this before in one of my writings, but I’ll do it again.  I never ever liked the saying “God never gives you more than you can’t handle.”   This basically means that we are reliant on our own strength to get through trials and sufferings.   If we could handle any situation on our own, we would need some kind of superpowers; however, we don’t.  We need God’s divine power to help us get through the hard, rough, road.  My trials or sufferings may or may not be bigger or less than other people’s trials or sufferings.  All that matters is that God gives His Children the Strength to move forward and press onward and finish the race.