Psalm 119:82

Psalm 119:82

"When will You comfort me?"

In these days of scientific advances, when a visit to an optician or receiving ophthalmic treatment is not such a big deal, it’s hard to imagine a time when spectacles were unheard of and when eye trouble was untreatable. Until relatively recently, if your eyes started to fail, you had to live with it! A number of conditions were associated with deteriorating eyesight; failing physical strength, grief and hope-deferred were deemed to be common causes, as was old age. 

It is the idea of hope-deferred that is raised here in this verse, the writer has longed for the Lord to step into his situation and to keep His promise of protection and deliverance but, as yet, nothing has happened. This hope may be on a national level, or it may simply refer to the psalmist’s personal circumstances, the trouble is – nothing is happening, days pass and heaven is silent. The next few verses suggest that the cause of this helplessness continues to be the taunts and antics of the author’s antagonists, how he longs for respite, how he yearns for the Lord to intervene. 

We’ve probably met people in this situation, some of them have been strong believers and they ask similar questions, they want to know when the Lord will comfort them. It’s impossible to come up with answers or to be able to offer reassurance and comfort when trials and troubles seem to be never-ending. Why do some suffer in this way and others do not? Why are we left feeling so helpless and unable to even offer reassuring words? Is it the Lord’s will that some must suffer in silence while the rest of us attempt to feel their pain and to stand with them when our human resources have run dry? It seems that way at times. All we can say is that ultimately, we will all win through, “Weeping may endure a for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5. 

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