How Long?

The temperature at my niece's house in Siberia.  No heat wave there!

  

  How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?

        Is the enemy to revile your name forever?

    Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?

        Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!

    Yet God my King is from of old,

        working salvation in the midst of the earth....

    Yours is the day, yours also the night;

        you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.

    You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;

        you have made summer and winter.

Psalm 74:10-12,16-17 

Sometimes I tend to get discouraged when I see the state of our world.  Even Christendom, which is essentially the standard for righteousness (or at least, was) would rather stay at home and watch a football game and gorge itself with unhealthy snacks than to go to church and hear the Word of God taught and to fellowship with the saints (No, not the New Orleans Saints--they weren't even in the Superbowl!)

I pretty much understand where the psalmist was coming from.  Let's see if we can answer his question, "Why do you hold back your hand?"  The apostle Peter said in 2 Peter 3:15:  "Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him."  Until the last of those who have been chosen for salvation comes to Christ, He will hold back His hand.  He is "working salvation in the midst of the earth."  What a gracious and merciful God!

And we can be assured that He has everything under control.  "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."  (Colossians 1:16-17)  God's Word remains constant throughout, not wavering in Truth.  The psalmist understood this, even in his questioning.

We can be assured through God's Word that He has everything under control.  We may not like what is happening, but we can know that He has not forgotten us.

I anyone happens to read this who does not know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, I encourage you to consider His call to you.  Read the book of John and the book of Romans.  I am praying for you today that God will speak to your heart and that you will receive His great salvation.

Hanging on to the One who holds it all together,

Gloria