WS Allan

“How long, O LORD?” That is one of the most common questions in the Psalms. That is Habakkuk’s anguished cry (1:2) in today’s Bible in One Year reading. And it remains our prayerful cry as well. O Lord, how long until you take away the cancer attacking my body? How long will my child be in and out of rehab? How long will my husband and I languish in this dying marriage? How long will you drag your feet while our souls sink in despair? Waiting on God makes us wonder if he cares, if he has forgotten us. In our darkest hours, we may even wonder if our prayers are sick words vomited into an empty heaven. But heaven is not empty. God is there. God does care. As Isaiah says, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you” (49:15). God remembers you, and his remembering has one ultimate goal: to join you, body and soul, to Jesus Christ. Every time we pray, “O Lord, how long?” we hear this answer: “You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). You may object, “But that’s no answer!” Oh, but it is. God doesn’t give us a timetable; he gives us his Son. And for him we don’t have to wait a single second. In baptism, the Father plunged you into water wet with Jesus. You joined Christ in his death and resurrection (Rom. 6:3–4). Your life is hidden in him as surely as a heart and lungs and bones are hidden inside a body. You are hidden with Christ in God. And if you’re that far into God, there’s no getting you out. Will the Father answer your particular “How long?” prayers? Yes, though not always when or how you expect. He counts your tears and keeps them in his bottle (Ps. 56:8). And while you wait, remember: your heartaches, tears, and disappointments are hidden with Christ in God, too. He takes them all in when he takes you into himself.

Was Jesus the first thing God created? That's what some religious groups teach. And one of their favorite passages to support this claim is Colossians 1:15, where Paul calls Jesus “the firstborn of all creation.” We read that chapter today in Bible in One Year. But this interpretation bankrupts Paul's rich words. And the Old Testament helps us understand why. In the ancient world, the firstborn son occupied a privileged position in the family. He was the principal heir, the one who received the birthright and enjoyed special authority. Consequently, “firstborn” could refer not simply to the order of someone's birth but to their rank, authority, and inheritance. For example, God calls Israel his “firstborn son” (Exod. 4:22). And in Psalm 89, speaking of the Davidic king, God declares, “And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth” (v. 27). Remember that, in birth order, David was the youngest son of Jesse. Yet God promises to make him the firstborn, a title signifying his royal supremacy. This is part of the rich biblical background of Paul's description of Jesus in Colossians 1. Jesus is the promised Son of David, the royal heir of God's everlasting covenant (2 Sam. 7; 23:5). But his inheritance is far greater than an earthly kingdom. He is the firstborn over all creation. Everything belongs to him. As Hebrews says, Christ has been “appointed the heir of all things” (1:2). And why does everything belong to him? Because he created everything. Paul immediately explains that “all things were created through him and for him” (Col. 1:16). Jesus cannot be the first created being when absolutely everything that has been created owes its existence to him. As John says, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (1:3). He is not a creature but the eternal Creator. In Jesus Christ, the promises made to David find their ultimate fulfillment. He is the eternal Son, the heir of all things, the king whose kingdom will never end. And through his blood, this king has redeemed us, forgiven our sins, and brought us into his everlasting kingdom.