Two more mass murders yesterday! That’s 22 in 2019.

“How long, O Lord, until you do something?”

In many parts of the Bible we read the anguished prayers of God’s people who cannot understand God’s apparent indifference and inactivity against the violence and injustice on the earth.

Here are a just a few samples.

“We are given no signs from God; no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be. How long will the enemy mock you, God? Will the foe revile your name forever? Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?” Psalm 74

“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? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.”    Habakkuk 1

“They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth?”     Revelation 6

While I share the pain and frustration of those prayers, I also appreciate the honesty of the Scriptures about what it feels like to live on this sin-broken planet. The Bible doesn’t give trite answers to heart-wrenching suffering. Nor does it always pull back the curtains so we can see what God is doing and what the future holds — at least in the detail I desire.

So I cling to the many assurances that God’s apparent lack of response represents delay, not apathy – delay which gives time for repentance, enhances longing for Jesus’ return and Kingdom, and confronts us to act as God’s image-bearers and representatives to bring His Kingdom values into our relationships, communities, and nations.

We join with Christians everywhere as we pray what Jesus taught us: “Let Your kingdom come; Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

I also see in Scripture that God uses the same words, “How long?,” as He challenges us to turn to away from the false gods we constantly pursue as substitutes for the One true God who has revealed Himself in Jesus.

“How long will you people turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?”Psalm 4

So I must trust through my grieving and questions . . . trust the heart of the God who is perfectly displayed in Jesus — the God who promises that some day He will wipe away all tears and make all things new.