Crying Out “How Long?”
The current culture in which we live is a steady stream of negativity. Politics. War. Weather. Sickness. Societal divide. Rising prices. And just a few days ago, an assassination attempt on the life of a former President, who is also a candidate for that same office again. Do I need to keep going?
From morning until night, we are bombarded with news and information that tends to suck the life right out of us. The half hour news program my wife and I regularly watch is most often twenty-nine minutes of “bad” followed by one minute of “good.” This barrage of bad news, our own or someone else’s, close to home or far away, takes a toll on our heart, mind, and soul? It dries us out. Do you sometimes wonder if God is taking a siesta? Or maybe, has He forgotten us?
Does your soul feel dry? Do you feel like tumbleweed, driven by the wind, rolling across the dry desert? If you are like me, when I find myself parched, it is sometimes hard to experience the closeness of God. Are you having a hard time feeling the presence of God? Has it been weeks, months, maybe even years, since you experienced God’s sweet intimacy?
Psalm 13 is a short six verse lament in which the psalmist (David) feels forgotten. David is crying out, probably yelling out, “where are you God?” He is sick and tired of waiting and he’s begging for an answer. But, amid his existential crisis, David does not wave the flag of surrender, giving up on God. Instead, the psalm’s trajectory turns as David makes a choice to keep trusting in his God’s unfailing love. This trust is not based upon feelings or circumstances, but rather solely upon God’s character. Life is not always good, but God is always good. That is the anchor that secures our trust.
v.1 – How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? 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.
The first two verses reveal what David sees as the problem. Do you see the depth of David’s despair? Four times in these two verses he cries out “How long?” Maybe right now you find yourself crying out, “How long God must this go on!”
In v.3, David petitions God. Look what he says – “Look on me and answer” and “give light to my eyes.” Can you hear the urgency in David’s voice? Quite possibly, you have that same urgency today.
David is praying for victory in v.4. If losing wasn’t bad enough, the sting of hearing the victor boast after the victory was almost too much to bear. One of the hallmarks of David’s psalms is his awareness of both God and the enemy.
We see in v.5, despite his agony, David declares God’s mercy. Even if he can rejoice in nothing else, here we see David rejoicing in God’s salvation, just possibly in that moment the only solid ground David is standing on. What are you rejoicing in today?
David began this psalm by pleading but in v.6 we see a huge transition. David’s pleading changes to praise! Even as he cries out “how long” to God, David’s eyes are enlightened, just as he asked them to be, and he moved from a place of woe is me to a place of praise, from a place of despair to a place of declaration!
So, today, whatever it is that you are facing, or how dry you feel, maybe even as you cry out “how long?,” will you allow yourself to sing Yahweh’s praise simply because He is good? Don’t let the trees or the morning mist lessen the beauty of the sun that is awaking from its night slumber.
If you are encouraged by this or any of my writings, you can subscribe to be notified by email when I post something new. To subscribe, click here. Once you put in your email address you will then get an email confirming that you wish to subscribe. Thank you.