March 31: How long, O God?

How long, Lord, will you continue to ignore me? How long will you pay no attention to me? How long must I worry, and suffer in broad daylight? How long will my enemy gloat over me? Look at me! Answer me, O Lord my God! Revive me, or else I will die! Then my enemy will say, “I have defeated him!” Then my foes will rejoice because I am upended. But I trust in your faithfulness. May I rejoice because of your deliverance! I will sing praises to the Lord when he vindicates me.  (Psalm 13  NET)

Here is a prayer of faith from a man who is insisting and demanding that God act on his behalf. He knows that God has promised all through Scripture to help His people and to rescue them from their enemies. He is also confident that he is a child of God and that he has a right to ask for deliverance. For a servant of Almighty God to be in his situation is not in agreement with the principles God Himself has taught. So he comes boldly and with confidence to his Father in heaven to wrestle and struggle in faith until God blesses him. Even though he expresses impatience at the delay in his receiving what he needs from God; his faith is strong and he rejoices in God's deliverance.

Have you ever talked to God this way? Or would you be afraid to speak so boldly to Him? Remember this Psalm was written by David who was “a man after God's own heart.” His life was filled with great miracles and acts of God. He loved God with all his heart, and he knew there was no possibility of his living even one day without God’s blessing and help.

If you are not getting the answers you need from God, don’t accept your situation. If your request is good for you and for God’s kingdom—don’t give up. Ask, insist—even demand—that God act and fulfill His promises for you. The Lord Jesus and God the Father are pleased when people pray this way. It shows genuine faith in God's promises, that we are really serious and determined to be blessed by Him. And when we pray like this, God sees that our hope is in Him and in Him alone.