Everybody Hurts, Part 3: Psalm 13

Psalm 13 offers us an incredible yet succinct way to present our suffering before God.  In just 6 verses this Psalm provides us a healthy template through which we can cry out before the Lord with boldness, with honesty, with soul, and with reverence. 

There appears to be three parts to this Psalm, thus three steps in “crying out” to God: 1) The Cry; 2) The Plea; 3) The Praise. 

First Movement: Crying Out To God

¹ How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
   How long will you hide your face from me?
²How long must I take counsel in my soul
   and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

(We are invited to boldly call out to the Lord; and why shouldn’t we?  There have certainly been times in which I felt utterly forgotten by God, as if God was deliberately snubbing me, forcing me to face my fears and failures and futility utterly alone.  Thus I am so glad that I can express these feelings to God.  God is not a little old lady:  He is certainly big enough and wise enough to wait patiently as we shake our tiny fists at heaven.  Just remember, when the dust is settled, move on; do not dwell on your anger or frustration forever.  Make your cry known, but do not stay there – the relief it brings is temporary and you will quickly be miserable again.  Now that your anger, hurt, and frustration are all laid bare, it’s time to move on to step 2)

Second Movement: Pleading With God

 ³ Consider and answer me, O LORD my God;
    light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
⁴ lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed over him,"
   lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

(Now you make your plea known to God – ask exactly for what you want, exactly how you would say it.  Even though your ‘intellect’ knows that God will never leave you, beg Him to “remember” you, to answer you, to bring you peace.  Let God know that if you cannot rely on him to answer you and to remember you as his follower, then you have nothing, you are nothing, you are utterly shaken. Without God in your life you are as good as dead.)

Third Movement: Praising God

⁵But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
   my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
⁶I will sing to the LORD,
   because he has dealt bountifully with me.

(When I was a younger man, I looked on passages like this with a certain amount of smug cynicism: Is not the writer simply stating these praises to God in hopes that he gets the relief he so desperately wants? Is he not just ‘appeasing’ God so God will answer his prayer?  In essence, is he not just rubbing the magic lamp a little harder in order to make his wishes heard?  As I have grown older, I realize now how wrong and foolish I was.  The writer shares with us the secret to a true life of faith:  We are to praise God despite our circumstances.  We praise when life is great:  We especially praise when life is horrible.  We present our suffering, we beg for help, then we praise.  We always praise, no matter what.  God deals ‘bountifully’ with us, despite our current situation.  Remembering this not only leads to a more mature and God-focused faith, it also builds an incredible amount of hope!) 

This Psalm is short enough that you can memorize it easily: I invite you to use it as your prayer when your hurt, suffering, depression or confusion becomes overwhelming. 

Cry out to God; Yell and shake your fist.  Go ahead; break an inexpensive lamp if you must…then

Plead to God; Beg God to grant you relief and peace – scuff your knees, sweat it out, bruise your forehead…

But especially, no matter what,

Praise God; for dealing bountifully with you in the past, at the present moment, in the future—praise God for, well, just being God!

And it’s amazing how over time you come to have less and less “shoutin’, fist-shakin’” moments!

In Christ,

Mark