First Baptist Church
July 15, 2001
Psalm 13
How Long, O Lord?
Have you ever been in a bad situation, everything seemed to be mounting up against you and you wondered how long will this last? Maybe it was an illness, maybe it was a loved one who was dying, maybe a career that was being cut short against your will, it could be a child that was too strong willed. It doesn’t matter what it was, but the cry was the same, "How long, O Lord, How long!"
Psalm 13 records the pleas of a Bible hero. King David is in hiding and he cries out to God, "How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?" Four times David cries out "how long." Those are powerful words from a man who had a relationship with God that we would all desire. Yet, David struggled with experiencing God’s presence during many of his difficult times. You’ve been there haven’t you? We all have. We try to make sense out of our tough times, and no sense seems to come. In fact, all we come up with is silence. Some say silence is golden, but let me tell you, when the silence seems to come from God, it is anything but golden. To put it bluntly, it feels like life is about to end.
You see, it’s not that David was beginning to doubt the existence of God. He knew God existed. But he felt that his cries bounced off a closed door, that his heavenly Father had turned His back on him. It seemed as if the relationship between David and God had clouded over, and he was left alone, surrounded by darkness.
Understand that you’re not the first one to experience this - you’re not a terrible heathen; you’re not crazy. Scripture is filled with the cries of people who go through times like this. In Psalm 42, the psalmist wrote, "Why have you forgotten me?" And in 44:24, "Awake, O Lord why do you sleep! Do not reject us forever. Why do you hide your face?"
We know many other famous Bible characters who have suffered. Elijah wanted to die and Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet because he cried so often.
Ezekiel endured the death of his wife during his ministry. Daniel was torn from his home as a young boy and led captive to Babylon.
Hosea suffered patiently through a heartbreaking marriage. Amos faced lies and scorn throughout his ministry.
And all we have to do is mention the name Job, and we know a man who cried out to God in his despair. Godly men who have suffered and questioned God.
I had a class this week with a man who is so excited about God. He cannot believe what God is doing in his life and how he has been privileged to help others. Yet, this same man wrote in one of his books that as a child he could "have lived, died, and gone to hell, without anyone even bothering to care" (Iron Sharpens Iron, page 14). He has endured the deaths of two of his children and at 75 years old does not ask how long, but humbly says thank you God for an abundant and beautiful life.
You see, sometimes when we are in those dark periods of life we don’t believe there is a way out. And in those times the devil tries to deceive us into believing that’s the truth -- that, in spite of Jesus’ great sacrifice, God has abandoned us. Satan fills our mind with thoughts that God’s with everyone else, but us. But that is not true, God is with us, as well as everyone else.
So David cries, "How long?" How long must I wrestle with my thoughts? How long will my enemy triumph over me? How long must I wallow in the muck and mire of confused emotions and thoughts? No matter how hard David struggles and tries, he cannot come up with a plan of escape.
Have you felt them? The thoughts which try to convince you that God no longer loves you, that you deserve your atrocious fate, that He must be punishing you for something? Been there?
You’re emotionally bankrupt, with no reserves?
You feel as if you cannot do anything anymore.
You’re barely limping along, and can see no way out.
David knew that feeling, and in the midst of it he calls out - "Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death...." We don’t know the immediate circumstances, but we do know that much of the stress in David’s life came from people who were out to kill him. Perhaps the threat to his life was very literal. Perhaps it was figurative: the despair had grown to the point that David would have been quite happy to see the end of life, or he felt as if he were dead already - dead inside - walking dead, no energy, no drive, no action. Just a damp, cold existence.
Now, we could move quickly on to verse 5 for our happy conclusion. But let’s not. Too often we do that in church -- we skim past the struggles of people. We hurry to patch things together; putting Band-Aids on the pain, but notice 2/3’s of this psalm focus on the struggle. Only 1/3 is hope.
How about you? Can you be at peace when someone is trying to put a band-aid over your deep wound? Smiling that cold Christian smile as they tell you, "I’ll pray for you." The only time they mention your name in prayer is when they thank God they’re not in your shoes. I’m cynical about it because I have expereinced it, and I am guilty of doing it. Most of the time it’s too easy to say I’ll pray for you, instead of getting our hands dirty with your pain that seems to be oozing out.
The call of the Christian life is to live it in community, not solitary confinement. The call is to find those who are hurting and come to their aid, to share in their pain. Romans 12:15 reminds us to ‘rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.’ Paul praises God in 2 Corinthians 1:4 because God "comforts us in our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we have already received from Christ."
Friends we have an amazing opportunity to be beacons to a world that is hurting. When we come along another person, Christian or non-Christian, and walk through the valley of the shadow of death with them, we proclaim Jesus Christ to them. Our love of Jesus, His love of us and our victory over death.
One of the things that we struggle with the most when we are in our moments of despair is what theologians call a lack of eschatological hope. Since I just came back from a doctoral class, I thought I would share a big word or phrase with you. What is eschatological hope? It is the hope that we have, not in this world, but the hope we have in the world that is to come. It is the hope that better things are coming. It is the hope that we have already secured victory over death and death will not defeat us. We often use the expression that we are alive today and will die tomorrow, when the opposite is really true, we are dying today, but there will be a day when we are so fully alive and vibrant, and that is in death. Do you have that hope? Are you cultivating it?
I read of a 96 year old woman named Blanche. She lived in a nursing home in Kentucky. She was trying to understand why God had allowed her to live so long. But, she kept her faith in Him and trusted that He knew best. She wrote this poem:
There are always two sides, the Good and the Bad,
The Dark and the Light, the Sad and the Glad -
But in looking back over the Good and the Bad
We’re aware of the number of Good things we’ve had
And in counting our blessings we find when we’re through
We’ve no reason to complain or be blue
So thank God for Good Things He has already done
And be grateful to Him for the battles you’ve won
And know the same God who helped you before
Is ready and willing to help you once more.
We get caught up in our problems - real and imagined - and forget God. But God wants us to admit our doubts. God wants us to acknowledge our fears. The beauty of this psalm is in its sincerity. It shows the Bible is a book of honesty by recording complaints to God. We won’t always sing psalms of thanksgiving. At times we feel worthless and defeated. The song is not always one of praise. It may be a song of despair. It may not always carry a bold theme of total confidence. It may be a somber theme of distrust and fear.
Psalm 13 stared out in a depressing and somber tone. It slowly developed into a theme of confusion. Soon, distress and despair created tension and uneasiness.
But then the chaos is resolved. The forgetfulness of God is contrasted with His unfailing love. Pain and sorrow are comforted by a rejoicing heart. Death is defeated by salvation. The foes that rejoice cannot hold a candle to the One who has dealt bountifully with me.
In the midst of his despair, David suddenly changes his prayer. He says, "But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me." How is that for an about face? What led him to change his thoughts? Had David’s circumstances changed? No! Nothing has changed except David’s faith and hope in a God who does not change. David remembered "God has been good to me." David stopped looking inward and began looking upward. And that changed his perspective. David looked back and was able to see the many times God had saved him.
Even though the situation was the same, his heart was now filled with joy. David had gone from tears to truth to triumph.
My dear friends, when we find ourselves in times of despair there are a couple of things we can do to get out of it more quickly.
1. Call on God. Do just as David did. Shout out, scream out to Him, let God know your pain. God is a big God. He would rather you cry out to Him, than sit in a corner and sulk. Don’t think for a moment that David wasn’t crying out to God. You can do the same. Let God know your pain, your feelings, what it is that is making you feel so desperate. That is prayer from the heart. And know that God hears and responds to that type of prayer.
2. Call on a brother or sister in Christ for help. Ask someone to pray with you, ask someone to hold you, ask someone to eat with you or just sit with you. You don’t ever have to go through your dark times alone. The great aspect of Christianity is that we are supposed to live in community with one another. Grant someone the opportunity to help you in your time of need. You are not alone, God is with you, He promised to never fail you nor abandon you, and if you are bold enough, your brothers and sisters in Christ desire to be with you too.
It is okay to hurt, to feel desperate and despair, but know that we have a God who has been tempted in every way, has been persecuted, and yet was without sin. Next time you are hurting, call on Jesus, call on the Master Physician, call on the One who says "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-29).
