Psalm 13

1 How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;

4 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

6 I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

In the midst of trouble, one of the first things people tend to think is that God has forgotten them or is angry with them. We know from other Scripture passages that there are many reasons for suffering and trouble and that God has promised not to forget or forsake His own. In Dr. Jim Berg’s book Changed Into His Image, he refers to “reasoning yourself back to reality” — taking your thoughts and feelings and applying Scripture, reminding yourself of what God has said, and depending on that instead of your feelings. David does that so often in the Psalms.

David is also completely honest with God. In the midst of feeling forgotten, he knows where to go: he cries out to his God for help. I am reminded of and old song Hale and Wilder used to sing that goes something like:

Where shall I run, Lord, when all around me
Sorrow and strife seem to be everywhere?
Have you not said that you would protect me?
Safe in your hand I will evermore be.
With such protection, none can alarm me
Though the storms of life almost kill.
Ever to this shelter I will be fleeing;
No other one can provide these for me.

I was struck by the faith evidenced in the last two verses. David trusts in God’s mercy and looks ahead to God’s deliverance: he says with certainty his heart “shall rejoice in God’s salvation.” And the last verse doesn’t seem to be saying that he will sing unto the Lord because God has in the past dealt bountifully with him, though that is always a good thing to do — and maybe he is doing that both to praise God and to encourage himself in the Lord’s coming deliverance. But it seems to me to be looking ahead with the eye of faith, trusting that God will deliver him out of the present trial and that he will then sing to Him because of His bountiful dealings with him. Either way, David always remembers to praise the Lord for His deliverance. He doesn’t just shoot up quick prayers for help and then go on about his business after the help comes: he remembers to thank and praise God, not out of duty, but with a heart overflowing with love and gratitude.

One exercise Dr. Berg mentions in one of his books (I forget which one — it’s either Changed Into His Image, which I mentioned above, or the video series Quieting a Noisy Soul) he recommends looking up the definitions to key words in a passage, even words we’re familiar with, to enrich our study of the passage. I didn’t do that with this whole passage, but I did look up the word “bountiful” at Dictionary.com. Some of the words used in the definition were “liberal, munificent, generous, ample, abundant.” Isn’t that just like the Lord? He doesn’t just barely answer prayer with the minimum requirements: He answers “exceeding abundantly above all we could ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20).

Thanks to Erica at Butterfly Kisses for beginning and hostessing Psalm Sundays. You can find more meditations on this Psalm there.