Lord, how long?

This episode explores Psalm 6 and the raw, honest prayer of David during a time of deep physical and emotional pain. As David cries out, “How long, O Lord?” we’re reminded that powerful prayer isn’t always polished—it’s real, desperate, and rooted in trust. Through personal testimony of long-term illness and unanswered questions, the speaker shares how persistent prayer, even in silence or suffering, connects us to God’s presence. The Psalm shows that prayer doesn’t require instant solutions—it requires faith that God hears us. When you don’t know what else to do, pray. When your soul is vexed, pray. When healing feels delayed, pray anyway. The power of prayer isn’t just in changing circumstances—it’s in knowing that God is listening, and He will respond, sometimes by surprising us with His strength in our weakest moments. Keep praying. Keep believing. He hears you. 

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Transcript

Press means to apply force.

When God said press, prayer reaches every single situation.

He gave us permission to apply force to every situation that we will go through. And in this podcast, we are going to learn to apply force to what's applying pressure to us.

Greetings everyone.

Welcome to the Press to Pray podcast.

Let's dive into Psalms chapter 6.

In Psalms chapter 6, the Bible says, Oh Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. Have mercy upon me, oh Lord, for I am weak. Oh Lord, heal me, for my bones are vexed. My soul is also sore vexed, but thou, oh Lord, how long? Return, oh Lord, deliver my soul, oh save me for thy mercies sake.

For in death there is no remembrance of thee, in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

I am weary with my groaning.

All the night make I my bed to swim. I water my couch with my tears.

Mine eye is consumed because of grief. It waxeth old because of all mine enemies. Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity, for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord hath heard my supplication. The Lord will receive my prayer.

Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed. Let them return and be ashamed suddenly.

We don't know the exact season that this Psalm was written by David, but it is attributed to David. What we do know is that it's a hard time.

Now, sometimes in the Bible, the person who compiled that particular Bible, like a Thompson Chain Bible or a Her Study Bible, they'll put in their comments. One of the comments in my Bible says that this particular Psalm is David's complaint in his sickness.

I don't know that he was just sick here, but what I do know is that he's vexed. And he asked a question in this prayer that we often ask when we're going through. And that question is, Oh Lord, how long? How long do I have to stay here? How long do I have to hurt?

If he was sick, I do understand him saying, you know, for I am weak.

My bones are vexed. My soul is also sore vexed.

When you deal with a sickness or a long-term condition, it has a way of wearing you down where it becomes not just what's happening to you physically, but also what's happening on the inside.

And sometimes people don't understand that until they've gone through it.

How much it's not just about my body being in pain. My mind is in pain. My soul is in pain.

You have a certain agony because you can't respond to things the way you want to, or things that once were easy for you are now difficult. And there comes a time you really do want to know, God, how long do I have to deal with this?

As some of you may know because I've written about it in my book, It's Too Quiet, a book about prayer, and I also talk about it in different seasons.

I have arthritis, but even before the arthritis started or before I knew what it was, I'll never forget in 2016, I was asking the Lord what he wanted from me for that year.

And I always asked God that.

Usually, I mean it in terms of sacrifices, I said giving goals, I said spiritual disciplines for the year, that kind of thing. But that particular year, all I heard the Lord say was sickness. And if I've never gotten a word from the Lord and I've never been correct before, I was sure right about that one.

Because I got sick January 2nd.

And that particular sickness, I just had the mumps, which was kind of strange because I am vaccinated against the mumps and they're very rare. So, it was a little a little weird, but in the long run, you know, it was just a little low-grade fever and I was pretty swollen. Face looked a little awkward, but outside of that, I was okay.

And then about a week and a half after that, I got the flu.

Now, the flu was actually a little harder to deal with.

You're a little sicker, intense fever, but mentally, I'm okay.

It's just the flu, right? Yes, it's still January, but it's just the flu.

And then things started to take a real turn because as soon as the fever broke, I had nodules around my joints, like huge knots. And I found myself not able to walk up and down the stairs in my house and at times not able to carry an iPad and having to slide down the stairs on my bottom. And asking my kids to help me just walk, let alone clean or lift.

And then it was just one thing after another.

Found out my eyes were damaged.

Joint pain persisted.

I ran a fever seven times that year for seven days or more between 104 and 100 degrees.

And so it was just one thing after another, but what really hung in there, the thing that persisted the most, was the joint pain and everything that came with that, the eye damage, the inability to move at times. And at some point, I found myself knowing that the Lord had allowed me to get to this place, but really, really tired of being there still.

You can feel disappointed in yourself and feel like you should be doing more and feel like a burden to others and so many things when you're sick or when you can't do what you used to do. And so sickness then, when it's long-term, is not just about the physical body, but there is a vexing in the soul that tries to take place. The Bible says that David, as he's dealing with this vexing, is saying, Oh Lord, how long?

Because really at the end of the day, when it comes to a really intense test, most of us just want to know how to get out of it. How do I get through this so I don't have to do this anymore?

It is interesting to me that the Lord does not respond here.

And you know what?

That's everyday life, too.

He doesn't always answer the question, how long? How long do I have to deal with this?

Sometimes it's from now to eternity.

In my case, I can't say I've had a day without pain in now eight years. But I can say God has been God throughout the eight years.

And that I've actually seen him do more in the pain than he did before it.

And so when we're going through, even when we go to pray, even when we're dealing with our own pains, whether it's grief as he mentions here, or you're crying all night long, this is what this psalmist is saying.

He says, I am weary with my groaning.

All the night make I my bed to swim. I water my couch with my tears.

He's saying, this is hard.

I'm going through it.

I'm crying all night.

I'm laying in my own tears.

Mine eye is consumed because of grief. It waxeth old because of all mine enemies.

This thing, whether it's sickness or grief or we don't know which one might have perpetuated the other. It could be that he's grieving so hard he got sick or sick and grieving because of his sickness.

We don't know. But what we do know is this psalmist, David, never forgets who he's crying to. He remembers, I'm going to talk to God about this. And what I know about my God is he understands.

In death there is no remembrance of thee, in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

God, if I die, I'm not anymore good to you. So I need you to touch me.

And he begins to say, Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity, because the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping.

God is listening for me. And God's not listening for me. He's not testifying of God listening for him just because God's changing it. He's testifying because of what he knows.

The Lord hath heard my supplication. The Lord will receive my prayer.

He believes God is listening.

And that right there is enough for him to declare, Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed. Let them return and be ashamed suddenly.

God, make the way and make it quick. Surprise them, God. Surprise them with how you work. Surprise my pain with how quickly you take it, God. Surprise the cause. Surprise the things that are oppressing me.

God, take them by surprise.

For you're the winner and you'll win again. Today, I challenge you to believe God. Believe him.

If you're out there and you're going through habitual sickness, going through a test that seems to have no end date, if you're out there crying at night and wondering how long, believe God. Let's fight to believe that he is listening and he's going to take what's fighting me by surprise. He is going to win.

And we believe this because we know that prayer reaches every single situation.

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Did you know that when you are quiet, your voice is missing to God's ears?

I know some of us have prayed and we're wondering, how long should I pray about this? Why should I pray if God already knows?

How will I know God is answering?

And what do I do when I feel like God's not listening? But God is listening for your voice.

It's too quiet in this world for the troubles we have.

You have to raise your voice and God wants to hear from you. It's Too Quiet, a book about prayer, is designed to answer your prayer questions and build your faith.

Visit presstopray.com.