Psalm 13

Psalm 13 has David asking one big question: “how long”?  Not once, not twice, but four times he asks God.  All of us have asked God that question at one time or another as we get impatient and want things to happen much quicker than God’s timeline.  We sometimes feel neglected by God, or just plain ignored, and tire of waiting for Him to do what we think needs to be done.  But one thing we must keep in mind.  God is God and we are not.  He knows the right time and place and all the details that make His perfect plan occur.

David asks these four questions:

1. “How long….Will you forget me?
2. How long will you hide your face from me?
3. How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
4. How long shall my enemy be exalted over me”?

David shows that he is feeling that God has somehow forgotten him and was not responsive to his needs and situation.  But God did not forget David.  That is not even possible.

Then David changes his approach.  He prays.  “Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death”.  God is honored when we persistently and desperately cry out to Him.  David does that.  He asks God to enlighten his eyes so he could see what God was up to.  We need the light of God to shine upon us and to give us His wisdom and knowledge.  David knows that without God’s enlightenment, we will surely miss what He is up to.  God desires to reveal his plans for us.  We simply need to pray and ask.

David prays for victory over his enemies.  He is being pursued and they have shaken him.  But he knows that God is in control.  And he focuses on the power of God to give him the victory.  “I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.  I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me”.  David has experienced God’s faithfulness over and over in his life.  He knows God will be his salvation and his rock.  And he’s experienced God’s blessings and worships and rejoices over that which he knows to be true.  We need to cling to the reality that God is always faithful.  He never fails us!