HOW LONG?

How Long?

Read: Habakkuk 1:2–11
Bible in a Year: Isaiah 28–29; Philippians 3

How long, Lord, must I call for help?—Habakkuk 1:2

When I married, I thought I would have children immediately. That did not happen, and the pain of infertility brought me to my knees. I often cried out to God, “How long?” I knew God could change my circumstance. Why wasn’t He?

Are you waiting on God? Are you asking, How long, Lord, before justice prevails in our world? Before there is a cure for cancer? Before I am no longer in debt?

The prophet Habakkuk was well acquainted with that feeling. In the seventh century bc, he cried out to the Lord: “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?” (Hab. 1:2–3). He prayed for a long time, struggling to reconcile how a just and powerful God could allow wickedness, injustice, and corruption to continue in Judah. As far as Habakkuk was concerned, God should have already intervened. Why was God doing nothing?

There are days when we too feel as if God is doing nothing. Like Habakkuk, we have continuously asked God, “How long?”

Yet, we are not alone. As with Habakkuk, God hears our burdens. We must continue to cast them on the Lord because He cares for us. God hears us and, in His time, will give an answer. —Karen Wolfe

Lord, thank You for bearing my burdens. I know that You hear my cries and will answer in accordance to Your perfect plan and purposes.

For encouragement, read When God Says No at discoveryseries.org/q0736.

Don’t despair because of evil; God will have the last word.

INSIGHT: Like Habakkuk, the psalmist David understood that life’s challenges get harder the longer they last. David asked “How long?” four times in just two verses, “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?” (Ps. 13:1-2, emphasis added).

When you struggle, can you identify with Habakkuk and David? Does it feel like help is far away? Consider Lamentations 3:22-23, and let it encourage you to trust in God’s faithful care. Bill Crowder

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