How Long?

Intro: Probably all of us can relate in one way or another to David’s primary question in this Psalm. How long, O Lord? It is an interesting question when we stop to think about it. David is not asking why he is suffering. It is not a question of purpose it is a question of endurance. The statement behind his question is, “I don’t know how much more of this I can take.” It applies to many circumstances:

Grief - when we lose someone we love

Pain - when the cure is worse than the disease, when there are seemingly more appointments than there are days in the week, or when the only answer they give you is to wait

Emotional

Dealing with depression or anxiety day in and day out

Broken relationships - how many people when their marriages are falling apart have said, “I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

Be Honest (v. 1,2)

Reverently Express Yourself

Before you can honestly express yourself to God you may need to honestly express yourself to yourself. If you are living in a constant state of denial then genuinely expressing yourself to God will be difficult.

Examples of living in denial:

Telling yourself “I can stop anytime”

Doubt or dismiss your feelings?

Believe repeated broken assurances?

Hope things will improve when something happens (e.g., a vacation, moving, or getting married)?

Make concessions and placate, hoping it will change someone else?

Feel resentful or used?

Spend years waiting for your relationship to improve or someone to change?

Walk on eggshells, or dread talking about problems?

Once you recognize that you have a problem you can honestly express yourself to God.

In v. 1 and 2 we have an example of someone honestly expressing themselves to the Lord. David does so with four questions:

How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? - He feels forgotten

How long will you hide your face from me? - He feels ignored

How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? - He feels abandoned

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? - He feels defeated

What to do when your feelings are at odds with truth

On an intellectual level David knew that God had not forgotten, ignored, or abandoned Him. This is clearly seen in verses 5 & 6. Psalm 13:5–6 “But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.”

So what do we do when our feeling are at odds with what we know is true?

Many people have abandoned the faith because they cannot adequately balance their feeling with truth.

Our final three points will gives us some positive answers to this question, but one thing we must say here is that feelings are not a trustworthy gauge of reality. Just because you do not always feel the active presence of God in your life does not mean that He is absent.

Feeling are a roller-coaster and we should not trust them as a measure of our relationship with Christ. That doesn’t mean that we ignore them (men), but they are not the arbiters of truth.

Make an Appeal (v. 3, 4)

David’s boldness may make us uncomfortable, but perhaps we should learn from it. “Consider and answer me. O Lord.”

For physical needs

It is perfectly appropriate for you to bring your physical needs before the Lord.

In fact there is some evidence that the circumstance of David’s writing this Psalm is that he was gravely ill.

“light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death” Many students of this passage believe that is a reference to a physical sickness or injury that David was dealing with.

For the glory of God

Culturally and historically we have to put ourselves in David’s shoes to understand what he intends us to understand in v. 4.

“lest my enemy say ‘I have prevailed over him’ lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.”

According to the Psalms should the believer be easily shaken?

Psalm 16:8 “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”

Psalm 62:2 “He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.”

David’s point is that when his enemies are victorious it is God that is maligned. David has said essentially in the Psalms “what will they say of you God if your people in your place are defeated?”

So when we make an appeal of the Lord we should question our motivations. It is certainly not wrong to desire an end to you suffering, but we must keep the glory of God as our chief end. Such that our request if stated literally would be something like “Lord heal me so that I can glorify you!”

Lord, transform my grief into your glory

Lord, heal my pain so that I can serve you

Lord, mend my marriage so that we can again reflect Your love

The mistake we often make is that we primarily make our requests about us.

Trust in Who He Is (v. 5a)

Dependence on God

If you know Christ that means that you have trusted God to deal with your sin and care for your eternal state.

Think about it, you have said to Jesus, “I am trusting you with whether or not I spend eternity in heaven or hell.” “I am trusting you to deal with my sin.”

We will trust Him with that, but not with our bills, health or family.

Dependence on Others/self

Hard truth: depending on yourself or others when you should be depending on God is idolatry.

Second, depending on yourself or others is therefore a form of unbelief.

Because practically speaking you simply don’t believe that God can care for your need or that God doesn’t care about your need.

And when you reach the end of your rope you will feel like David

Forgotten

Ignored

Abandoned

Defeated

Review His Attributes - We must trust in what we know far and above what we feel.

We are studying His attributes on Wednesday nights so fare we have considered His: self-existence, spirituality, sovereignty and His holiness.

In this Psalm David remembers His stedfast love.

Hesed

Loyal lovingkindness

Remember What He Has Done (v. 5b, 6)

Rejoice in Your Salvation

Both physically and spiritually

Take sometime, preferably everyday, to just be completely dumbfounded that God saved you.

Sing for His Generosity

Rejoicing in your salvation will naturally lead you to worship.

I can tell that some of you are under the misconception that you have to be able to hold a tune to make a joyful noise.

Psalm 100 says to make a joyful noise not sing a beautiful song. For some of you singing is more noise like than music like.

Sing out anyway.