Psalm 13 Continued…
Psalms 13:3-4 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.
In the first two verses, David had been crying out, almost incoherently and certainly emotionally. He was in grave danger when he wrote this. He was afraid to go to sleep for fear that his enemy would kill him. Yet he needed rest badly. So he asked the Lord to protect him and to give him sleep. Now he turned to deliberate, rational, thoughtful prayer.
“Look on me and answer, O Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death.” He was so worn out with his long drawn-out emotional drain that he was afraid it would bring him to an early grave. The phrase “Give light to my eyes” indicates his eyes were dim with weakness, denoting death— “My eye wastes away because of grief; It grows old because of all my enemies” (Psalm 6:7). The eyes are said to be the barometer of the body. It is good to have peace within you, but you also need protection around you, that is why David prayed to the Lord and made three requests of Him (all in this verse):
1. Look on me. A plea for the Lord to fix His eyes on him and scrutinize him. 2. Answer me.. A request to answer his prayer and send some kind of encouragement. 3. Give light to my eyes. This involved not only spiritual enlightenment (v. 19:8), but also physical and emotional vitality and strength (Ezra 9:8; 1 Samuel 14:24-30). When the mind and body are weary, how easy it is become discouraged.
But when he nailed his emotions to a glorious truth: he called upon God as Yahweh my Elohim!” Yahweh—the God of promise; Elohim—the God of power. For Saul could never win! Had not Samuel the prophet taken the holy anointing oil and anointed David as Israel’s next king? David was going to reign no matter what Saul could do!
The enemy would rejoice if he could get to David. The rejoicing of the enemy would not only be against David but also against God, so he prays that the enemy will not get the upper hand. God must take note of David’s plight and send help quickly in order to avert two disasters. The first would be David’s death and the second would be the jubilant boasting of his enemy. “Rejoice” is literally, “shout as in triumph.” If David was to waver, the faithful people of the land would think that God was unable to fulfill His own promises.
PRAY
Heavenly Father, please strengthen our hearts, and remind us to encourage one another when the troubles of life start to overwhelm us.