How long?

In Psalm 13:1-2, King David kept calling and asking God, “How long?” He struggled with the reality of not hearing God, struggled with his thoughts, and struggled with his enemies. Many of us can fully empathise with King David. My family and I have been going through this struggle for many years. Our first grandson, at four months old, was diagnosed with infantile epileptic seizure. These seizures occurred 80-90 percent of the time.

We prayed, and our friends and churches from different parts of the world prayed for him. He was under the care of three top paediatric neurologists in the country. There was no improvement in his condition. When he was two-and-a-half, a neuro-scientist from a well-known Science Centre examined our grandson. She confirmed the diagnosis of the paediatric neurologists and she further said that our grandson would never talk nor walk. We asked the same questions as King David did, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?”

Jeremiah 33:3 states that, when we call, God will answer and show us great and mighty things that we, with our human mind, can’t fathom, and this Scripture kept reverberating in our minds. Friends, with good intentions, kept reminding us that our God is a prayer-answering God, but we had questions, just as King David had. He was struggling with accusations, betrayals, and attacks from enemies. He was always on the run with no proper place to sleep or food to eat, and had many temptations. He cried out to God.

Imagine, King David, the man described by the word of God as a man after God’s own heart, going through such situations. He felt alone and abandoned. He kept looking and asking God for answers to his troubles and struggles. In spite of all his questions, struggles and not getting answers, his faith in God didn’t waver. In Psalm 13:5–6, David declared that he trusted in God’s unfailing love, his heart rejoiced in salvation and that he would sing to the Lord, who had been good to him.

As a family, though we wavered, we never gave up. We continued to pray and claim God’s word and promises for our grandson, such as Psalm 139:14-16, ‘I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well’.

Praise God! Today, our grandson is coming to up to fifteen years old. He’s walking and talking. Although his words aren’t clear, he makes himself understood. Our God is wonderful! We know that complete healing for our grandson will take place in God’s time.
So, if you’re going through trying situations or circumstances like David, or like us, don’t give up. God hears. Keep knocking on God’s door and claim His promises.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, You’re awesome and mighty. You’re omnipotent, omniscient and a loving God. You desire good things for us. So, help us to remain faithful to You and put our complete faith and trust in You. We know that You’ll bring things to pass in Your perfect time and will. So, we praise You, in Jesus’ name. Amen.