Psalm 13

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

2 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

The psalmist begins with four basic questions common to laments all starting with “How long?”. This is the final lament in the first series of ten laments (Psalms 3 through 13 minus 8), so perhaps it is something of a capstone to them all in that it includes all five elements of a lament: address, complaint, request, motivation, and confidence. First, the psalmist feels forgotten, and he has felt that way for a long time, asking if God will in fact forget him forever. Second, he asks how long God will hide his face from him. In Psalm 4:6 he prayed that the light of God’s face would shine on him. In Psalm 11:7 he said that the upright would see the face of God. It seems here that God has turned away from him, even as the psalmist has been seeking his face, like a cruel game of hide and seek. This is echoed again in Psalm 22:1 and by Jesus on the cross. Third (and longest) is his complaint that he must find comfort in himself and have sorrow in his heart all day long. It is another cry of loneliness and a description of the measures that one will take when he feels abandoned by God. One finds ways to medicate, turning to the self to solve your problem because God is absent. The sorrow continues to fill up the heart constantly. It is not a solution. Finally, the psalmist acknowledges the presence of another party -- his enemy. Enemies come in many forms -- other people known and unknown to us, ourselves and our tendency toward sin, the physical world (sickness, death, hardships of life), and psychological enemies like fear and anxiety. These all seem to be triumphing in the moment and into the foreseeable future. These are very real questions that human beings honestly can ask an all powerful and gracious God, and they should not expect silence. This is the primary complaint of the psalmist -- the inaction of God. The “do-nothing” God is on trial before us. How long will he sit this one out? How long will we suffer waiting for him to act? The psalmist would never fully experience God’s rescue until the cross. It is in the cross that God ultimately acts and answers the psalmist’s questions. We have that answer because we are living on this side of that cross. That doesn’t mean that we’ll never have to ask the question. We do and we will. It just means that we have a more satisfying answer than the psalmist did. 

3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,

4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

The psalmist has a simple request: “consider and answer me”, stop and take a moment to listen and consider the situation that I am in. “Light up my eyes” for my life has grown dim. In fact, I am going to die if you don’t do something. My enemies are going to triumph over me and rejoice that I am shaken. The psalmist is asking God to act for the sake of his own reputation. Afterall, what would people think of a God who couldn’t save? God’s reputation is on the line here, so it’s in his own interest to do something and reverse this situation. Enemies come in many forms, so this doesn’t have to be a literal, physical enemy threatening to kill us (although it could be). Sometimes we are our own worst enemies. It can be temptation, anxiety, fear, doubt -- any number of thoughts and feelings that can rattle us. The temptor rejoices when we are shaken, when he can get us to stumble and fall, because this can be a reflection on the God in whom we trust. (This was an aspect of the trials of Job, the adversary was really accusing God of coddling Job). So I pray with the psalmist, “Lord, glorify yourself in me and grant me victory over temptation, victory over whatever struggle I am facing today.” The term “shaken” will occur again in Psalms 15:5 and 16:8, a key word that may link these psalms together. 

5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

6 I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

The dramatic change seems to happen instantaneously as the psalmist moves from all but certain death to unreserved joy and singing. The fact is that his actual circumstances have probably not changed one bit. If they have, he does not mention this. Instead it is a change of attitude and perspective. He looks back and he looks ahead. What is ahead is sandwiched by what was behind. He looks back and declares that he has trusted in the Lord’s steadfast love. He looks back and considers how the Lord has dealt bountifully with him. This allows him to rejoice in God’s salvation and sing to the Lord. The old gospel song said, “count your many blessings” and this very act would have the power of changing a pessimistic attitude. That seems to be the case here. God’s salvation is rooted in his nature, his steadfast love. I’ve often wondered how David knew this about the nature of God. He had been taught from infancy about the deeds of the Lord in creation and in the redemption of the nation of Israel. He had learned of God’s salvation through hearing the Torah and singing the songs of the Sea, of Moses, and of Deborah. As a young man he had demonstrated that faith on the battlefield and seen God’s salvation many times over. This reflection on his past informed his present, and he was able to move forward even though his circumstances hadn’t changed at all. He goes from “how long will I suffer?” to “How good is my God” in a few short verses. Now in reality, there is probably more here, but this is the summation of David’s journey through lament: address, complaint, request, motivation, and confidence.