How Long, God?

The words of Habakkuk reverberate throughout Scripture and into our own lives. We
have all been there, offering our “how long” prayer to God. Our prayers, petitions, and
please are a mixture of times of cries for help and interrogations of a Holy God, acting in
a way that is unknown to us. It can be disorienting; often, God will lead us through such
seasons of disorientation. 

I have prayed for certain things for more than 30 years. Through those prayer seasons,
I’ve walked into valleys of doubt and despair, hills of hope, and pathways of persistence.
I have wept my how long prayer. I have challenged my Father to hear me, to save me.
It is in these seasons of not knowing that we either run from God or run to Him. Frankly,
I’ve done both. What I’m learning through the sojourn is that God will disorient me in
order to reorient me to what He desires for me.

Habakkuk cries out and questions. God doesn’t reprimand him. Through the Psalm-
like lament of the prophet, God guides Habakkuk from disorientation to orientation. We
read of this shift (some might call it a breakthrough) in the book. Habakkuk reaches the
point, after taking his place upon the wall to wait for God, and God’s response reorients
Habakkuk. He moves from lament to trust and hope.

In this little three-chapter book is an important lesson for us. God will be longsuffering
with us as we empty ourselves of confusion and despair. God will accompany us on
this sacred season of not knowing. God will move in us to shift our spiritual posture
from wondering why to accepting that He is our God and King, sovereign and in control.
And so we pray, “how long O Lord” until it becomes, “I trust You O Lord, no matter how
long it takes.”