How long, O Lord! This is a cry of anguish to God. David is on the verge of despair. He feels like he can’t hold on any longer.
Have you been there? Crushed. Struggling to find words for prayer.
Psalm 13 teaches us how prayer in the middle of the those times. This is why some call the Psalms a “Prayerbook.”
Learning these prayers helps us pray when we’re in similar situations. In this and other Psalms we find words for those times of pain and despair.
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Psalm 13, a Psalm of individual lament, divides into three parts:
David is hurting (1-2)
How long, O Lord, How long is this going to last? He asks this four times in verses 1 and 2. He’s pretty blunt. We could almost say he’s mad at God. He charges God with forgetting about him: God, you’re not doing anything about my problem! He goes a step further and charges God with deliberately hiding from him. God, you’ve deliberately abandoned me!
“The questions move from God’s apparent indifference (v. 1) to the singer’s circumstances of anguish” (ESV Study Bible). David is honest with God about what he is feeling.
David asks God to act (3-4)
After expressing his frustration of God’s seeming inactivity, David makes his request. He asks God to act (verses 3-4). Do something, Lord. Do something before I end up in the grave!
This is the heart of the Psalm. It is highlighted by its central position right in the middle of the Psalm.
David declares his faith and trust in God (5-6)
But the prayer doesn’t end with his plea for help. David goes one step further. He declares his faith and trust in God (verses 5-6). This expression of trust begins with the little hinge word “But”.
I’m hurting, you’re not doing anything, “But…” In spite of all that, I still trust in your faithfulness.
The word here translated faithfulness is hesed – loyal, faithful steadfast lovingkindness based on a previous covenant promise.
Because of God’s faithful, steadfast love toward David, David’s “heart rejoices” in the midst of his troubles. He sings out to God, in faith, “You have dealt bountifully with me!”
God’s faithfulness to us is seen most vividly in his provision of Jesus. David’s pattern of prayer is paralleled in song of praise that ends Romans 8. Even in the worst circumstances, writes Paul,
We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God has dealt bountifully with us in Jesus!
