How Long, O Lord?
If you’re anything like me, waiting is not your spiritual gift. It doesn’t matter if it’s a long line at Walmart, an Amazon package that clearly doesn’t understand “2-day delivery,” or waiting for my hair to grow after a bad cut—I’m just not good at it. Truly.
If my husband would let me, I’d make the bed while he was still in it.
Yes, I hear myself. I know. I need to be more patient.
But—pinky swear—I am light-years from where I used to be. And for that, I say, thank You, Lord.
Still, Scripture speaks of a different kind of waiting—one that goes deeper than patience.
Biblical waiting is not simply about learning to tolerate delay. It is about where our trust rests while we wait.
Biblical waiting is always connected to an object—and that object is the Lord. The One who is worthy of our trust because of who He is, what He has done, and what He promises to do.
If biblical waiting could speak, it would say:
“Lord, I trust You in this situation—even though I can’t make sense of it.”
It says:
“I know You are good. I know You are not withholding Your love from me.”
“I trust that You are working all things for my good, even when my definition of good looks very different from Yours.”
Biblical waiting, then, is a posture of active trust.
It’s not passive.
It’s not idle.
It rests in the Lord—but not in a sit-back-on-the-sofa kind of way. It’s a rest that places our full weight and dependence on Him.
Faith doesn’t freeze.
Faith moves.
It walks in obedience.
It submits to God’s timing.
And it trusts Him—even when we would greatly prefer to hurry things along.
We see this kind of waiting captured beautifully in Psalm 13.
David cries out to the Lord with a series of honest, heart aching questions:
“How long, O Lord—will You forget me forever?”
“How long will You hide Your face from me?”
“How long must I wrestle with sorrow in my soul?”
“How long will my enemy have the upper hand?”
David is weary. And even more painful than the troubles he faces is the sense that God feels distant—as though He has forgotten him.
In verse 3, David pleads,
“Turn and answer me, O Lord my God.”
David does not hear an audible voice from heaven telling him everything will be okay.
But he does hear something else.
He remembers what is true about God.
And in verses 5 and 6, David records the answer to his own lament—not because his circumstances have changed, but because his trust has a place to rest:
“But I trust in your unfailing love.
I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
I will sing to the LORD because he is good to me.”
Psalm 13:5–6 (NLT)
Reflection
What is your “How long, O Lord?” What do you know to be true about God that can anchor your heart while you wait?
