HOW LONG, O LORD, HOW LONG

 

Psalm 90

 

I took some time off last week to catch up on some projects at home.  While I worked, the radio was on in the background. Every hour, on the hour, it was evident that the news was not getting any better.  The newest recommendation is that families cancel their thanksgiving gatherings this year.  This was followed by a report that the South Bend, Indiana, Health Department tried to close churches until March 31, 2021.  (Being near the Indiana border, what happens in that state concerns us in Michigan.)

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired, weary and worn down by this pandemic that seems to have no end.  COVID-19 has isolated us from important networks of support:  family, friends and supportive communities like the church.  We are denied healthy, appropriate touch which is so important to our ability to thrive as human beings, and we feel helpless and hopeless as our options dwindle.   These days, one of my daily prayers is Psalm 90:13 – “Turn, O Lord! How long? Have compassion on your servants!”

 

A prayer by Moses, Psalm 90 deals with human frailty and long term suffering.  Suffering is part of the human experience.  Ask a Buddhist “what is life?” and the reply will be “suffering.”  At the beginning of the United Methodist Service of Committal, one of the statements is, “in the midst of life, we are in death; from whom can we seek help?” 

 

Suffering is complex in that there is not always a clear cause and effect reason for why it happens and to whom it happens.  Because we live in a broken and unredeemed world, children will go hungry and be abused, there will be diseases like cancer and the corona virus, and people will be come refugees from wars, famine and natural disasters.  Suffering will continue until Christ comes again to fully redeem all creation and heaven and earth are restored to an Eden-like existence.

 

And so, God’s people lament.  A lament is not complaining or an expression of self-pity.  It is an honest, heartfelt prayer in which we pour out our fears, our frustrations and worries, saying to God, “This is too hard to bear!”  It is a prayer of faith based in who and what God is:

 

·       God is faithful and steadfast.  “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)

 

·       God works for our good.  “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”  (Romans 8:28)

 

·       God is the source of all good things. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

 

·       In the middle of our suffering, God brings us consultation.  “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.”  (Psalm 23:5)

 

 

Psalm 90 ends with this request.  “Let your work be manifest to your servants and your glorious power to their children.  Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands – O prosper the work of our hands!”  (verses 16-17)

 

So, let us pray:

 

God, give us patience to endure;

Your strength to sustain us and empower us to persevere.

Renew our hope so that we may see the God-opportunities in this time, and bless us that we may be instruments of your compassion and love to our broken world in this time of suffering.  Amen.