INTRODUCTION:
Chippie, the parakeet, never saw it coming. He was peacefully perched in his cage singing his heart out to his companion in the mirror. The problems began when Chippie's owner decided to clean Chippie's cage -- with a vacuum cleaner.
She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang. She turned to pick it up. She'd barely said 'hello' when 'sssthopp!' Chippie got sucked in.
The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag. There was poor little Chippie—still alive, but stunned. Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed him, raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under the running water.
Suddenly, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do… she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air.
Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.
A few days after the trauma, the reporter who'd initially written about the event contacted Chippie's owner to see how the bird was recovering.
"Well," she replied, "Chippie doesn't sing much anymore. He just sits and stares." (1)
It's hard not to see why. Can you relate to Chippie? Most of us can.
One minute, you're in familiar territory—with a song on your lips, then... The doctor calls. The check bounces. The rejection letter arrives. The divorce papers are delivered. A policeman knocks on your door.
Sssthopp! The life that had been so calm—is now so stormy.
Have you ever found yourself in a life storm? A circumstance where you were completely unprepared? Your safe, secure world broken apart? Have you ever felt forgotten by God? You've known Him; you've sensed His presence; you've experienced His grace; but He seems to have forgotten you.
Have you ever felt that God was avoiding you? Not responding to your needs? Indifferent to your pain? Life has gone from being a joy to being a struggle. You've been trying to be faithful, but it seems that at every turn you are opposed; your efforts are thwarted; your contributions are marginalized. Maybe your heart is broken. Life just seems to get harder. Your relationships seem to be increasingly more difficult. Struggle and suffering have filled your life.
If so, I want to invite you to join me this morning in listening to someone. This man that we are going to listen to, he knows how you feel. More importantly, God knows how you feel. In fact, it was God that inspired David to record his emotions and his experiences, and to preserve his emotions and experiences so that we might encounter the same God he encountered; so that we might find hope and comfort and guidance.
Let's turn our attention to the Psalms… Psalm 13.
BODY:
In this Psalm, we see David on a journey -- a journey that has 3 stages: questions; requests; and declarations.
I. The first stage has to do with QUESTIONS.
At the very outset of this Psalm, we get a glimpse of a suffering soul, but it's not a silent soul.
Verse 1: "How long, O Lord?"
Four times in two verses we hear this plea: How Long? How Long? How Long? How Long? These are the words of a man on the verge of despair. His suffering seems endless. David is weary. What is his cry? How long, O Lord? He is pressing his pain and anguish to his God.
Do you see the little word there — "O Lord?" It's all caps, "LORD." When you see that in your Bibles, that is not the word like a master. It's the name of God. That's YHWH. It's God's personal name to the people He has chosen. That's the name that God revealed to Moses by which God's covenant people would understand God and relate to God and call upon God.
In the midst of his suffering, David’s calling out to his God. The one, the very ONE, who promised to be with His people, always. This is an act of faith. It's turning to the One who promised the help. He is the only one who CAN help. As he turns to God, he pours his deepest thoughts, his deepest anguish, his deepest questions.
Look at verse 1. "How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?"
The first question his suffering causes is this: Has God forgotten me?
Have you ever felt that way? You've walked with God; you've known God; you've experienced fellowship with God; you have seen answers to prayer; you've observed fruit in your life that can only be attributed to God; you KNOW God; this is YOUR God. Then something happens. Your relationship changes. You feel forgotten. Have you forgotten me, God? Remember me! Remember me... God! Are you aware of what I'm going through? Do you know how bad it hurts?
The feelings intensify. "How long will you hide your face from me?" It's not just God has forgotten me. Now, it's God is hiding from me. At first, he was overlooking me. Now, He has turned away from me. David has lost all sense of God's presence and God's blessing. He had known God’s presence. Now, he's mainly aware of God's absence.
We see the emotional effects of this experience in Verse 2: "How long must I take counsel in my soul?"
It's a difficult phrase. One translation puts it, "How much must I wrestle with my thoughts?" I would paraphrase it this way: How long must I torment myself with worry?
Verse 2, "And have sorrow... sorrow in my heart all day?"
A sorrowful, downcast heart. To make the picture complete; to make the suffering complete, it's not just God turning away; it's not just inner turmoil; it's also outward. "How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?" Something is opposing David. It’s certainly adversity of some kind. Something threatens to conquer him; he's on the verge of being overwhelmed.
David is left with—how long? Do you feel that? How long? Maybe you feel like that now. You're not alone. You are not alone. Let us derive faith and comfort knowing that David himself experiences God's absence. This is from the same man who was lying in the field, under the stars, who could pen, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." This same man writes, "How long will you hide your face from me?" How long? Forever?
Have you ever had that kind of experience? A circumstance where you were completely unprepared? Your safe secure world broken apart. This cry should also encourage us. Brothers and sisters, God knows how you feel.
Through this text we have an invitation to come to Him. To pour out to Him. To cast your cares upon Him. It’s an invitation. This Psalm is meant to help give us a voice; a voice to our anguish and our cries and our pain—to God. David is not avoiding the subject. He’s not alone in some corner. He comes to God and says "Here it is". Help.
So often our tendency in suffering is we isolate ourselves and we spend our energy reviewing and rethinking and mulling over and regretting and worrying and anticipating and marshalling resources and wondering and scheming and fretting—as if there’s comfort and relief in rehearsing our suffering over and over.
That kind of introspection is understandable, but it also can be a form of self-sufficiency. It can be an expression of pride. We’re trying to understand. We’re trying to resolve. We’re trying to deliver ourselves instead of humbling ourselves and crying out to God. God gives grace to the humble. He opposes the proud hearted. David is humble here.
Let us follow the example of the Psalmist, even when it’s painful; even when it seems like there are no words. Nothing left to say.
II. The second stage has to do with QUESTIONS.
In verse 3, we move to the second stage of David’s journey.
His question brought him to a crossroad. He’s crying, “How long have you forgotten, have you hidden?” What’s going to happen? Will he despair? Will he capitulate to the hopelessness? Will he give up? Will he turn his back? He looks for help from God in the form of specific requests.
Verse 3: “Consider and answer me, O Lord, my God. Light up my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death.”
Three specific requests.
The FIRST request is Consider.
The word just means look. Look at me. Regard me. Give me your attention. David doesn’t just want God to notice him. He doesn’t just want eye contact with God. He wants the look of God. Biblically, God’s look is His personal regard; His gracious attention. The look of God is the favor of God. David wants God’s presence. Shine your face upon me.
When David calls for God to "consider" or "look upon" him, he is asking for more than mere acknowledgment; he is longing for the intimate, relational gaze of God that brings comfort, healing, and a sense of divine closeness. It is a request for God's nearness, as His gaze is not just passive but filled with love, favor, and transformative power. The look of God signifies a special connection, a moment where God's love is deeply felt and His presence is made manifest, providing strength and peace, even in times of suffering.
The SECOND request is Answer. Consider and Answer me – “act on my behalf”.
This is a cry for God to respond with action, not just with words. It signifies a deep longing for God to intervene in a way that is tangible and impactful. David's plea is not merely for God to acknowledge his distress, but to actively engage with him, to move on his behalf and bring resolution to his suffering. "Answer me" reflects a desire for God's direction, healing, and provision, especially when one feels isolated or overwhelmed.
THIRDLY: Light up my eyes. "Light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death."
We’re referring to both a physical healing, and most commentators say here that David is experiencing a chronic illness; an illness that leaves him vulnerable to death. He’s asking, light up my eyes. A spiritual illumination is being asked for. God, shine your face on me.
What is David asking for? He desires to be near God. He wants to be aware again of God’s presence. He wants to experience richness, fellowship with God, and all of the blessings that come when we encounter Him.
III. David ends the psalm with the Third Stage: Declarations.
“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.”
(He begins with Questions. Requests. And finally, Declarations.)
He is calling upon God’s grace and mercy. David knows -- and you can know too. You can be certain. God will answer.
Despite all of the observable evidence, and contrary to his human feelings, the Psalmist finds his security and confidence in YHWH. He laid hold again of the God he knew and the God he loved. By the grace of God, he transferred his focus, he transferred his preoccupation from the twists and turns and instabilities of life and whatever trial he was experiencing, to the character and promises of God. He remembered who God was.
What did he remember? He remembered a couple of things. First of all, he remembered God’s unfailing love.
Verse 5 says, “But I have trusted in Your steadfast love.”
That phrase, steadfast love, translates from one word in the original. It is one of the richest, most beautiful words in the whole Old Testament. You see translations rendering it sometimes as loving-kindness, or here steadfast love, or unfailing love. Sometimes even faithfulness. This is the love, by which God freely commits Himself to someone.
It’s God’s covenant love—a kind of love that is freely given, no obligation, mercifully offered. It's usually given from one in power to one in need. A love that expresses a commitment to that relationship that won’t stop. It’s God’s loyal love. David remembered this: God is loyal to me -- He bound himself to me -- and he’s not letting go! That’s the kind of God we serve. David remembered who God was.
This is not the divine watchmaker who sets the world in motion and then withdraws Himself to a remote location somewhere in the universe. He’s not the God that is disinterested and aloof, letting the world go along, and then every once in a while, He intervenes. It’s not a demanding God, who acts only when you do it right, and when you’ve suffered long enough. No.
This is a God whose uncontested reign towers over the universe, who carries all things by the word of His power; be it a sparrow in the air, or the hairs on your head. God’s upholding it all. In His infinite wisdom, He’s working all things, throughout the universe, and all the 6 billion people on earth. He’s working for it all to accomplish unfathomable good, and wise purposes for His glory.
He’s a God who for no other reason than His mercy and grace, chose YOU, and set His affection upon YOU. He brought you, kicking and screaming to Himself, and bound you to Him.
He is working in your life, with all the energy of omnipotence, to accomplish your ultimate good and to bring you to your destiny of being conformed to the image of His perfect Son. That’s who this God is.
David remembers. God wants us to remember.
He had lost his grasp on it, but he’s got it again. He’d lost sight of it, but he sees it again.
What do you do with that kind of God? When you get that, what do you do?
You worship. You also trust. Look at what he says, “I’ve had trusted in your steadfast love.”
You rest. You fall at His feet. You lay aside all doubts, accusations, uncertainties, anxieties, unknown outcomes, and dire consequences. You lay it all aside.
You say, “Lord, I’m trusting in your merciful, freely given, undeserving -- the not let me go – kinda love.” That’s what I’m trusting in.
I don’t know what’s going to happen. My circumstances may not change. The pain may persist. The grief may linger. But -- you’ve got something. You’ve got someone, who will meet you in that suffering, and who will sustain you through that suffering. He will use every second of that suffering for your ultimate good; every second; no waste; for His ultimate glory.
What else did he remember? He remembered God’s salvation. “My heart shall rejoice in your salvation.”
David remembered God’s character. Now he remembers God’s promise. God promises to deliver His people. He promises to save His people. He promises to rescue His people.
Note something important. Nothing has changed -- David’s circumstances haven’t changed to an objective observer looking at him. Nothing happened. But inside, everything changed.
David turned his gaze above his suffering.
Do you know what he saw? He saw arching over the vistas of his suffering; he saw arching over his entire life, God’s promise to deliver and to bring him into the fullness of life that comes with fellowship with God. To forgive his sins. To bring him near. To bless him. To fulfill the purpose for which he was created—worship and fellowship with God, face to face.
We tend to dwell on our suffering -- and I say this tenderly to people who are suffering. (I can’t say that I fully relate or understand.) We tend to think of our suffering as the most serious possible condition that could transpire.
Let me also say, this is God’s truth, this is Scripture—there is something that greatly exceeds the seriousness of your suffering — our sin. Standing guilty of sin and rebellion, and arrogance before a holy God, who deserves and demands our allegiance, and who must, in the integrity of His holiness, judge all wickedness in His moral universe. To be in that situation is far more serious than any temporal suffering we could imagine.
That is the predicament that God remedied when He sent His one and only Son, to hang on a cross and to take in His own person all the penalty for sin, of every sin that would ever be forgiven, in order to save, to rescue, to deliver every person who would ever be saved.
So that rebellious sinners could experience the loving gaze of God, and fullness of life in His presence forever. So, let us allow this to put our suffering in perspective. Let us not only bring our suffering to a compassionate God, but let us also become freshly aware, more aware of the gracious, undeserved salvation that God has provided in Jesus Christ.
David’s meditation turns to praise.
Look at verse 6. “I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.”
Note that unusual phrase, the past tense. He HAS dealt bountifully with me.
David’s talking like it’s already happened. This isn’t positive thinking. It’s not mind games: I’m really not hurting. I’m really not suffering. No. He’s not denying hardship, but it is an expression of certainty; certainty that when he looks back over this trial, when he looks over his life, he is going to have only praise to offer to God.
When all my labors and trials are o’er,
And I am safe on that beautiful shore,
Just to be near the dear Lord I adore,
Will through the ages be glory for me.
O that will be glory for me,
Glory for me, glory for me,
When by His grace I shall look on His face,
That will be glory, be glory for me. (2)
At that point, there will be no uncertainty, no confusion, no perplexity of soul, there will be no anguish, there will be no questions, there will be no “how longs”. He’s convinced that when he looks back, he will sing with a full-throated song, “He has dealt bountifully with me.”
Brothers and sisters, our song will be no different. You may be suffering unspeakable pain; there’s going to be a day, God promises you, there’s going to be a day and you’re going to say, “What I didn’t know.” He has dealt bountifully.
We have even more reason to be certain than David did. These words don’t only give voice to David’s heart. There was another person who felt these things. He actually was a descendant of David. His name was Jesus. He cried a very similar cry, quoting from a Psalm. Psalm 22. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
Here’s the difference. His suffering didn’t take him by surprise. His suffering was completely undeserved; and unlike us, God really did forsake Him. He forsook Him because He took upon Himself our sin. He forsook Him so that we would not be forsaken. He hid His face from Jesus so that He could shine His face upon ours.
Jesus knows how you feel. He went before us, so that we might never ever be separated from the love of God, which is found in Christ Jesus.
CONCLUSION:
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, like your prayers are unheard or that God is distant, I want you to know you’re not alone. Psalm 13 is an expression of what many of us experience — the weight of suffering, the silence of God, and the fear that we are alone. But David doesn’t stay in that place. He brings his doubts, his pain, and his confusion before God. He cries out honestly, just like you and I sometimes do.
And then, he remembers. He remembers who God is — He is faithful, loving, and ever-present -- even when we can’t feel it. David moves from frustration to trust. That’s where we’re invited to go too. It may be hard, especially when life feels heavy, but in those moments of struggle, remember that God hasn’t forgotten you. His love for you hasn’t changed. He promises to be with you, even in the darkest times. He’s working in your life in ways you might not see or fully understand.
Even when life feels uncertain, you can rest in His salvation. God has dealt bountifully with you — His grace is more than enough for whatever you're facing. No matter how long might last, you are not forgotten. He is right there with you, and He will bring you through this.
Take comfort. Come to Him, and enjoy the same trust that David found — trust in God's unfailing love. You don’t have to understand everything right now. God is good, and He is working everything for your good -- even now, and for all eternity.
“I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.”
(1) Swindoll, C. (2022) "The Story of Chippy, Hopeful Heart." Available at: http://www.hopefulheart.net/word-of-the-day/the-story-of-chippy (Accessed: 21 November 2024).
(2) Gabriel, Charles H., (1900) "O That Will Be Glory"
