Was he perhaps on his knees as he thought over what he wanted to verbalize? “How Long Has It Been?”, Mosie Lister wanted to ask so many people for whom he was praying one day. He may have even been reading and reflecting on the way God Himself was postured in a garden during His own most difficult earthly episode (see the artwork here of Christ in Gethsemane, by Heinrich Hofman in 1866). Lister had been studying, singing, and composing music for some time, and yet he probably didn’t come upon what he wanted to say the first time he considered his acquaintances who had drifted away from a faith they once held. Instead, it more likely was a gnawing feeling that stayed with him, until one day he happened upon the words, some that he’d been rolling over in his mind. So why not use these words?
That question was so simple, that Mosie Lister barely waited another moment to start scribbling the words to voice his musical question. That episode did not mean that Mosie’s songwriting penchant was a ‘natural’ thing however, a fact to which his own parents and his educational pursuits would attest. Though he would say that the words to ‘How Long…’ were finished in ten minutes, one would have been surprised to expect that from the youngster whom the Lister parents coaxed to start singing in rural Georgia in the 1920s/early 1930s. He apparently possessed no ear for musical tones, but through lots of effort, including his pre- and post-World War II pursuits to formally study music, he overcame the deficiencies his parents had initially identified. By his mid-to-late 20s, Mosie had been in three professional singing groups before he altered course into songwriting and forming a publishing company in his early 30s (by 1953). By this time, he surely had seen at least a few people around him also alter course, but in a negative way to walk away from God. This bothered Mosie deeply, readily provoking the thoughts that were on his heart to say to them, some of whom had abandoned God years before. Mosie’s purpose was obvious – convict them, turn them around. And, it wasn’t just a casual conversation that he suggested they pursue. Besides being on their knees (vv.1 and 3), these wayward who wanted to return to Him should share ‘…hidden secrets’ (v.1) and speak with God all night (vv. 1 and 4). One of Mosie’s longings for the lost people was that they would find peace, compassion, friendship, and purpose for living that begins with submission in prayer (vv. 2 and 4).
Mosie’s words resonated with thousands, even millions of people. Over a million copies of ‘How Long…’ had reportedly been reproduced by the early 1960s, five years after Mosie’s hand first wrote in a burst what his spirit was feeling. Mosie must have thought that a prayer is one of the most effectual enterprises. From a personal and professional standpoint, how great was it that Mosie’s 10-minute effort garnered more than a million copies of profit? But, in an infinitely greater way, how effective is it to pray to God? He’s called the Almighty, and so many other names because it’s really impossible to capture Him in just a few names, or even dozens or scores of names. He’s infinite, many times more than a million. And, I can pray to Him. What is standing in the way of you connecting with the unbounded God? Mosie asked you, too. Are you ready to ask yourself?
See the source for the song story in this source: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006.
See the story here also: https://thescottspot.wordpress.com/2016/09/16/how-long-has-it-been-written-in-1956/
See brief biography of the author here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/l/i/s/t/lister_tm.htm
See more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosie_Lister
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