How Long, O Lord?
“How long, O Lord?” This repeated cry from Scripture seems so appropriate for this spring in our country as we mourn the senseless murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. As if a pandemic were not enough to remind us that this world is not as it should be, murders piled on top of murders cause us to join with creation, groaning to “be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom 8:21). How long, O Lord?
Paul continues, “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved” (Rom 8:22-24). We await our future redemption, when Christ returns and makes all things new. In the meantime we groan, asking, how long, O Lord?
For followers of Christ, our faith must manifest itself in our love for our neighbors. A problem arose in ancient Israel that parallels our own day: God’s people claimed that they followed him because they went through the religious motions, but they failed to care for the poor, defenseless, needy, and marginalized—the least of their society. Through the prophet Amos, the Lord lambasts his people:
Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals— those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned” (Amos 2:6–7).
The people point to their faithfulness in offering sacrifices and religious feasts and protest that they are following the Lord. He will have none of it. God even sarcastically mocks their religious practices (Amos 4:4-5). The Lord does not hide his true feelings about their practices:
“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:21-24).
Faithfulness to the Lord will manifests itself both in how we honor him and in how we treat others. A restored relationship with God will carry over into our relationships with others.
The gospel is a message of reconciliation. First and foundational, it is the message of reconciliation between God and his people. Christ Jesus came into the world to live a perfect life, die an atoning death, rise from the dead, and ascend to the Father’s right hand in order to reconcile sinners like you and me to God. All who trust and hope in Jesus are reconciled to God. This vertical dimension of reconciliation is paramount.
Yet, the gospel is also a message of horizontal reconciliation; that is, reconciliation between people. The first century does not seem to have been too different from our own day. People were divided along ethnic, cultural, and economic lines. When people from all these different backgrounds came to faith in Christ, problems arose in the churches. For this reason, the Apostle Paul is at pains throughout many of his letters to emphasize the fundamental unity believers have in Jesus Christ. For example, he uses the image of the church as the body of Christ to remind the church at Corinth of their unity:
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit (1 Cor 12:12-13).
The ethnic, cultural, and economic distinctions that divide people fall away through the gospel of Jesus. “He himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph 2:14). Through the work of Christ, the redeeming work of God is spreading to all people from across all ethnic, cultural, and economic differences. The gospel reconciles people to God, and as they are reconciled to God, they are reconciled to one another.
The Old Testament concern that faith in the Lord changes the way we live is a concern that carries over into the New Testament. We’re called upon “to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom 12:1). As with the prophet Amos, the Apostle Paul makes clear in this verse that following that true worship and faithful living go hand-in-hand.
Jesus summarizes how his followers should live: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:39). Of course, this love for neighbor flows from love for God (Matt 22:37). If we want to offer our lives as living sacrifices, then we will by the power of the Holy Spirit live in accord with what Scripture commands. We will love our neighbor as ourself.
The question naturally arises in our hearts, who is my neighbor? Jesus responds to this question with the parable of the Good Samaritan—the outcast from society who was more loving than the prominent and religious people. In this parable, Jesus turns the question on its head. No longer do we ask, who is my neighbor? Instead, Jesus calls us to ask ourselves, how can I be a neighbor to those in need?
As followers of Jesus and those who believe his word to us in Scripture, one way we are called to show love for our neighbor is by speaking up for those in need, especially the voiceless and the marginalized. We speak up for those in need by affirming again and again the value and dignity of all people. All human beings are made in the image of God, and so we must affirm the value of all human life from conception onward. Our world today is often marked by a “culture of death”—a culture that praises power, glamorizes violence, and celebrates the oppression and even killing of the weak and vulnerable. Against such a world, we must vociferously proclaim the value and dignity of all people no matter one’s age, ethnicity, or past.
We look at our world and lament with the voices of Scripture, “How long, O Lord.” This was the complaint of the prophet Habakkuk:
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted (Hab 1:2-4).
The Lord responds, “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told” (Has 1:5). We trust that the Lord is at work even in the midst of this broken world to bring about his good purposes, and so we can say with Paul, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom 8:18).
This world is not as it should be. It is marred by sin, oppression, and death. We look “forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb 11:10). We wait with eager anticipation for Jesus to return and to usher in the new creation when all will be made new and every wrong will be righted.
We are strangers, exiles, and sojourners in this world. We will never and should never feel at home here. We should lament injustice and long for the coming of Christ. Such future hope does not lead us to passivity but to actively engaging in the world. We should heed the Lord’s word to the ancient Israelites when they were exiled far from home: “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer 29:7).
