Psalm 13

Paul wrote to the church in Corinth that in his service to God he was “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Cor. 6.10). He captures in this the paradox at the heart of the Christian life. And it’s the same experience we encounter in this Psalm. King David tells us that sorrows have set up anchor in his heart (v2), while in the very same space the seeds of joy have been planted and are blossoming.

If you find yourself not just flitting from sorrow to joy but experiencing them both at the same time, this Psalm is for you.

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

1 How long, LORD? Will you forget me for ever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
    and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
    How long will my enemy triumph over me?

3 Look on me and answer, LORD my God.
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
4 and my enemy will say, ‘I have overcome him,’
    and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
    my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing the LORD’s praise,
    for he has been good to me.

A Psalm like this frees us from dryness and false religiosity in our prayers. I know so often I am prone to put on my prayer voice, subconsciously speaking in a way that I think impresses God. But the desperation, the urgency, and the cries of the opening verses of this Psalm is freeing for our prayers. God is big and he can handle our laments, our fears, our doubts and our sorrows.

Four times King David prays, “How long?” (vv1-2). He interrogates God’s providence and purposes. Less like an impatient child in the car and more like a suffering patient in a hospice, he calls out to God in distress. We will see at the end of the Psalm that he knows God’s goodness, but his current experience feels like God is no longer smiling at him, and he has allowed the evil to triumph.

It is proper and right to bring the darkness of our sorrows to God, allowing him to shine the light of truth into the shadows that envelop our hearts.

Let’s then trade our stiff British upper lips for lips that utter the sorrow and anguish we feel before God.

I recently prayed this “How long?” in a prayer meeting as we remembered a situation that has grieved many of us. It feels bold and presumptuous to breathe out words so deep from the heart. Words that seem to question God. But God’s word doesn’t just allow that but invites us to bring those words and sorrows before him. When we hide this pain, it consumes us. But when we bring it to God, he consoles us. It was freeing to pray that. Maybe you could bring your pains to him with these words right now too?

The King brings these sorrows to the only one who can do anything with them. He calls on God to see and answer. To give him life (v3). For if God does not deliver his anointed King, then his enemies can gloat and reject his God (v4). They will believe his God is impotent.

The Son of David, the greater King, Jesus suffered at the hands of world like the Psalmist.

The Pharisees and Scribes bayed for his blood.

Herod and Pilate colluded in hindering justice for a righteous man.

The soldiers mocked him and tortured him.

And Jesus died.

But God did not allow him to stay in the grave. He brought light to his eyes again. His enemies could not overcome him for he overcame death. For King Jesus, like King David trusted in the faithful, unbreakable and everlasting love of God.

This is what sustains the people of God in their sorrows and suffering. It is the unfailing love of God (v5). The batteries on our phone fail us at awkward moments. Scotrail fails us at inconvenient times. Even our loved ones fail us with broken promises. But God’s love never fails, never disappoints, never ends, never calls a rain check. His love is stronger than a diamond and far more precious to the sorrowful heart.

And so God’s people praise and exalt the Lord. It is not something we do when we have escaped sorrow. It it something we do in the midst of sorrow because God’s goodness is with us in the mist, present with us in the darkness and holding us up in the pain. And so we join with King Jesus praising God for his goodness and salvation.

Glory be to the Father, who looked on us and gave us light and life.

Glory be to the Son, who has overcome the world and the grave.

Glory be to the Spirit, who lifts our eyes up to the unfailing love of the God.