How long?

As I was praying and wondering about what to write this week, a line from a song I’ve been listening to lately came to mind right away. The song is Daughters of Zion by The Porter’s Gate. And the line that came to mind is from the chorus: How long? How long? When will the daughters of Zion rejoice in the house of the Lord? It’s a song of lament and hope.

The readings in Teach Us to Pray have moved out of Exodus and into the book of Judges and earlier this week one of the passages was from Judges 4, part of the story of Deborah.

On our trip to Israel we visited Megiddo and looked over the battlefield where Barak fought Sisera and Jabin’s army. I asked Jay to take a picture of me so we could show the kids that here is where the story of Deborah happened. I wanted them to feel connected with her, one of the women God provided to lead the people through years of difficulty. To feel connected to her strength and wisdom. I wanted them to feel connected to Jael and her courage, too.

Elizabeth and the valley of Megiddo

I expected, when Bri announced that the reading was from Judges 4, that I would be drawn to something about Deborah, but instead it was the opening of the story that attracted my attention. The narrator begins the story by observing that the LORD handed the people over to the power of Jabin, who treated the Israelites very badly for 20 years. The twenty years part hit me. It seems like a long time.

I am mostly inconvenienced by the pandemic, though the losses are real, and six months feels like a very long time. The question, ‘How long?’ resonates in a different way than it did 6 months ago. How long will the pandemic last? How long will systemic racism go on? How long?

Another of the readings this week was from Judges 7, the beginning of the story of Gideon. Gideon, who is hiding, is greeted with the word, ‘Hail mighty warrior, the Lord is with you.’ And Gideon responds with, ‘Pardon me. You say the Lord is with us. Then why is all this happening to us?’

I’m reminded often these days that we’re part of a long line of people who have asked, ‘how long?’ Rebekah, Gideon, maybe Deborah under her oak tree, the Psalmists and prophets, Mary and Martha and Jesus. When God’s people are in trouble, they lament. They turn to God and ask, ‘How long?’ and ‘Why is this happening to me?’ and, ‘If only . . .’ We’re given their witness, their stories of crying out to God, of being honest with God, and of God responding with new life in the face of death.

When will the truth come out?
When will Your justice roll down?
When will Your kingdom come
And evil be undone?
When will the wicked kneel
And the abused be healed?
When will our sisters speak
With no more shame or fear?

How long? How long?
When will the daughters of Zion rejoice
In the house of the Lord?

Out of the miry clay
We will rise up someday
Sorrow won't always last
The dark will surely pass
Woe to the wicked ones
For what their hands have done
God is our righteous judge
And He will raise us up

So how long? How long?
When will the daughters of Zion rejoice
In the house of the Lord?

So let Your justice roll down
Let Your justice roll down
Let Your justice roll down (Let Your justice roll down)
Let Your justice roll down (Let Your justice roll down…)

 

-Daughters of Zion by The Porter’s Gate 2019