Transcript:

Hi! Welcome to episode seven of Psalms for Troubled Times. Today, I’m going to be looking at Psalm 13. My name is Annette Bell, and I’m the host of Overcoming the Tribulation, which is mostly focused on preparing our hearts for the return of Christ. OK, Psalm 13 is a small psalm. It’s only a few verses. And it’s a Psalm of David.

Psalm 13

Psalm 13. For the director of music. A psalm of David.

How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts, and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death. My enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in Your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for He has been good to me.

That’s it–just six verses.

Waiting

“How long, O LORD, how long?” Waiting on God to answer our prayers is a key part of this walk of faith. It can be difficult to trust our unseen God when we lay our petitions before Him day after day or year after year, and still wait. But God cares and He hears.

Longing for someone else’s salvation isn’t the nature of David’s wait, but the emotions seem similar. Some people are praying that God would save their father or mother, their husband or wife, their son or daughter, brother or sister, or another relative or dear friend. And it can be tough.

Others are concerned about born again loved ones who are caught up in destructive sins or doctrines, and they’re worried about what would happen to them if they persist in them.

The more we love someone, the greater our sorrow at the idea of being separated from them after death, if they do not have an abiding relationship with Jesus.

You Hide Your Face

David asked, “How long will You hide Your face from me?” Sometimes when we’re suffering, it seems like God is hiding His face. He really isn’t.

But Jesus knows what that feels like, because when He was on the cross bearing our sins, He cried out to the Father, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Apparently, the Father turned His face away when Jesus bore our sins. It must have been excruciating for both of them.

Thankfully, God understands everything that we’re going through, all the different trials. And He cares. He sees it all. And He’s experienced so many of them Himself, in worse ways than we will.

Almost Dead

David is essentially saying, “LORD, if You don’t answer my prayers, my enemy will overtake me, and I’ll die, and then my enemies will rejoice.” His situation is so precarious. It reminds me of 1 Samuel 23, which I’ve actually already talked about in Psalms for Troubled Times, Episode Four, but in that situation, in that account, Saul was almost about to overtake David and his men when a messenger came to Saul and brought him news that he needed to go deal with an emergency elsewhere.

And so, he went away and he didn’t catch David. It was so close. That was not the only time that David had to flee from Saul. The Scriptures imply it was a regular occurrence over a number of years, and David had other enemies besides Saul as well.

Exercising Faith

Ultimately, David chooses to trust in the LORD’s unfailing love, and rejoice in his salvation. That’s what I love about David’s psalms. He shows us all the raw emotions of what he’s struggling with, but yet he chooses to exercise his faith and trust in the LORD. That’s what I want to be doing. And I appreciate the example and how it exhorts me to trust Him in the situations when I’m struggling.

I Will Sing Praise

Also, David chooses to praise the LORD with singing. He says, “I will sing to the LORD, for He has been good to me.” I remember last year about this time, my dad was struggling with a few things, they were all happening at once and they were really–they were really stressful, and we were praying about it. And then my dad suggested, “Let’s sing some hymns.” So we sang several hymns together–my dad, my mom and I–and we felt so much peace and joy, just from singing these hymns. And then we watched in the next few days about how God answered the prayers that we had lifted before Him. And it was really awesome. And then every time my dad would meet someone–on the phone, because it was COVID–he would tell them about what God had done for him. And it was so cool. And it was just the whole experience of praising Him, praying before seeing the deliverance of God was–it was a great experience. Doesn’t mean that God’s going to answer our prayers right after we praise Him, but it’s a good thing for us to praise Him. Even if we’re about to die, He is worthy of our praise.

Thanks for Watching!

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