20240113 Psalm 13 How Long O LORD

Helpful resources.[i]

Two Sundays ago, I woke up to find out that my brother had died. This is by far the most tragic event that has struck my family. I have struggled with sleep. I have been really sad. I am still in shock, and get anxious when I ask “what if” questions. I wish my brother was here and I wish he was with me. I wish he could play with my kids and be a meaningful part of the rest of my life. None of that can happen because he is gone.

As a Christian, I need to know how God fits in this situation. Because suffering is so common among us in all its forms, I wanted to take an extra week off of Acts to look at Psalm 13. Psalm 13 arises out of an unknown crisis that leads to a deep sense of abandonment and ends with confidence.[ii]

The nature of the crisis is unclear. In many Psalms the vagueness is intentional. The vagueness allows all of God’s people across the ages to appropriate the psalm in their particular situations.

This is the overview of the Psalm. Psalm 13 begins with a complaint (Ps 13:1-2). It turns to requests for help (Ps 13:3-4). It ends with a declaration of trust and commitment to praise (Ps 13:5-6). The length of the verses reveals that the real energy of the prayer lies in the complaint. But, the three sections help us to pursue God during a crisis.

First, Psalm 13:1-2 teaches about complaint during a crisis.

Psalm 13:1-2 contains more content than the other sets of two verses. This means this Psalm invites us to dwell in our pain and suffering. Life is hard and we do not have to pretend it is not. It is okay to not be okay.

The fourfold expression, “How Long?” structures these verses. Time is the destructive force. Extended suffering wears a person down and intensifies pain. “How long?” is a rhetorical question. Rather than requesting information it declares, “This is intolerable and needs to stop now.”[iii]

The poet expresses spiritual, psychological, and social pain. Suffering always has a spiritual element. When we suffer, we include suffering in our prayers. Perhaps, most of our spontaneous prayers stem from suffering. In anguish, the Psalmist asks in Ps 13:1, “Will you forget me forever? How long will you turn your face from me?” When Christians suffer, we ask, “Where is God?” “What is stopping God from intervening?”

The Psalmist presents a painful picture. He is addressing the LORD even after believing that he has turned away.[iv] This is faith. The Bible teaches that God is everywhere and knows all things. It requires faith to pursue God when we feel that he has abandoned us.

Ps 13:2 moves from spiritual pain to psychological. The author speaks of anguish in his soul and heart. The Psalmist is so beaten down that he cannot imagine a bright future.[v] The last clause in Ps 13:2 adds a social aspect to the suffering. The Psalmist refers to his enemy being exalted over him. The “enemy” is intentionally vague to allow us to appropriate this Psalm. The Hebrew word for enemy can refer to an individual or a group.[vi] Because we interact with people in most spheres of life, pain often has a relational component.

Application

Now we see how we can appropriate the Psalm. The rhetorical question, “How long?” appears in other Psalms, but most often in the Bible it comes from God in the context of sin. For example, in Exod 16:28, the LORD says, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?”[vii] In Num 14:11 he says, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me ….” In Num 24:27, he says, “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me?

God’s expression of “How long?” and a human’s expression are connected. In a world of sin, The LORD longs for us to repent and turn to him. We long for God to put to an end the consequences of sin once and for all.

Ps 13:1-2 highlights three dimensions of suffering due to sin with the spiritual, emotional, and social. These three results of sin are foundational in Genesis 3 following the first sins. Since then, humans are exiled from God's presence. They experience fear and shame. They turn against each other. No matter what place we find ourselves, every human will experience the spiritual, psychological, and social consequences of sin. Psalm 13:1-2 gives words to our pain.

My brother died at 33. By our standards this is too young. In the Christmas season, while we were all excited about celebrating the people in our lives, suddenly we were flooded with reminders of the depth of the brokenness in this world. Knowing that God is all powerful and good, a psalm like this allows me to cry out to God in this time and voice my grief. When suffering occurs and we know God could have intervened and chose not to, complaining to God is a cry of faith. Specific Invitation

Christianity Today posted an article recently called: “Keep Complaining to God. Just Don’t Ignore Him.” Horrific events disorient us emotionally. Crying out to God with unprocessed, unedited feelings communicate trust that God meets us in our darkest places. Sometimes we may read some of what the Biblical authors are praying to God, and we wonder, “Can they really pray that way?” And the answer is, “Well, they just did!” No matter what the hardship, turning to God has to be at least part of your solution. Turn to him, complain, cry out, lament, cry, voice anger. Continue turning to God. Psalm 13:1-2 gives us words to pray in the darkest places. God is so willing to meet us there that he has already given us the words to pray, in his Word.

Second, Psalm 13:3-4 teaches about requesting for deliverance from a crisis.

We look at the text. Psalm 13:3 is marked by three commands: “Consider me”, “Answer me” “light up my eyes!” These petitions match the complaint of Ps 13:1-2. If God has forgotten, the petition is for him to consider and answer. If he has turned away, let his face that shines face us that he may shine on us! If our problems always have a spiritual component, God will be at the center of the solution.

Ps 13:3-4 gives three motivations for God to act. The first is, “Lest I sleep, the sleep of death.” The second, “lest my enemy say, ‘I have prevailed over him.” Third, “lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.”[viii] We should assume that the Psalmist considers to be in the right and so his enemies are also God’s enemies. This petition is for God’s justice to be vindicated.

Application

A first general application is that this Psalm invites us to turn to the LORD in our darkest times and make petitions. In Ps 13:3, the Psalmist calls God, the “LORD my God.” We make petitions to God because he is the LORD our God. He is the LORD my God and the LORD your God, so we can make petitions!

A second application concerns death. The Psalmist is afraid of death, when he says, “lest I sleep the slepp of death. Christians live with a tension when it comes to death. Paul wrote in Phil 1:20-24 that death is better than life. When you have a Christian assurance, death means being by the LORD’s side. It means no longer experiencing the slightest hint of the consequence of sin. It is infinitely better than the tribulations of this life. And yet, the Psalmist pleads that God would act so that he could live. The fear of death is normal, as it is with other unknowns. It is a good thing to want to be alive!

In a society that wishes to prolong life at all costs, we need to have a biblical view of death. We should not avoid death at all costs. We should not pray against death at all costs or at tombs for God to raise the dead.

According to Heb 9:27, God has appointed for all to die. Death is the result of sin. It is part of God’s will for us, even Christians. Death is the punishment for sins but the gospel changes that for us. The death of Jesus bears sins of God’s people across the ages. For those whose sins are forgiven, death is no longer a punishment. Our death remains a testimony to the extreme horror of sin. For us death is part of our entry into glory to enjoy God’s salvation forever.[ix] This is how we need to view death.

A Third application is that we can pair our petitions with motives. The Bible is full of prayers that give God motives to act. The surest motive is his glory in being faithful to keeping his promises. If you can connect your requests with a promise in scripture, you can make your request, boldly. Even when this is not the case, God wants his children to come to him and make all their requests known to him (Phil 4:6). Like the Psalmist, if you are not ready to die you can express that even if you don’t know God’s will about the length of your days.

After experiencing the tragedy in our family of losing my brother, we experienced a brutal two weeks. In the beginning it was hard for me to even think about God being glorified in his death, but I did wonder. During a tragedy we are quicker to ask, “Where are you God?” I was even scared to ask this question because I was scared of the answer.

Now this is what happened. We were struggling to get information about my brother when he was at the hospital before he died. We hired a doctor who does house visits to visit him. After learning about my brother’s death, it turned out that this Colombian doctor was a Christian. Not knowing I was a Christian, he wanted to comfort me with the hope of the gospel. I had a strong sense God was showing me that he was with me.

Now, even more incredible. My mother traveled to Cartagena, Colombia where my brother died. We found a couple of retired Christians who volunteer helping foreigners in Cartagena deal with medical emergencies and deaths. I could not believe how perfect this was. God reminded in my suffering that I have brothers and sisters all over the world who are willing to help. God showed me that he was with me the whole time. Specific Invitation: God is Glorified and Faithful to his promises. In our distress, when we walk through the valley of shadow of death, when our mind is all over the place, when we are heartbroken, if our prayer is to see God glorified, he will answer our prayer. No matter what our situation, when we are in distress, we seek God’s glory and boldly make requests! This is Psalm 13:3-4.

Third, Psalm 13:5-6 teaches about ongoing faith during a crisis.

The text ends with trust, rejoicing, and singing. The pain is real, the poet makes bold requests, and now he commits himself. He will trust, rejoice, and sing. He can trust because of God's steadfast love, he can rejoice because God provides a way of salvation, and he can sing because God has already dealt with him bountifully.

Application

What we believe about God matters a lot when we suffer. The faithfulness of God means that he does not change when our circumstances do. When Christians undergo the worst kinds of suffering, we know God is still with us. I cannot prove it to you, but when you keep turning to God, you will sense his steadfast/loyal/persevering love.

In Ps 13:5, the author rejoices in God’s salvation. Salvation could refer to deliverance from that specific situation. For us, our biggest problem is sin and so the salvation we rejoice in is the forgiveness of sins that Jesus brought. No matter what comes our way, even when great heartache occurs, we are able to sing about God’s salvation.

We can echo Ps 13:6, we can sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with us. No matter what happens, this remains true. Close to 2000 years ago, Jesus carried our sins, and died on the cross for us, he endured death on the cross to offer us life. He has indeed dealt bountifully with us.

In a world in which brokenness is so deep, family dysfunction, emotional turmoil, hard work conditions, and untimely deaths, there is always hope. We do not manufacture hope. We cannot promise a situation will improve, that you will receive a better job, make more money, get better grades, or that your family member will change. We cannot know. Our hope, even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death is Jesus. If we are building our lives on anything other than Christ we will set ourselves up to experience hopelessness because nothing else can deliver for eternity. Other objects of hope can satisfy for a time, but only Jesus satisfies eternally.

Conclusion

This has been a bit of my journey for the last two weeks. I am heartbroken, I am confused, I have had other emotions like shock and anger. In the midst of it all, God has been with me. God ministers to his people. He uses his word, like Psalm 13. He uses his global church and he uses you. As we confess the true God, as we devote ourselves to his word that points us to the salvation found in Christ alone, and we experience eternal life and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, we will be a community for mourning, healing, and great care by the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

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[i] Nancy L. DeClaisse-Walford, Rolf A. Jacobson, and Beth LaNeel Tanner, The Book of Psalms, NICOT (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2015), Epub Edition; John Goldingay, Psalms 1-41 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006).

[ii] The change in our the Psalm addresses the LORD stresses a development that occurs in the Psalm. He begins by confronting the “LORD” in Ps 13:1. He switches to addresses God, with “LORD my God” in Ps 13:3. He ends saying, “I will sing to the LORD.”

[iii] Goldingay, Psalms 1-41. Ps 13:1-2.

[iv] Goldingay, Psalms 1-41. Ps 13:1-2.

[v] The phrase “I take counsel in my soul” becomes clearer with the second half of the sentence, “[I] have sorry in my heart.”

[vi] The Hebrew word can refer to another member of the community (Exod 23:4), a political enemy (1 Sam 18:29), a national enemy (Exod 15:6), in can be a collective, at times it might refers to death (Ps 61:3).

[vii] Also Num 14:11; 24:27.

[viii] The Psalmist’s sorrow is such that it goes beyond the grave. We could expect the greatest sorrow to be about the Psalmist’s own death but he does not stop there. He is sorrowful that beyond the grave, his enemies will live on rejoicing!

[ix] https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-jesus-did-to-death