From Sorrow to Singing

Psalm 13   

How Long O Lord?

Introduction

Regardless of whether one is Christian or not, difficulties, death, and grief come upon us all. The reason is that we are all born into a world that is marred by sin. As such, none of us is unaffected by it. How shall we face difficulties, death, and grief? This question reminds me of Psalm 13.

Psalm 13 is the shortest among the lament psalms. It is a psalm that pleads for salvation. Generally, psalms of lament have the following structural features: Introductory address, complaint, request, expression of trust, and expression/declaration of praise. Typically, there are three parties in these psalms: you, me, and him/they. “You” refers to God, “me” refers to the psalmist, and “him/they” refers to the enemy.

Interpretation

Although Psalm 13 has only six verses, it is a very compact and complete psalm. This psalm encapsulates very well the literary style and the theology of individual psalms of lament.

Verses 1-2	Introductory address and complaint
	How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

In verses 1-2, the psalmist sighs to God concerning the grief that he is experiencing. In these two verses, the psalmist asks the Lord four times, saying, “How long?” The psalmist is not asking this question in hope of receiving a rational answer. Rather, he is opening up to God about the sorrow that is in his heart.

The psalmist asks God, “How long, O LORD, will you forget me?” Does the Lord intend to leave him helpless and without comfort forever?

“Forget” denotes that God is not deliberately abandoning him. But the psalmist also alleges that God is hiding his face from him. “Hiding face” denotes that God is deliberately allowing him to sink in his present predicament. If it is true that God is hiding his face from the psalmist, then this is a very frightening thing for it means that God is withdrawing his grace and no longer thinks of the psalmist as part of his people!

O how miserable it is for the person who is helplessly in despair yet cannot see God’s grace and compassion!

The inner condition of the psalmist is reflected in his next line, “How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?”

This shows that the psalmist has been introspectively looking into himself – did he commit a sin? Has he offended God? The psalmist is reaching out to God from the depth of his heart of despair and pain.

In the end, the psalmist cannot hold it in anymore and complained indignantly to God, “How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?”

The “enemy” can be an illness, a disaster, a personal grudge, religious or political persecution, et cetera. Perhaps it is about someone else, Satan, or even death. The psalmist may be suffering internally or externally.

These enemies are gloating at him and so he asked the fourth time, “How long?” This shows that the psalmist has run out of patience. It appears that the psalmist knows that God is allowing him to suffer and so he asks God how long more is he going to wait.

Often, when we face difficulties, death, or grief, we suppress our true feelings to others and even to God. We may think that we should not express the pain and dissatisfaction within our hearts to God because that may seem to show that we lack faith in him. Such thoughts are incorrect.

Through this lament psalm, the psalmist expresses the content of his heart and the extent of his suffering to God. The psalms of lament help us to learn to pour out our true feelings at the deepest levels of our hearts completely and unreservedly to God.

We observe that when children fall or experience some unfair treatment, they will cry and seek out their parents for comforting. As God’s children, we can come before God and complain about the calamities that befall us and tell God how we feel about them. God is by our side to comfort us and to show us a way out.

Verses 3-4	Petition
	Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

As we look closely at verses 3-4, we see that after the psalmist has expressed his heart feelings, he begins to ask God to hear him out and to save him. He asks God to “consider” him and to “answer” him, which is to request that God respond to him.

He also asks God to “light up his eyes.” When a patient knows that death is just around the corner, his eyes glazes over, and he slowly descends into the sleep of death. Now he pleads with God to light up his eyes, meaning, to grant him a new lease of life.

The phrase “lest I sleep the sleep of death” does not only refer to a recovery of his bodily health but also, more importantly, denotes that his close relationship with God will be restored.

The psalmist is also praying that God will promptly intervene and rescue him, lest his enemy gloat over his predicament and claim victory over him and over God.

When we are faced with so many difficulties, the threat of death, and overwhelming grief, it is understandable to be frightened, frustrated, and troubled. In those times we may easily be hindered by the immediate events and the turbulent emotions of the heart and, thereby, unable to see God and his work in the midst of it. Let us plead with God to light up our eyes to notice his presence, to see his work, and to know his will.

After we have poured out the contents of our heart to God, we must continue to pray and seek for God’s personal comfort and encouragement. If we stop praying after complaining to him, this means that we refuse to wait silently before him. This is an expression of unbelief. This amounts to rejecting God’s response to us. Thus we will become spiritually numb and unable to sense God’s presence.

Finally, when we pray in such manner, what spiritual light and growth can we experience?

Verse 5	Expression of Trust
	But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

Beginning from verse 5, we find that the psalmist’s thoughts have changed. The psalmist turns from thinking that God was indifferent to his situation to trusting God’s steadfast love. The psalmist’s faith suddenly rises. Why is it that the psalmist can depend on the love of God?

The psalmist knows that the covenant love of God for his people is unchanging. Therefore, he is convinced that God’s salvation will come through. This is the power of the faith of the covenant people of God from generation to generation.

Verse 6	Expression of Praise/Declaration of Faith
	I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

As the psalmist again considered and affirmed God’s presence and salvation, his heart is filled with joy and he begins to sing to the Lord. The psalmist realizes that God has dealt bountifully with him like the pouring of the oil of joy over a sorrowful heart. This enables him to sing praises to God from the depth of his heart.

Although the outward circumstances may not have changed, but the inward attitude of the psalmist has been transformed. The psalmist changes from being a doubter to being a worshiper with hope and joy.

Application

Just when it seems to be completely hopeless, the faith of the psalmist suddenly rises. This is the power of the faith of the covenant people of God and the believers throughout the generations. God expresses his faithfulness and steadfast love to humanity through the covenant.

In the Old Testament, one of the ways through which God’s love can be seen is through His acts of salvation. The same was true with Job. When he had lost all hope, though he could not comprehend God’s intention and good purposes, but because of the faith that was rising within him, he saw God and the unknown future and, thereby, declared, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you” (Job 42:5).

As the author of the book of Hebrews says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb 11:1).

Faith empowers people to have the assurance of certainty concerning the future. Faith enables us to see God’s future saving grace and, thereby, produces a declaration of praise from within us. Faith makes it possible for us to extol God, saying, “I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me.”

As we reflect on all the years that we have been through, if not for the love and grace of God, what kind of people would we be today? O let us give thanks to God for His grace toward us!

Everyone living on the earth will experience difficulties, death, and pain. The songs of lament of the world portray loneliness and hopelessness as the artist sings in tears as he or she climbs up flights of stairs, floor by floor, overcome with sadness, and perchance may even jump off the building to end it all.

But for believers, we can express our psalms of lament to God and produce hope in the midst of calamities and struggles. We see that God loves us with an unchanging and unrelenting love. So we trust in God and we praise him. God will give us the power to overcome the challenges throughout our lives. For example, the life of Nick Vujicic is a good testimony for us all.

Even in the face of the many challenges in life and even in the face of physical death, we need not be afraid for we will not be separated from the love of God. Just as Romans 8:35-37 says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

By being connected with Christ, we have become children of God. God will certainly care for his children and not abandon us for God is always faithful and loving. Consider this: the fact that we have lived all these years and become the people that we are today – is this not because of God’s love and grace?

Today, whenever we find ourselves in a bind, we ought to talk to him and call upon him to help us. By faith, we will see his presence and the coming of his salvation. God wants to help us turn our mourning into joy. We have hope in sorrow. Let us rise up, declare, and praise God!

Altar Call

Jesus is the Son of God who became flesh and entered into our trouble-filled world. He made known to the world that God is the Savior who is filled with unrelenting love in the most extreme way. Jesus sacrificed his own life on the cross in order to take our punishment upon himself so that our sins may be forgiven. He overcame death by his resurrection so that all believes in him may become children of God and have abundant life.

For those among us, dear friends, who have not believed in the Lord Jesus, are you willing to open up your heart and welcome this Jesus, who is full of steadfast love, to be your Savior?

Holy Spirit, come and touch our hearts! Open up the eyes of our heart to see the salvation of Jesus and to accept Jesus as the Lord of our lives.