“When will You comfort me?”
[Psalms 119:81-88]
Have you ever felt the limitations of your patience? Therefore, have you ever prayed to God, 'O God, how long must I endure this affliction?' The longer we are in pain and adversity, the more we feel the limits of our patience. At that time, we cry out to God, asking, "How long?" The psalmist in Psalms 119 today cried out to God like that. Although he prayed to God for His salvation in hope of the Word of God but didn’t receive any answer of his prayer even in waiting in expectation, he cried out to God like this: “My eyes fail with longing for Your word, While I say, "When will You comfort me?” (v. 82) I would like to think about two things “Limitation of Endurance” and “Challenge of Endurance" under the title of “When will You comfort me?”
First, let’s think about the limitations of endurance.
Look at Psalms 119:81-21: “My soul languishes for Your salvation; I wait for Your word. My eyes fail with longing for Your word, While I say, "When will You comfort me?” The psalmist was languished. He was exhausted and tired. Why was that? The reason was that the psalmist was persecuted by his enemies (v. 84). Who were his enemies who persecuted the psalmist? They were the arrogant who weren’t in accord with God’s law (v. 85). And they persecuted the psalmist for no reason (v. 86) and dug pits for the psalmist (v. 85). In other words, they plotted to harm the psalmist. And they almost destroyed the psalmist (v. 87). In other words, they almost killed the psalmist (v. 87). In this critical situation, even though the psalmist longed for God’s salvation (v. 81) and God’s word (v. 82) he didn’t experience the God’s salvation and the fulfillment of the word of promise. That was why he was languished (v. 81) and his eyes failed (v. 82).
There are times when our souls are languished and tired like a psalmist. Although we cry out to God in the painful situation we are in and when there seems to be no answer to our prayers, but our situation is getting worse, we get tired and exhausted both physically and spiritually. What is so dangerous at the time is disappointment and discouragement. The situation we are in is hard and painful, even though we cry out to God no matter what the answer seems to be. And when the situation seems to be getting worse, we can be depressed and even despair when we cannot bear it anymore. Especially when our proud enemies continue to slander us, "Where is your God?" (Ps. 42:10), we can be discouraged and even depressed. Especially when we think that God 's judgment is slow enough to make us feel like the psalmist,' When will God execute judgment on those who persecute me?’(v. 84), we can surely be depressed. What should we do then? No matter how we pray to God and wait for the salvation of God, there is no answer to prayer. What should we do when our soul is disturbed and depressed? What should we do when we wait for God’s comfort but there is none and we cry out to God “When will You comfort me?” This is the challenge of endurance.
Second, let’s think about the challenge of endurance.
When we are tired of longing for the salvation of the Lord (v. 81), what should we do? When the comfort of the Lord is slow, and when we are waiting for the promises of the Lord to be fulfilled, when our eyes become tired (v. 82), and when I feel like I am useless (v. 83), what should we do? What should we do when arrogant people who don’t keep the law of the Lord persecute us and have dug pits for us, but God's judgment to them is slow (vv. 84-86)? Even when they almost destroy us (v. 87), what should we do? What should we do when there is challenge of our endurance? Although we get tired and exhausted in seeking and waiting for God’s salvation we must trust in the word of the Lord (v. 81). This is because the Lord's commandments are trustworthy (v. 86). Also, when we wait for the promises of the Lord to be fulfilled (v. 82) and get tired but we must not forget the laws of the Lord (v. 83). Though our arrogant enemies persecute us and cause us to die almost without cause, yet we must not abandon the Lord's precepts (v. 87). In doing so, God will revive us according to His lovingkindness (v. 88). Then we will continue to keep the law of the Lord (v. 88).
It is no reckless thing that God is patience with us. God never wastes His time but uses it in most precious way (Park Yun-sun). Although, from our standpoint, God's salvation, comfort, and help seem to be very slow and thus we ask God, 'Lord, when will you comfort me?', 'Lord, when will you help me?', 'Lord, when will you save us?’, we must never forget His faithful commands and trust His words. We must never abandon His words. In His time, God will surely save us. Our faithful Lord will surely fulfill His promises to us. With this assurance of salvation, we must endure in tribulation and persecution with faith and hope. Though we may feel the limit of endurance, we shouldn’t be discouraged, but we should yearn for the word of the Lord as we yearn for the Lord who is our true hope. The Holy Spirit of comfort will comfort us with the word of God which is living and active.
Wanting to pray, expect and wait with faith in God’s promise word, that is trustworthy, to be fulfilled even in the limit of patience by being challenged by God and His word,
James Kim
[As I remember the Lord who demonstrates His perfect patience to me (Cf. 1 Tim 1:16)]