Psalm 13
For the Choirmaster
A Psalm of David

01      How Long, O LORD?
                 Will You forget me forever?
        How long will You hide Your face from me?
⁰²     How long must I wrestle with my soul
                having sorrow in my heart daily?
        How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Introduction:  Since the subscription to Psalm Thirteen is ordinary enough in its familiarity, I will not comment further.  As far as to style and uniqueness, my Translator’s Handbook observes that our Psalm for today “is described by Alter as a ‘structure of intensification’ in which each repeated element, ‘How long,’ introduces additional material which has the effect of heightening or intensifying the theme of supplication.”

This three fold intensification occurs in both the first and second divisions of this psalm, which is completed by a subscription of faith at the end.  Delitzsch observes “The Psalm consists of three strophes, or if it be preferred, three groups of decreasing magnitude.  A long deep sigh is followed, as from a relieved breast, by an already much more gentle and half calm prayer; and this again by the believing joy which anticipates the certainty of being answered.  This song as it were casts up constantly lessening waves, until it becomes still as the sea when smooth as a mirror, and the only motion discernible at last is that of the joyous ripple of calm repose.”

I can well remember the many crises that I faced in my once public career.  Initially and immediately problems seemed magnified and far greater in danger than they ultimately proved.  And even when the waves of the time ran against me, they were eventually stilled like the storm that tossed the disciples on Lake Galilee.

And yet, just as the disciples feared, teared and demanded that Christ should awake from His rest in their storm tossed ship  one word of His is sufficient to calm not only the worst of storms but also our souls as well.  What mature saint is there who has not experienced the same fear and trepidation in the face of some obstacle small or great? 

In the recent movie Luther, the fearful protagonist requested a night of prayer before answering the Council that might execute or excommunicate the Saxon Fredrick’s favorite professor.  The movie showed a prostrate Luther lying in his chamber crying out to the Lord for strength and direction.  Like David’s heart here in this soul searching psalm  Luther desired the comfort and assurance that only the Lord God Creator could send.  And on the morrow, Luther was strengthened to declare where he would stand regarding the theological issues  so help him God!

Development:  While we do not know in what specific hour David was being tried in this Psalm, we still see the heartfelt argument between his mind and spirit.  Delitzsch reminds us that “the complicated question: till when, how long … forever, is the expression of a complicated condition of soul, in which, as Luther briefly and forcibly describes it, amidst the feeling of anguish under divine wrath ‘hope itself despairs and despair nevertheless begins to hope.’  The self-contradiction of the question is to be explained by the conflict which is going on within between the flesh and the spirit.”

Spurgeon observes that the question represents “very intense desire for deliverance, and great anguish of heart.”  Which heartfelt emotions, we might almost suppose to be a human equivalent to Christ’s agony in the garden turmoil on the night before He went to the cross.  The all important question of the heartfelt moment is summed up in two words:  “How long?”  And therein is the waiting time in the dentist’s office or the hospital waiting room, the teenage angst of taking a driver’s test, the night before battle and the long hours of military guard duty that can suddenly be illuminated by a life and death fire fight.  Yes, there truly is a world of difference between those examples just cited, and we can certainly hope and pray that our loved ones only have to deal with dentists, tests and exams.  However, all such experiences are troublesome even to sometimes experienced souls as we might see here from David’s numerous dark nights of the soul.  “How long?”  David demands, and in the seeming unreasonable wait for an answer  the cry and its implications are multiplied fourfold.

And to these four questions we must turn our attention, one by one.  In the first half of the first verse, David pines:  How Long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever?
Spurgeon tells us “it is not easy to prevent desire from degenerating into impatience.  O for grace that, while we wait on God, we may be kept from indulging a murmuring spirit!”  “How Long?” David asks pointedly of the Lord God.  How many times in the history of the Christian Church have God’s appointed men cried out that prayer and shared their heartfelt complaints before their congregations only to realize that the rest of the Lord’s people are appointed to a different time-table - sadly, all too many times, those so gifted move on to other flocks hoping that their voices may finally be heard.

David could have had peace of mind, security and the promise of a future by simply leaving Palestine.  In Colonial times, those whose counsel and concerns could have profited the Puritans  simply moved to another colony where the ears of the people did not seem so deaf.  What would the history of the Old Covenant have been like, if every prophet, priest and king who was ignored had simply departed and set up shop in another place with different people?  It would have been the American religious experience in much more dangerous times.  Three hundred Christian religious organizations at least and who in their right mind would be able to determine just who speaks for modern Israel here in our land and time?

As I have counseled half a dozen men in this general area  as long as people are willing to let you teach the gospel of grace  you have an obligation to stay and give a proper witness.  Only, when the group leadership demands one to cease and desist are they allowed to leave and seek better fellowship.  We here are much stronger today because several of our people have stayed on for several years in other places giving a profound witness to the doctrines of grace.  Just this last week I talked with another two men, who asked me the same question about how long they should stay where they are.  I admonished them in the same manner and then quietly encouraged them that I might expect to see them with us in another year or two?

“How long, O LORD?” many pastors ask about their current Parrish or Church.  And far, far too many times  they decide to give up the work and move on to another place, not remembering that Abraham sojourned in a strange land to minister for many years.

Of a more heartfelt doubting is the second line of our Psalm where we hear: ”Will You forget me forever?”  Yes, the human heart is sometimes overly dramatic.  I taught with young people long enough to notice that all too many of those who fell in love and declared that love to be forever, more than likely meant ten days to two weeks!  Likewise, prayer that is anguished measures “forever” in nano-seconds instead of hours, days and weeks.  Patience is not an easy virtue to put on and unfortunately it takes time and providence to show us how the Lord chooses to do a great work.  Conversion sometimes takes years, but can be accomplished in a second, but sanctification is another matter!  Would we allow the Lord to demand of us in that regard:  how long?

But, ever so quickly, David moves on to a more likely thought: ”How long will You hide Your face from me?”  Quickly, he has realized that “forever forgotten” is not a concept that God could or would apply to His own elect.  And so, still in something of an accusatory sense He asks how long the Lord will remain in hiding.  Remember the disciples in that little ship amidst great waves on the Sea of Galilee?  The wind and the waves were more than they had bargained for, how could their magnificent teacher sleep through it?  Sometimes when I am tired, Sherry will ask me in the morning, didn’t you hear your dog barking last night?  Sometimes, she will even awaken me to enjoy the happy howling  which I must then do something about.  Well, Cookie and I have an understanding and she well knows when to fear my voice and go back to sleep.  On a much higher and important level  all of creation responds to the word of the Creator.

In the next verse, the second  David moves on to a better understanding of his own all too human heart.  I still remember the last night of basic training, the next day we would graduate and ship out to our next appointment.  For the greater majority that would be advanced infantry training.  Our Company 1^st Sergeant made the rounds of the platoons that night and sat down to pray with all who would accept it.  And he shared the testimony of his experience in Korea and assured us that we could overcome our fears and give good service not only to our God and King, but also to our Constitution and Republic. 

“How long must I wrestle with my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?” is how David expresses this internal argument between mind and heart.  We have all engaged in these familiar arguments, tossing out idea after idea as we seek a solution to our all too immediate problems.

Calvin tells us that the earlier question “How Long … forever” is so constructed in the Hebrew as to allow a less immediate answer than we might suppose in a casual reading of the text.  “By speaking thus, he gives us to understand, that for the purpose of cherishing his hope, and encouraging himself in the exercise of patience, he extended his view to a distance, and that, therefore, he does not complain of a calamity of a few days’ duration, as the effeminate and the cowardly are accustomed to do, who see only what is before their feet, and immediately succumb at the first assault.  He teaches us, therefore, by his example, to stretch our view as far as possible into the future, that our present grief may not entirely deprive us of hope.”

Thus, we may appreciate that the heartfelt anguish we engage in, is to be rectified when once we understand what the Lord God of heaven and earth will propose and allow within His providence.  The heartfelt anguish is nothing more than wrestling our way to accommodate in our minds and hearts what the Lord God has already decided to do.

Application: However, there is still one last issue to be raised in David’s prayer: ”How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?”  And in this issue the ultimate cause of Christ is raised up as appearing to be at stake in every matter wherein the Elect of all the nations are allowed to be trampled on by the worldly and ungodly.  And it is this question which we shall take up in the second section of this humble, contrite prayer of finding our way within the will of God to accomplish that for which we were created, placed and guided.

There are of course, immediate as well as eternal considerations in this question.  And of course, David may be excused, as all of us may be too  to initially sense  and question what our emotional trauma in contending with the wicked  has to do with God’s eternal providence in all things?

Recently, I have been in correspondence with a gentleman in mid-America whose scholarship and worries are too heavily dependent upon the various and sundry conspiracy theories related to the last days.  Two popular evangelical books, while admittedly fiction, do also raise the ante of this great question of David  writ large in our own day.  ”How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?” 

Our answer to the question in general is this:  God knows.  And if we trust in Him and labor as we are enabled He will accomplish all that we cannot and at the proper moment according to His judgment and His eternal plan, everything will be taken care of.  Like David, we must learn to “trust and obey, for there is no other way” as the old hymn goes.  What we see in our psalm portion today, is the emotional, spiritual and intellectual means and methodology to accept that day by day even as we earnestly pray: “Come quickly Lord Jesus, come quickly.”  Amen.