How Long O Lord
Psalm 13
“How long O Lord?” Four times in this brief psalm, David makes this plaintive cry. “How long O Lord?” This psalm was, no doubt, written during a low point in David’s life. Possibly during the time when Saul is pursuing David to try to kill him. This story is told in I Sam. 20-31. In these chapters, we see David fleeing from one place to another in order to escape Saul and certain death. Later on his life, after David becomes king of Judah, he is driven from Jerusalem by his own son, Absalom (II Sam. 15). Many times David has people with him but no doubt there were times when David found himself alone. I Samuel 22:1 tells of one of those times. David had fled to Achish, king of Gath but then became afraid that Achish would also kill him. I Sam. 22:1 says, “So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam . . .” The second half of that verse says that people came to him but for awhile David was alone in the cave. He perhaps felt like Elijah when he fled from Jezebel. I Kings 19:9 finds Elijah in a cave when he cries out to God, “And I alone am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” It is in such a context that Psalm 13 may have been written.
There are four parts to this psalm. In verses 1-2, David utters a cry of desperation. In verses 3-4, he pleads to God for help. In verse 5 David declares his faith and in verse 6, David sings praises to God.
I. A cry of desperation (Vss. 1-2)
A, Forsaken by his God
“How long, O Lord, will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? ”
David, the one anointed by God through the prophet Samuel to be King of Israel now sits alone in a cave. The cave is dark and cold. He dares not start a fire for fear of being found. How could God let this happen to him? It seems that God, who protected him from wild beasts, giants, madmen, and even his own son, has forsaken him. The God who gave him victory over the bear and the lion and Goliath; the God who had protected him from the spear of Saul, from Achish, King of Gath, and Absalom, his son, was nowhere to be found. Now, as David sits alone in this damp, dark, dreary cave, God seems so far away. In his agony of soul, he asks God, “How Long?” Is this going to go on forever? Are you never going to return to me?
B Forsaken by his friends.
“How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day?
Not only does David not feel the presence of God, he is separated from his friends and their counsel. He lacks the counsel of his dear friend, Jonathan who counseled him to flee from Saul after Jonathan discovered that Saul intended to kill David (I Sam. 20:33-42). Ahimelech, the priest, who helped David in his distress, is not there. He does not have the counsel of his brothers or the prophet Gad who will come to him later. Now David has only himself as his own counselor as he sits weeping in the dark, day and night. In this downward spiral he asks God, “How long O Lord? Will I never see my family and friends again?”
C. Hunted by his enemies
“How long will my enemy be exalted over me?”
David huddles in the darkness while his enemies live in palaces. David, who had once lived in the king’s palace as the king’s servant and later as king himself, sees in his mind, his enemies living where he should have been. More than that, David sees the enemies of God being exalted while he, the servant of God, hides in a cave. “How long,” he asks, “can this go on?” David has a similar question in Ps. 74:10 when he asks, “How long, O God, will the adversary revile, and the enemy spurn you name forever?” God’s enemies are David’s enemies and as God’s servant, David’s enemies are God’s enemies. That being true, how could God let this go on and on and on.
II. A plea for help (Vss. 3-4)
A. that God would hear his plea.
“Consider and answer me, O Lord my God.”
Although David feels deserted by God, in desperation he still turns to God, the only one who has the power to help him. This seems to be a contradiction. In one breath, David complains to God that God has forgotten him. In the next breath David is pleading with God to hear his prayer. David is tired, hungry, cold and alone. In his mind, he despairs of his very life. But in his soul he remains a faithful child of God. First, David asks God to “consider” his plea. David is asking God to “look down from heaven” (Ps. 80:14) with compassion, see David in his despair and listen to his plea. He prays as Isaiah did in Isa. 63:15, “Look down from heaven and see from your holy and glorious habitation . . .”
B. that God would answer his prayer
“Consider and answer me, O Lord my God.”
David calls upon God to not only hear and consider his plea but to respond by answering his prayer. David prays to God believing that he will answer. This is reflected in Psalm 17:6 when we hear David saying, “I have called upon you, for you will answer me, O God.” David has been a servant of God long enough that even now in his desperation he believes that God will hear him and answer him.
C. That God would tell him what to do so that he might not be destroyed.
“Enlighten my eyes . . . ”
David could not depend on his friends; they were not there. David could not even depend on himself, for in his deep state of depression and anxiety, David could not think clearly. He needed someone to tell him what to do. That someone was God. Alone in the dark, not only could David not see physically, he could not see spiritually. He did not know what to do. He needed God to “enlighten” him. “Enlighten” frequently refers to spiritual guidance. In Eph. 1:18, the apostle Paul refers to the enlightening of the “eyes of the heart.” David desperately needed God’s spiritual enlightenment to guide him in the shadows. He needed God’s love and compassion to turn the darkness of despair into the light of hope. Later in Psalm 19:8, David declares, “The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” David needed a word from God to show him the path he should follow.
D. That he might not be destroyed.
“. . . or I will sleep the sleep of death,”
David’s despair has reached the point beyond human endurance. David believes he is going to die alone in the darkness of that cave. The feeling David is experiencing is very much like that which Jesus expressed the night before his crucifixion when he is in the garden with his apostles. Matt. 26:38, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death.” A similar expression of feeling is found in Psalm 22. While this psalm is a prophecy of the death of Jesus, it unquestionably expressed the feelings of David in the throes of depression. (Psalm 22:14-15) If God doesn’t say something, do something, David will not survive!
E. That his enemy might not gloat over his misfortune.
“And my enemy will say, ‘I have overcome him,’ and my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.”
David’s enemies throughout his life were many; Goliath, Saul, Achesh, Abner, Absalom, the Philistines and so many others. Now as David sat alone and isolated he could hear them laughing at him. “Where is the king?” “Has anyone seen him?” David’s feelings of isolation and persecution are again expressed in Psalm 22. Psalm 22:6b-7a reads, “A reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see me, sneer at me.” God’s anointed pleads for God’s help that his enemies, who also the enemies of God, might not have the opportunity to claim victory over David and disparage the name of God.
III. A declaration of faith (Vs. 5)
A. That God would be faithful to his covenant.
“But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness”
This verse is at the core of David’s relationship with God. David has a covenant with God. The word “lovingkindness” refers to a love based on a covenant. This covenant is expressed by Nathan the Prophet in II Samuel 7:9,12-16. God promised David that “My lovingkindness will not depart from him.” David believed God would be faithful to his covenant and is reminding God of his faith in that covenant relationship. David is also reminding God of his covenant with David and declaring that he expects God to live up to his end of the covenant.
B. That God would save him.
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
David’s expectation is, that because of God’s covenant relationship with him, God will “save” him. Here, David is not talking about salvation in a spiritual or eternal sense as you and I would. Instead, David is expecting God to deliver him from his present situation and David will rejoice at his deliverance..
IV. A song of praise. (Vs. 6)
“I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.”
In this final verse, David sees his deliverance as an accomplished fact. God has remembered his covenant with David and has delivered him. David sings praises to God because God “has dealt bountifully with me.” David is still in the cave. He is still being pursued by his enemies. His physical circumstances have not changed but his heart has changed. No longer does he doubt the presence of God. No longer is he suffering in the depths of depression. He has prayed to God for deliverance and he believes with all his heart that deliverance will come and indeed sees it as having already been fulfilled. He rejoices because he knows that while his present circumstances are dismal, he, through the power of God, will be victorious in the end.
“The psalm closes, therefore, with expressions of joy, thankfulness, triumph. Though it begins with depression and sadness, it ends with joy. In the commencement it often occurs that the mind is overwhelmed with sorrow, and there is earnest pleading with God. Light, under the influence of prayer, breaks in gradually upon the soul. The clouds disperse; the darkness disappears. New views of the goodness and mercy of God are imparted; an assurance of his favor is brought to the soul; confidence in his mercy springs up in the heart; and the psalm that began with sorrowful complaining ends with the language of praise and of joy.” (Albert Barnes)
Conclusion:
When bad things happen, we often feel as though God has abandoned us and our friends have failed us. As we talk to ourselves, we often give ourselves the wrong advice and tumble into deeper despair. We need to realize that God is still with us. We are reminded of that in Isa. 49:15-16. We also need to know and understand that our friends are eager to come to our side.
When in despair, we need to realize that our feelings are just that; feelings. They may not and indeed probably do not reflect reality. To see reality, we need the enlightenment of God that we receive through prayer. It’s OK to be angry. It’s OK to tell God how we feel. It’s OK to ask God “How Long O Lord?” But we need to ask for and expect God to help us see the reality of his love and compassion for us. We need to be patient, knowing that God will act on his timetable, not ours.
We, like David have a covenant relationship with God. God promised David in II Sam. 7:15, “My lovingkindness shall not depart from him.” That same promise is ours as children of God. “I will never desert you, not will I ever forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). In this psalm, David reminded God of his covenant relationship with David. We also need to remind God and ourselves of our covenant relationship with God, knowing that he is always faithful to his covenant.
We need to allow God to enlighten us so that we can see our deliverance from sin and despair and our future with God in heaven. Let us rejoice in our deliverance. We may at this moment still be in the cave and in the dark but our future is full of light with God in heaven.
