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!

Psalm 105 "He..."

Photo by Terren Hurst on Unsplash

Psalm for Today = 105:1-4 “He…”

¹Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;
    make known his deeds among the peoples!
² Sing to him, sing praises to him;
    tell of all his wondrous works!
³ Glory in his holy name;
    let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
⁴ Seek the Lord and his strength;
    seek his presence continually!

Comments:

The last two psalms we read focused on remembering what God has done redemptively in the removal of our sin and sickness (103) and in his creation of everything and his care for the creature (104). Here in Psalm 105, we are called to remember what he has done in establishing his covenant with Abraham and with the Patriarchs, and in the Exodus of Israel from Egypt. These were the great cardinal events in the history of the nation of Israel, and yet it is very clear from this psalm that the hero of the story was not Abraham the man of faith, Joseph the long-suffering man of integrity, nor Moses the miracle-working law-giver.

The hero, the one who did it all, was and is Yahweh, the Lord. In this psalm, the pronoun “he” is used of God and tied with an active verb 28 times—He made, he allowed, he summoned, he sent, he spoke, he struck down, etc. Perhaps the action that I like the most is found in verses 8 and 42,

      “For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham, his servant.”

By extension, he remembers us as well "to a thousand generations" (v.8), and we read this psalm and remember him more clearly.

So today, as we remember… perhaps we are a little more like God!

Psalm 77 "Memories"

Psalm for Today = 77:11-15 

“I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, 

 I will remember your wonders of old.

 I will ponder all your work,

 and meditate on your mighty deeds. 

Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?

You are the God who works wonders;

you have made known your might among the peoples. 

You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph.”

Comment: 

Photo by Julia Joppien on Unsplash

In the midst of a psalm of lament, one where the psalmist honestly longs for the" good old days" and wonders whether God is through working in his life, he chooses to remember the wonders that God had worked in the past. 

It is in his remembrance of Yahweh’s relational redemption of his people (specifically in the Red Sea crossing), that Asaph came to make this request and silently stated his trust in the Lord in his present circumstances. 

When we long for the "good old days" who is the hero of our story? 

I want to side with Asaph's choice in this.

Because we tend to remember bad things more easily than good things, I find it helpful to keep a spiritual journal of biblical devotions, breakthroughs, lessons, insights, and observations of God at work in the world, as well as my prayers and answers to prayer. Looking back, things I wrote down long ago can still encourage me in difficult times.