How Long, O Lord?

My pastor is teaching a class to help some of us as we work on our Biblical counseling exam. The exam is made up of forty-four essay questions on both theology and counseling. We are nearing the end, working on questions dealing with specific counseling situations – situations that involve sadness and grief. We discussed the importance of Biblical lament. The Bible never calls us to be stoic and emotionless in the face of circumstances that are not what God originally designed them to be. We aren’t told to grin and bear it. In contrast, the psalms particularly teach us Biblical lament – how to bring our sadness and grief to God.

Psalm 13 is only six verses, but it teaches us a three part pattern for lament: the expression of feelings or complaint, a petition, and trust with thanksgiving.

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

1  How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

2  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?

3  Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;

light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,

4  lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”

lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

5  But I have trusted in your steadfast love;

my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

6  I will sing to the Lord,

because he has dealt bountifully with me. [1]

First, David pours out his feelings and complaints (vs 1-2). “How long” is repeated four times, emphasizing David’s anguish, sorrow, and distress. With each, “how long,” David’s distress intensifies. The emphasis is not on the questions themselves but on David’s anguish. The source of his anguish is the feeling that God has forgotten him. When suffering seems to pile upon us, it can feel as if God has forgotten us, but God hears us. He sees us. He draws near to us. He can handle our raw emotions. He wants us to honestly pour out our feelings to Him. With my Dad’s death, I have had many moments when sorrow fills me, and I’ve cried out to God with my broken heart.

Second, David petitions God to answer him (vs 3-4). “The cry of distress lays the foundation for the plea for help.”[2] Consider and light up my eyes are pleas that connect to David’s feeling of God forgetting him (vs 1). Likewise, answer me connects to David feeling like God has hid His face from David. Answer is not referring to information, but rather, if God answers, it means He is not hiding from David. We know that David’s enemies are exalting over him, but in his petitions, David is most concerned with knowing God’s presence again.

Third, David affirms his trust in God and responds with praise and thanksgiving (vs 5-6). Notice the shift in verse 5 – But. David may feel anguish, sorrow, distress, and abandonment, but he looks to God, turning to what he knows is true. David is confident in God – “But I have trusted in your steadfast love” (vs 5a). When we feel abandoned by someone, it doesn’t seem like the other person loves us. In sharp contrast to his feelings of abandonment, David specifically focuses on God’s steadfast love. He trusts God’s faithful love towards him.

David praises God with resolve – “my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me” (vs 5b-6, emphasis added). David hopes in God alone for salvation. He is confident of God’s goodness towards him.[3]

Paul summarizes Biblical lament in his letter to the Corinthian church: “as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10a). Biblical lament unites sorrow and joy, bringing both before our loving, saving, and good God.

Reflection

1.    In your sorrow, is growing in your faith and knowing God more intimately your main desire? If not, what has been? If yes, how has God answered that petition?

2.    Do you tend to remain in your sorrow without trusting and praising God or do you tend to squash feelings and only try to praise God? Why do you choose to respond one way or the other?

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 13:title–6.

[2] Mark D. Futato, “The Book of Psalms,” in Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol 7: The Book of Psalms, The Book of Proverbs(Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2009), 67.

[3] There is debate on the tense of the verb in this last phrase, but there are reasons for reading it in the rhetorical perfect tense meaning God will deal bountifully with David. This fits David’s confidence in God in verse 5a.