Meditations on the Psalms 13:1

Psalm 13:1

"How long, O LORD?"

If there was ever a Psalm that captured the aching heart of a desperate man this is it. The journey in this Psalm is one that many have begun, but few have finished. It is easy to cry out to God when one is afflicted, "How long, O LORD?" But it is quite anther thing to come to rest in his steadfast love while the affliction remains.

I believe David wrote this in one siting, or at least within a short amount of time. I don't think that he wrote the first portion while in the affliction and then after he was delivered he penned the final stanza. I think he was able to compose it all in one situation.

David begins the Psalm with a litany of questions:

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

Then he pleads for God to act and gives his arguments:

1. Consider and answer me
2. Light up my eyes

1. Or else I will die
2. Or else my enemy will boast that he has prevailed
3. Or else my foes will rejoice because I am shaken

Then comes the turn in the Psalm. David petitions God, then pleads with him to act, and finally commits himself to the LORD

1. I have trusted in your steadfast love
2. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation
3. I will sing to the LORD

Notice David's final argument for why he is doing all this: "because He has dealt bountifully with me" (v6). In what ways has the LORD dealt bountifully with David seeing as how he is in the midst of an affliction? He has just cried out to God to save him from death and console his sorrowful heart? How then can he testify of God's bounty?

I think it is because by faith, David knew the answers to his petitions:

• The LORD will not forget me forever
• The LORD will not hide his face from me forever
• I will not forever take counsel in my soul
• This sorrow in my heart will come to an end
• My enemy will not exalt over me forever.

Though he experiences sorrow and suffering in the moment, he knows that it will not be forever, thus he is sustained in the midst of the affliction because the LORD has dealt bountifully with him, giving him sustaining grace.