Dwell in the Word: Psalm 13
As we dwell in Psalm 13 today consider these questions:
1. How does the psalmist, David, express his emotional state and desperation in Psalm 13? What specific questions does he ask God?
2. What recurring phrase does David use in Psalm 13, and what does it convey about his perception of the duration and intensity of his struggles? How does he feel about God's apparent passivity?
3. Despite his distress, how does David ultimately respond to his situation in Psalm 13? How does he express his trust and confidence in God's steadfast love and past deliverance? What lessons can we draw from his example when facing challenges in our own lives?
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Transcript:
Psalm 13 has us in another psalm of David and in this chapter of the psalter we find David asking some questions. Once again, the psalmist is clearly facing a difficult circumstance of some kind and here we see a pretty high level of desperation. The questions David is asking shows that he might be to a bit of a breaking point. When we read the first verse you have to not only appreciate the honesty of David but I also appreciate that these questions are in scripture. We know that God does not forget his people. We know that he is slow to anger and abounding with steadfast love. We are also well aware of the great truth that amidst the circumstances of our lives God works all things together for good for those who love him. Yet, in the midst of our knowledge of the faithfulness of God we can often feel like David feels here and the fact that this is on display for us in God’s holy word should embolden us to ask God these questions ourselves when we feel like David is feeling.
And we get the idea here that this is not just some short-term situation that David is experiencing as he writes these words. He asks how long? That isn’t a question you would ask if you had just started to experience hardship. You might ask why but you are unlikely to ask “how long” until you not only feel like you are drowning but that you can’t tread water any longer. The next question we see reinforces this idea of the long term nature of what is afflicting David. Will you forget me forever? And then the first two words of this Psalm are repeated. How long? And this time we get some powerful imagery to go along with it that we will find in other parts of the psalter. The idea of God hiding his face from him. David feels as though God is no longer smiling upon him. He can’t see his face and it seems as though God is far from him and that God is being passive by not intervening in these circumstances.
And this isn’t the last time we see this feeling of exasperation driven home for us because we get those two words “how long” repeated another two times. This is a literary device used to make sure we understand that the fact that the psalmist feels as though God could remedy this situation in but a moment but he isn’t. Instead it is dragging on indefinitely. The psalmist wants to be rescued but it isn’t coming and so as this psalm continues we get a prayer from David asking God to consider the witness his continued trouble gives. Verses 3 and 4 ask for God to consider his situation and his reasoning is that he doesn’t want his enemy to think that God is not providing for him because he has prevailed over David and all that oppose him would rejoice. We see this idea in the psalms on several occasions. The writers wonder what good it does for God not to rescue them because those who oppose God would think that God isn’t providing for his chosen people.
But yet, as I regularly point out. This questioning and concerns coming from the writers of the psalms doesn’t lead them to unbelief or rebellion. Instead, they turn towards him and we see this as the passage closes up and in verses 5 and 6 express David’s trust in the steadfast love of God. Despite appearances, David knows that God has a special love for his people and so his heart rejoices in the salvation of Yahweh and this psalm filled with questions closes up with a statement of praise. He is going to sing to the LORD because he has dealt bountifully with him. What a statement of faith? David is concerned about what is going on in his life and yet, he says, you are a God of steadfast love and you have dealt bountifully with me in the past so you will do so going forward and so I will sing praises to you.
As we consider this passage for us today one of the beautiful things about it is how vague it is. We really don’t know the circumstances surrounding David in this psalm and this makes it very easy for us to pray. Each of us has had a moment where we feel as though God has hidden his face from us and we want him to intervene. We can come to this psalm and find a prayer for those situations and also find a path for us to follow. Amidst our circumstances we need to remember that God is a God of steadfast love and rejoice in his salvation. Regardless of what we face we can know that he has rescued us from sin, death, and hell and has dealt with us bountifully. No matter what we face in this life we have been abundantly blessed with salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ and so in any and every situation we can sing to the LORD knowing that he has not forgotten us but instead he is working all things together for our good and his glory.
