DayBreaks for 10/08/19: How Much Longer?
From the DayBreaks archive, September 2009:
My kids are grown and gone, but I can still recall the family trips and the question that never stopped being asked: “Daddy, how much longer until we get there?” How do you explain time and distance to a 3 or 4-year-old? It is an impossible question to answer. The closest we could come to an answer that satisfied them was “It’s about 3 whiles”. (A while was half of a cartoon show – thus 3 whiles would be about 45 minutes!) Just saying, “A little while” didn’t work, so you had to be precise about how many “whiles” would be required!
Our souls long for the answer to that question, too, don’t they? In Revelation 6:10, the martyrs are pictured under the altar in heaven and they ask the same question: How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood? It is part of our human condition that we must wait – and wonder, “How much longer?” How long will I live with this disease? How long must I struggle with this sin? How long until my son/daughter realizes they are heading the wrong way and come back to God?
In addition to trying to answer our kids’ questions about how long something would take, we’d say, “You’ll have a great time when you get there. Trust me.” In his book, When Christ Comes, Max Lucado talks about our spiritual life in the same way and suggests that Jesus gives us the same answer. He can’t tell us how long or why it should take so long for one simple reason: our minds aren’t capable of understanding it any more than my children could understand my explanations of time and distance, so he says simply, “Trust me. You’re going to love it when you get there!”
How long must you struggle with your health, your life, your problems, your grief and pain? I can’t tell you specifically. Job 14:1 says – Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. The most honest answer I can give you is this: you’ll struggle with those things “as long as earthly life lasts”. But those six words are powerful because they remind us that this life is earthly, another life is coming, this life will come to an end and we will reach the destination, and when we get there it will have been well worth the wait.
Then, in heaven we may turn to our Father and ask, “How long will this last?” And His answer will be the sweetest music we’ve ever heard: “Forever, my child, forever!”
Prayer: Lord, how we long to be with you and celebrate your greatness with the saints of all ages, to see you and hear your voice! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Copyright by 2019 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>