How long oh Lord?

Today is Day 13 of following our Two Year Bible Reading Plan with my two friends,  Kana and Charlene.

Psalm 13

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?

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.

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.

We don’t know where this particular trial fits into David’s life, but what we do know is that this Psalm ends on a high note.

This song begins with a groan: “How long?” Oh, the agony and despair behind those words.

In verses 1 and 2, David asks “how long?” 4 times.

The length of the trial, the unrelieved anguish got to David.

He’s out of strategies and out of plans.

This psalm divides neatly into 3 parts of 2 verses each.

We can give each part a heading:

1) Frustration 2) Fear 3) Faith

He who thinks that the godly is meant to always be upbeat, needs to think again. David is struggling through his trial.

Psalm 13 is a great, short, honest, spiritual prayer.

It’s a super-natural move from despair to singing praise.

Before our very eyes a wail for relief, turns into a song of triumph.

What was the secret?

David’s outlook and perspective changed, while his circumstances probably haven’t. What changed is the way David looked at things.

There are 3 perspectives in Psalm 13:

1) The inward look  2) the outward look at circumstances  3) the upward look to God.

1) PERSPECTIVE ONE: The Inward Look:  

Psalm 13:1,2

David’s vision is fixed on himself.  His counsel comes from 

his soul and his inner struggle. The burden of his anguish wasn't lifted, rather it all became more than he could bear.

Verse 2 is a gasping for relief.

A healthy self examination can be a good thing, but we won’t find the final solution to our problems inside ourselves.  Perpetual introspection could lead to morbid preoccupation.  Salvation is not

going to be found inside myself. It didn't work for David, nor will it work for anyone else.

David’s intense trial is lasting too long. How long o God are you forever going to forget me?  How long are you going to ignore me, until when are you going to abandon me?

But….deep down David knew God would not forget Him forever.

Isaiah 49:14-16

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me;
    my Lord has forgotten me.”

15 “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.
16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls are continually before me.

1 Samuel 12:22

For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.

Psalm 77:7-9

7 “Will the Lord spurn forever,
    and never again be favorable?
8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
    Are his promises at an end for all time?
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?
    Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” 

Of course God hasn’t forgotten - He is going to intervene at the right time.

Delays of the lifting of our trials does not reflect in any way a lack of His love and care.  God can use our hardships and the

delays to grow and mature us.

Isaiah 44:21

1 Remember these things, O Jacob,
    and Israel, for you are my servant;
I formed you; you are my servant;
    O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.

So let us not indulge and wallow around in complaining.

PERSPECTIVE 2 The Outward Look.

David sizes up his situation by looking outwardly at his circumstances, at his enemies.

Verses 3-4 is a moving prayer by a man in fear of his life.

Is David melodramatic? No, the king is really in danger of getting killed.  This is the scale of David’s trial. And David is exhausted. He only sees his troubles. The enemy is all he can see. 

David starts to pray his complaints.

Verse 3.  Lord look at me - turn your face my way, don’t ignore me.  I know you don’t forget.

His is a last-gasp appeal: Look at me and answer me!

David reasons with God in verse 4: If I die, the enemy will have a triumph to celebrate.

God stepped in and David’s inward look and his outward look became an upward look.

PERSPECTIVE 3 The upward look of verses 5 and 6

David’s sighing has changed to singing, his sorrow to rejoicing, his fear to trust!

What made the difference?  There’s no mention that his trial disappeared.  David’s circumstances haven’t changed, but…….

David’s point of view has changed.

Instead of sinking deeper into despair,fixated by his inner struggle, overwhelmed by his circumstances, he drew near to God even before he felt God's face turned towards Him in loving care.

David poured out his heart to God and in the process God changed his heart.

Am I convinced and confident that God uses our trials to mature us and He uses all things, including our deepest suffering together for our good and for His glory? Yes!

  Romans 5:

3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts 

through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Even in our darkest hours we can sing with David:

Psalm 13: 5,6

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.

Psalm 118:6,7

The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.
    What can man do to me?
7 The Lord is on my side as my helper;
    I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

This puts every trial into perspective.

David’s hope is in God’s lovingkindness. The remedy for our despair is to be found in our God’s steadfast love. We can hold onto our God by faith even if we can’t feel His help and His presence.

There is a greater deliverance than our present trial, which God has already achieved for us in Jesus. We have an eternity of bountiful blessing which is ours.  Bountiful blessing belongs to those who believe in God’s only Son whom he sent so that we might not perish.

He has given His people a sure future and the right to be called His children.  He has forgiven and cleansed us and reconciled us to Himself.  These and other assurances make us sing and they lift us right out of our present despair.

David’s mood changed when he trusted God’s steadfast love. God's lovingkindness in Jesus Christ is the good news we need to remember when we are overwhelmed by bad news.