When? (04/19/2025)

As a child, I lived in Texas and Georgia. My grandparents lived in Iowa and Nebraska. And regularly, our large family would pack up, cram into the family station wagon, and head north. And it didn’t take long for us to begin to ask that familiar question: “When will we be there?” My parents would patiently respond with “It will be a while,” or “Soon.”

“When?” has actually been one of my most frequent questions in life? With age and responsibility, my questions have changed, but not my need for answers and certainty. “When will I learn, LORD?” “When will your help come, LORD?”

I say I have faith. I say I believe. Life has taught me that it’s easy to have faith when one’s a bystander to another’s woe, loss or need. It gets tougher when it’s my woe, my loss, my need. When it is me and my loved ones, when the uncertainty is in my corner of the world, when the need is mine, I find myself asking “When?” of the LORD a lot.

The LORD promises that He is with us. The LORD especially promises to be with us in difficult times as we traverse difficult terrain: “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned; the flames will not consume you.” Isaiah 43:2-3.

As we continue on our spiritual journeys of faith, hope and love, let us pray that we will allow the LORD to teach us still along the way and that the Spirit will help us to build our patience and develop our perseverance. Let us seek to be people who trust in the LORD and the LORD’s love. While we may still cry out to the LORD, “When?”, may it be with faith in the LORD’s power and presence, hope in the LORD’s promises, and love for the LORD that consoles us.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.