Psalm 13 “How Long?”

Psalm 13:1a, 3-4 

How long, O Lord? (4x)… 

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

Comments:

What is the subject of this psalm? If I was to state it in the form of a question it would be, “How long do I have to wait for an answer from the Lord?” Sometimes we really wonder how long it will take God to answer us and how long we will have to endure seemingly high and dry like a beached boat.

While growing up in an orphanage in El Salvador, Hannah told me that when the kids in the van asked “How much longer?” The standard answer was always, “20 more minutes”—no matter how many times they asked. Didn’t our parents all do something like that? As a result, I have called this either the “Are we there yet?” or the "Kids-on-a-road-trip” psalm since the psalmist asks the Lord “How long…?” four times in rapid succession (v.1-2). But perhaps my semi-flippant title is making light of the deep pain of the psalmist’s lament. Yet the lament is common to the human experience. I know I have asked the Lord the same question more than once in the last couple of weeks. So I in no way want to minimize to the depth of the psalmist’s trauma…this is no impatient passenger but a person facing death and unjust accusations.

In verses 4-5, our focus today, he states why he really needs to know the answer. After the “How long” lament, he again presents his request,

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

He neither wants to die nor desires his enemies to get the last word! I am encouraged that he didn't stop presenting his needs to the Lord. Then in the last two verses (v.5-6), he states what he has done in the past "trusted" and what he will do in the future "rejoice."

Why this sudden change of heart on the psalmist’s part? What is it that lights up his eyes? Like a bit of honey on the tongue of a famished warrior (1 Samuel 14:27), he finds something that renews his hope and strength to persevere. This is a fairly common occurrence in the psalms.

·         Have his circumstances changed? No.

·         Has his perspective changed? Yes.

He has stated his need clearly to the Lord and seems to pause to remember how God has dealt with him in the past bountifully in steadfast love and salvation.

Clocks on Canary Warf, London

So has the psalmist come to realize that the answer to his repeated “How long?” lament is “As long as it takes”? Or, perhaps, has he come to see that the question has already been answered, even before he called? Because of what God has done in the past he knows that his future is also secure.

Of course, the long-term future view of the Day of the Lord addresses his concerns as well, for Isaiah prophesied,

He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
    and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
    for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
    “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
    This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
    let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:8-9)

Woman Waiting

The mouths of our enemies will not get the last laugh.
We are not like that boat beached in the dunes by chance and time. God has a plan to continue to show his steadfast love to us. He will bring his purposes to pass.

So what do we do with our “How longs?”
May the Lord brighten your eyes today!

P.S. I know some of you might have been asking “How long until Greg posts another Psalms blog?” Well, you too now have an answer!