How Long?

Psalm 13

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

¹ O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?
    How long will you look the other way?
² How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,
    with sorrow in my heart every day?
    How long will my enemy have the upper hand?

³ Turn and answer me, O Lord my God!
    Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.
⁴ Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!”
    Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall.

⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love.
    I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
⁶ I will sing to the Lord
    because he is good to me.

Scholars say that this Psalm was written when David was grieving while his son Absalom was conspiring against him. It is known as the “How long” Psalm. It almost reads like an old country song. Oftentimes, we read the Bible and never get a personal view of what following the Lord is like. We read of Moses going before Pharaoh and Noah building the ark and the disciples spreading the word of God. In all of those accounts, I can see the books of Job and Psalms as an up-close, personal view of life following God.

David’s first words in the Psalm are “How long.” He repeats the phrase four times and goes on to ask the Lord to answer his prayer. If we stop here, we can see why faith is hard. Faith is not repeating Bible verses or listening to sermons; while those things are good, they are not faith. Hebrews tells us (11:1) that faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. If we are not careful, we can spend all of our time repeating the “How long” prayers and never exercise our faith. How long will I go through this? How long will I endure this? How long before my ship comes in?

At church we see wooden crosses, and people post prayers all over them. Realistically, everyone is in the “How long” phase of something. God lets us in on how David really feels in the middle of a huge struggle, with his son conspiring to overthrow him as king. If you read the story, Absalom would sit at the city gates and tell the people their issues, and he would say that if he were king, he would give direct attention to their problems and solve them.

David must have known about this and foresaw the root of bitterness springing up against him. David repeats the phrase “How long” four times, but the end of the Psalm reveals his faith in the Lord. It reads, “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.”

Do your prayers end in “But I trust” and “I will sing”? Are you spending all of your time in the “How long” part of talking to God and never getting to the “But I trust” phase? Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see and it only gets stronger when we end our prayers with “But I trust” and “I will sing.” God gives us David and his prayers to help us understand how we deal with life’s issues. Today, practice ending your phrases with “But I trust in the Lord” and “I will sing His praises.”

Prayer: Father, help us rest in Your presence because You have rescued us and You are good to us. Help us to end our prayers with trusting in You. In Jesus’ name, amen.