Psalm 13
Psalms 13: “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, O Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.”
David wrote this psalm when he was depressed and exhausted, perhaps while he was being pursued. He may have been hiding at this time in the cave of Adullam, while the Philistines were in the process of hunting him down. Day after day he found himself in a desperate situation. His troubles with King Saul had gone on year after year and he was dispirited and discouraged. He had already been driven to desperate human measures to escape his relentless foe. This psalm was wrung out of the extremity of his soul. He simply could not go on, not for another day, not for another hour, not for another minute. But man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. When we are at our wit’s end, without resources, at a loss for a way, perplexed and desperate—that is usually when we see God begin to work.
Four times the words formed on David’s lips— “How long?” Pursued relentlessly by Saul, David wondered what was delaying the chariot of God. Would help never come to free him from the four terrible burdens that were crushing him?
• He felt as if God had forgotten him.
• He felt he was cut-off from the Lord’s favor.
• He experienced deep depression in his soul daily.
• He suffered the constant humiliation of being on the wrong side.
The initial mood of the psalm is one of tedious frustration and strained patience; but the very act of appealing to God stimulates the psalmist’s hope so that the final mood is one of joyous appreciation of God’s work and purpose in his life. Prayer is not only the proper reaction of the godly to trouble, it is also the medicine against depression in the face of it. By the grace of God, David turned his sufferings into songs and left those songs behind to encourage us in our trials.
PRAY
Father, even when I may question and feel like you have left, let me always be reminded of your track record in my life of goodness and mercy!