One of the main aspects of our responsibility in faith is to learn to live in the tension. Here we see David doing just that. His time in the tension is not a time of enjoyment and happiness. Instead it is a time of deep anguish and difficulty. Yet, it is also not a time of doubt and confusion. As David struggles, he cries out, “how long?” This might seem a cry of weakness, but in actuality, it is a cry of faith. It is an acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty and his purpose. David knows that God has his reasons and he is willing to live in that tension. The only thing he asks is how long. He neither disrespects God, tries to remove the trial before him, nor does he opt out of it. In this day and age, we use pharmaceuticals to deaden our despair, we abandon God in deconstruction, or sometimes we even kill ourselves to escape the pain. David becomes more of himself. He experiences deep and upsetting emotions with intensity. He leans into creating and emoting by writing the psalms. He talks with God even more. His method of experiencing these things, fully, vulnerably and intensely, ought to be a strong guide for us as we encounter trials of various kinds. We don’t have to pretend to not struggle. As long as we keep our faith in sovereignty and purposes, it is appropriate to ask “how long?”.