“I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” Psalm 37:25
David, the shepherd who became the King of Israel, once wrote, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread” (Psalm 37:25). Was David ever tempted to give up on the Lord? For seven long years he lived in exile, fearing that Saul or one of his zealous soldiers would take his life. He lived as a fugitive, often in desolate uncertain situations, uncertain that he would live to see the light of another day. Once he feigned mental illness, escaping his captor as a madman. On another occasion, the enemy raided his home, taking his wives and children.
David had every right to grow discouraged, yet instead of turning away from the Lord, blaming God for his problems, David turned to the Lord as a refuge and a help to whom he could run in times of trouble.
John was the son of a missionary who taught at a Christian university for many years, yet when four children came in about as many years and John was struggling to keep out of debt, he was ready to give up on God. He came to me and said, “I’m ready to walk out on God. This whole business just doesn’t work for me. I pray and nothing happens. I’m ready to quit.”
“John,” I countered. “Hey, the game’s not over. You’ve decided to quit too soon.” Now, the good news is that he didn’t give up or quit, and eventually he discovered what David did, that God is seldom early but He is never late.
The fact of the matter is that God operates on a different timetable than you do. In our impatience and our lack of understanding the whole picture, we often think that God has ignored us or else he’s just too weak to give us what we’ve asked for—not understanding that God is fully aware, fully understanding, and He works out the whole situation according to His timetable, not ours. “I have not seen the righteous forsaken, or His seed begging bread,” said David.
Four hundred years is a long time to wait for God to do something, but that was the period of time that elapsed from the long march into Canaan out of Egypt, when the Amalekites harassed and killed the weakened stragglers in the desert until God finally said, “Okay, Saul, go get them!” So, why so long for God to right a wrong? Possibly because the hatred and the anger had to first dissipate, then God said, “The time has come to deal with this wrong.”
If you really believe that God has His payday someday, it relieves you of the responsibility of exacting vengeance on your enemies, allowing God, in His time, to deal with the wrong. “I have not seen the righteous forsaken,” says David. Have you?
The perspective of years can only be gained by not quitting, by plodding on, by realizing that whether or not you ever see it, you can be sure God takes note of the wrongs that people do to you, and ultimately, He will deal with it.
John, the one who was tempted to quit, didn’t. He now serves as a deacon in his church, and He smiles when I remind him of our conversation. When you are tempted to give up on God, you need to take a long view of God’s justice and hold on. When he was distressed, David said, “I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God. O LORD, don’t forsake me; [don’t be] … far from me” (Psalm 38:15,21).
And eventually, you too will be able to say, “Once I was young; now I’m old, but I’ve never seen God’s people forsaken or my children having to beg bread.” It is just as true today as it was in David’s day. God’s promises never grow old.
Resource reading: Psalm 37:1-40
