Return, O LORD! How long? And have compassion on Your servants.

There are times when the Lord seems far away. Although we know He is omnipresent and is never far from us, it can seem that way sometimes. Our sin introduces distance into our relationship with the Lord. We turn away from Him and our sin makes us believe He turns from us. We get caught up in the troubles of life, and our sense of God’s presence gets lost.

Either way, when we finally realize the folly of our sin, or when we finally realize our need for God, we cry out to God like Moses did: “Return, O LORD!” We do this because we know that the Lord responds when we call. We know what He said through Malachi, “Return to me, and I will return to you,” (Malachi 3:7), and we know what James said, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you,” (James 4:8). We know that our God is a God who pities the cries of His people and turns and saves them.

But there may be some waiting involved. We have returned to God, we have drawn near to Him, and we have immediate comfort from that. The actual deliverance from trouble, however, may take a bit longer, says Moses. How long Lord?

If our sin is the cause of the problem, perhaps the Lord waits a while, because immediately responding would do us no favors. The Lord will let us feel the consequences of our sin so that we appreciate the gravity of our wrong-doing. If the sins of another are the cause of the problem, perhaps the Lord waits in order to show us that He and He alone is our deliverer. After suffering a little while, we are all the more grateful for His benevolent deliverance.

When God finally provides deliverance, He does so because of the compassion He has for His servants. He returns to us and delivers us because He cares deeply for us. We call out to God because we know it is His nature to respond.

There is a God of compassion who will respond to your call today. Cry out to Him like Moses in Psalm 90, for He is a strong deliverer.