Psalm 13

(Psalms 13 KJV) "To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. 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."

One wonders if there could ever have been a time when God forgot David, but here was a time when David surely thought he had. Or at least that’s what he wrote in the psalm. The last two verses lead me to believe that David was using a figure of speech in the first sentence. Most of us know what it is like to wonder how long God is going to leave us in trouble, in pain or in fear. We know what it is like to "take counsel with" our soul, that is to wrestle with our thoughts [NIV].

But in this case David does not say, "I will trust," but "I have trusted in thy mercy." This is of a pattern of more than one psalm, where David pours out his soul about the difficulties he faces only to turn in the end to absolute confidence that God will, when he is ready, relieve the pain and end the suffering and the opposition. It involves, not only a trust in God’s judgment, but in his mercy. That means God isn’t going to give us what we have coming, but is going to mercifully give us relief that we don’t deserve.

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