How Long, O Lord?

By John Blase

One click. That’s all it takes, and what I want (maybe even need) will be delivered to my doorstep. How long will this take? Two days. Forty-eight hours. Even sooner, if I’m willing to pay a little more. This option exists for almost any item imaginable, from roller ball pens to car batteries to groceries. The latest app trends for takeout aren’t just for fast-food but also restaurant fare, delivered right to my door. And how long will this take? Some services have set the bar at less than twenty-eight minutes—just 1,680 seconds. That’s crazy fast. But that’s the world we live in today.

Fifty-eight. That’s the number of people killed in the Las Vegas shooting in 2017. Remember that one? Add to that number the ongoing death and suffering of school shootings, natural disasters, disease and sickness, hunger and poverty, wars and rumors of wars—the tally is overwhelming. We look for something to click, some app to engage with to bring quick relief from the reality of pain, all the king’s horses and men—but there’s nothing. That’s also the world we live in. If we’re honest, it’s gotten a little old; the numbing feels empty. And still we cry, “Lord, how long…? Forever?”

It’s hard to hold on to hope in these competing worlds. The easy way out, the broad road? Give in to the one-click reality and numb ourselves as much as possible with whatever we can get. But the narrower way—the way that leads not just to a fix here and there, but to the full redemption of all things, including us—that’s what I call one-day living. It requires a dogged patience and trust in the Lord’s promises that one day, He will make all things right. One day…

They will no longer hunger;
they will no longer thirst;
the sun will no longer strike them,
nor will any heat.
– Revelation 7:16

That is not the world we live in right now. But it is the world that is coming. We need patience as we await our full redemption, but it’ll be worth the wait. How long will this take? That’s God’s call. Ours is to keep faith and to wait until we see.

Written by John Blase