When Comfort is Delayed

My eyes fail with longing for Your word,

While I say, “When will You comfort me?”

Psalm 119:82

When we are in the midst of a great trial, God brings the comfort that nothing nor no one else can bring. The psalmist knew this. He cried out with impatience. "When will You comfort me?" His is not a shallow request, but a hungry plea that comes from a deep need. He looks to God and waits for an answer. And his eyes dim with longing while he waits. If you're a kindred spirit of the psalmist you understand this verse. You've lived it and you identify with his words. You identify also with the psalmist's faith. For even though his eyes may become weak, his faith stays strong. Sometimes God delays an answer. This is not punisrhment. It is love. "When wilt thou comfort me? It is a customable manner of God's working with his children, to delay the answer to their prayers, and to suspend the performance of His promises: not because He is unwilling to give, but because He will have them better prepared to receive. Tardins dando qued pettimus instantia nobis orationis indicit: He is slow to give that which we seek, that we should not seek slowly, but may be awakened to instancy and fervency in prayer, which He knows to be the service most acceptable unto Him, and most profitable unto ourselves." (William Cowper)