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From A Sense of Abandonment Through Prayer to Assurance
~ Psalm 13~
In-person service at Temple Baptist Church
(850 Venice Blvd., at Oak)
William S. Epps, Senior Pastor
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How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemies be exalted over me? 3Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, 4lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed over him," lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. 5But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. Psalm 13 (ESV)
Introduction
This Psalm starts out emotionally in deep despair and then makes an appeal in faith, and finally arrives at the pinnacle of praise - what a movement it is in just six verses! The sweet lyricist moves from anxiety about his adversity through appealing to his faith, to assertion about his assurance. It should be noted that this psalm does not refer to any special event or period in David's history. All attempts to find a birthplace are but guesses at best.
This Psalm is equally divided into three stanzas; each one with two verses each. And as you read this psalm, you will notice a natural progression in thought. It begins with a question of anxiety: "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 enemies be exalted over me?" (verses 1-2).
In the second stanza the psalmist makes a prayer 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." (verses 3-4).
And in the third Stanza, David has ascended to the pinnacle of praise, "But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me." (verses 5-6) He can look back and see how God was with him (a song of faith fills his thoughts).
Consider what it means to cry out in despair because of some troubling experience that seems to be persistently disrupting your life.
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Psalm 13 is a psalm consisting of simply a cry of weariness (vss. 1-2), a prayer for restoration to vitality so that the enemy may be disappointed (vss. 3-4), and rejoicing in confidence and trust based on past experiences (vss. 5-6). There is little here that cannot be found more vividly in other psalms. This is noteworthy for its extremes of feeling, expressed with poetic skill. The distress of the first two verses falls into a quietness of peace in the last two, which are at once soothing in their restful rhythm. This psalm is a reminder that life has its protracted pain and suffering as well as its unexpected blessings. In comparison to the blessings, the sorrows are short-lived in retrospect. "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment" (II Corinthians 4:17) yields to peace out of pain.
Consider what it means to pray for restoration to vitality and rejoice in confidence trusting the Lord based on past experiences.
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Let’s look at each of these stanzas individually.
Firstly, the question of anxiety was precipitated by a sense of abandonment.
"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 enemies be exalted over me?" (verses 1-2)
There are circumstances and situations in which patience is tested and perseverance tried. It is not under the sharpest, but the longest trials, that we are most in danger of fainting.
David had times in his life when he felt like the tough times would never end.
Maybe it was as simple as wondering, while he was sitting out in the hot sun watching the sheep, is this day ever going to end? Maybe it was more serious, like all those years that he was being chased by Saul and his army...and he was living like a fugitive (1 Samuel 21-31). A fugitive is simply someone who is fleeing, hoping to find a place of refuge because his life is threaten.
But that wasn’t the worst for David... perhaps the most difficult things David had to face was the turmoil in his own family... when one of his sons raped his daughter....(2 Samuel 13), Amnon raped his sister Tamar. Maybe it was when many in his own army, revolted and tried to kill him (2 Samuel 14). Maybe it was when one of his sons kill another son (2 Samuel 13:20) Absalom kills Amnon. Maybe it was the combination of all the tragic incidents combined that caused David to feel abandoned by God. When tragedy struck, David felt as if it would last forever. In fact, in just the book of Psalms, those words, "how long" are found 22 times! The greatest number of occurrences of those words are in Psalm 13, where it occurs 4 times.
He was feeling forgotten / abandoned by God. He was feeling that he has lost favor with God because the Lord’s face was hid from him. (cf. Numbers 6:25). How long wilt thou forget me.
Verse 2,4. How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? It is a great relief to the miserable and afflicted, to be pitied by others. It is some relief when others, though they cannot help us, yet seem to be truly concerned for the sadness of our case; when by the kindness of their words and of their actions they do a little to smooth the wounds they cannot heal, or eradicate the excruciating experiences they cannot eliminate.
It is a comfort in our temptations and in our fears, that we have so compassionate a friend as Christ. "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Hebrews 4:15 .
David here seems to have been in great distress; and, as is common in such cases, his thoughts turned inward, pondering in his mind what he should do, and what would be the end of things. He had sorrow in his heart daily, but presented himself to the Lord in prayer for relief. What an example to imitate. When at wits end go to the Lord in prayer. When the redundancy of life’s trials, troubles and tribulations continue resolve to appeal to the Lord expressing what you are going through and see what happens to get you through the difficulty. Take it to the Lord in prayer is the way the composer put it. Take it to the Lord in prayer, in his arms he’ll take and shield you and you will find a solace there.
Consider what it means to feel abandoned by the Lord because of
occurrences that are life threatening more than life affirming.
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Secondly, a prayer of petition, an appeal and a request is made in faith.
"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." (verses 3-4).
Consider and hear me is his plea. He remembers at once the root of his woe, and cries aloud that it may be removed. Note the cry of faith, O Lord My God! Our interest in our God is not destroyed by all our trials and sorrows? We may lose what we think we need, but not our God. God is from everlasting to everlasting.
Let my faith be clear, so that I may see and sense,
my God in the dark. Let my eye of watchfulness be wide open,
and let the eye of my understanding be illuminated to see more clearly
and follow the Lord more nearly as I love the Lord more dearly.
There are lyrics of a composition that remind us in our distress
how to petition the Lord with our request.
Open my eyes, that I may see / Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;
Place in my hands the wonderful key / That shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for Thee, / Ready my God, Thy will to see,
Open my eyes, illumine me, / Spirit divine!
Open my ears, that I may hear / Voices of truth Thou sendest clear;
And while the wave notes fall on my ear, / Everything false will disappear.
Open my mind, that I may read / More of Thy love in word and deed;
What shall I fear while yet Thou dost lead? / Only for light from Thee I plead.
Open my mouth, and let me bear, / Gladly the warm truth everywhere;
Open my heart and let me prepare / Love with Thy children thus to share.
"Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord!" for in many respects we need the Holy Spirit's illuminating rays. Lighten our eyes so we can see.
It is not the Lord's will that the great enemy of our souls should overcome God’s children. This would dishonor God, and cause the evil one to boast. It is well for us that our salvation and God's honor are so intimately connected. The Lord delivers us from all that would diminish our value and destroy our lives.
Consider what it means to pray your way through difficulty in order to be reassured that the Lord has not abandoned you.
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Thirdly, David goes from anxiety to assurance and from sighing to singing.
"But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me." (verses 5-6) He can look back and see how God was with him (song of faith).
He begins many of his psalms sighing, and ends them singing. It is worthy to be observed that the joy is all the greater because of the previous sorrow, as calm is all the more delightful after a storm. "Sorrows remembered sweeten present joy."
Here is his confidence: But I have trusted in thy mercy. He is sure of his faith, and his faith makes him sure; had he doubted the reality of his trust in God, he would have blocked up one of the windows through which the sun of heaven delights to shine.
All the powers of his enemies had not driven the psalmist from his stronghold. (Psalm 18:2 / 94:22). David clings to his faith; he neither could nor would give up his confidence in the Lord his God. O that we may profit by his example and hold to our faith about the Lord as our stronghold, salvation and security.
Now hearken to the music which faith makes in his soul. "I will sing unto the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.”
The Psalm closes with a sentence which is a repudiation of the charge of forgetfulness which David had uttered in the first verse, He hath dealt bountifully with me.
So shall it be with us if we wait awhile. The complaint which in our haste we utter shall be joyfully retracted, and we shall witness that the Lord hath dealt bountifully with us.
Consider what it means to go from anxiety to assurance,
from sighing to singing.
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Faith keeps the soul from sinking under heavy trials, by bringing in former experiences of the power, mercy, and faithfulness of God to the afflicted one. The psalmist is supported in distress. Remember what God hath done both for thy outward and inward person: God hath not only delivered when in trouble, but God has done great things to lift your spirit; God has brought you from bondage to freedom, entered into a covenant relation with you, made God’s goodness pass before you; God hath helped you pray, and many times has heard your prayers and saw your tears. God has brought you out of the horrible pits of life, the unsteady and uncertain to the solid substantial rock on which you can stand. Has God not put a new song in your mouth? I will sing unto the Lord. How far different is the end of this Psalm from the beginning!
The psalmist went from anxiety precipitated by a sense of abandonment through a prayer of petition, an appeal and request in faith, to singing the praise of the Lord who has dealt bountifully with him. What begins as complaint ends in celebration!
Consider what it means to remember what the Lord as done in your life as a way of being reassured that the Lord has not abandoned nor forgotten you.
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Conclusion
When I Think about the Lord, How He saved me,
how He raised me,
How He filled me, with the Holy Ghost.
How He healed me, to the uttermost.
When I Think about the Lord,
How He picked me up and turned me around,
How He placed my feet on solid ground
When I Think about the Lord,
How He saved me, how He raised me,
How He filled me, with the Holy Ghost.
How He healed me, to the uttermost.
When I Think about the Lord,
How He picked me up and turned me around,
How He placed my feet on solid ground
It makes me wanna shout, Hallelujah,
Thank you JESUS, / LORD, your worthy, of all the glory, and all the honor,
And all the praise
It makes me wanna shout, Hallelujah,
Thank you JESUS,
LORD, your worthy, of all the glory, and all the honor,
And all the praise
Consider what it means to remember to think about the Lord: how the Lord
saved you, how the Lord raised you,
how the Lord filled you, with the Holy Ghost. How the Lord healed you to the uttermost. How the Lord picked you up and turned you around, placed your feet on solid ground.
Notice the progression, the Lord saves, to raise, fill you with perception and power so that you are healed, picked up and turned around and placed on solid ground with a faith that will not shrink beneath an earthly woe.
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