(Psalm 13) How Long O Lord?

INTRODUCTION:

There is a wise saying, “Time passes quickly when you are having fun”.

ILLUSTRATION:

- In fact, my kids said that on the way home from our camping trip.

Oh Dad, do we have to go home.

We just got here.

When in reality we had been there a day and half already.

But they were having fun; and so time passed quickly.

- Now on the other hand - how do you think they did on the road trip home.

Funny how long time takes when you are not having fun.

Suffering can fill that way.

It can feel like it will never end.

There is no hope in sight.

Or

You are never going to make it to the end.

Have you ever felt like - this is never going to end.

That is exactly how David felt in his pain and suffering in this Psalm.

Let’s Read together.

Psalm 13 ESV

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. 1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How 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? 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. 5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Notice, the struggle of David,

How long, O Lord? (1)

1) Will you forget me forever? (2)

2) How long will you hide your face from me? (3)

“will you forget me continually” (NET)

(1) What is the struggle that David is going through?

(2) NET: Heb “will you forget me continually." A common question for the suffering is whether God has forgotten them.

How long do I have to wait for your answer.

(3) The idea is that they are not being payed attention. ("How long will you pay no attention to me" - NET)

3) How long must I take counsel in my soul (1)

(In other words, solve my problems all by myself)

4) and have sorrow in my heart all the day? (2)

5) How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

HISTORICAL SITUATION:

Now again, we have no idea what the situation is.

We know his death is imminent?

He is being attacked by the enemy?

He searched for God; but as of yet; has not been delivered.

This is what we know -

And so he asks these questions - summed up by “How long O Lord”

Isn’t that we often feel in our struggle?

Maybe it is the medical problem -

And its hurts.

There is no quick cure to it.

And so you suffer - agonizing and wondering when it is going to be over.

Maybe it is financial issue -

And you stay awake pleading to God and wondering how you are going to get out of this mess.

Maybe it is a sin issue.

You fight, but can’t seem to overcome it.

And it becomes an agonizing pain as you try to overcome this struggle, overcome it’s guilt, and not let it overtake your life.

Maybe it is someone else’s sin issue.

Your are stuck in the middle of an ugly situation.

You have tried to resolve it - to no reprieve.

And so circumstances require you to endure this person’s sin.

It’s like being in the cross hairs of a bomb going off day after day.

And the best you can hope for - is to duck and cover from the mess it makes.

Maybe it’s parenting.

You have the responsbility to train up your children ().

But sometimes you feel stretched thin; exhausted and overwhelmed.

And then all your hard work seems like nothing - when one of the kids melts down while the other dumps the sugar bowl all over the floor.

And

So what all do all these situations have in common?

They make you want to say, what David said,

“How long O Yahweh”

ILLUSTRATION:

Perhaps you are like me; and suddenly in that struggle you become a great theologian. (and I don’t mean that positively)

Lord,

You are the one who parted the Red sea and destroyed Pharaoh’s Army -

So why have you not parted my sea, and destroyed my enemies.

But isn’t that what David actually says.

But instead of my sinful accusation - he remembers that Yahweh, and asks him to send his light.

Psalm 13:3–4 ESV

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.

Ps 13:

He says, Consider me O Lord.

I know I am just a no body from a no body nation - Israel

But I know you love me with steadfast love - Hesed.

So send me your light - a figure of speech to say deliverance.

In modern tongue - “Consider me and send me the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Give hope and give me Deliverance..

And because David remembers who he is calling upon - Yahweh

He places his trust and praise in the delivering love of God.

Psalm 13:5–6 ESV

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

CONCLUSION:

I would like us to consider this -

Notice what this struggle has caused David confess.

He communicates that - he trusts and rejoices in the bountiful deliverence of God - because he knows God loves him.

This is remarkable when we consider -

he is sinking in despair,

his life hanging by a thread -

Yet he has faith - he knows that God will deliver him bountifully.

Maybe you are saying, “How Long O Lord” today.

Name the reason.

You know God loves you - and has the power to deliver you

Which forces you to trust in deliverance you can’t see yet.

ILLUSTRATION:

Its like looking for land in the midst of storm, far out to sea, desperate to make it back to port, but you trust God to deliver you - even though you can’t see past the sheet of rain before you.

Consider this,

Maybe the suffering, struggle, plea, fear - “How Long O Lord” is what you need all along.

It is exactly the steadfast love that you need to be the dependent, God-loving believer he created you to be.

1 Peter 1:22–23 ESV

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

You may need earthly deliverance, but perhaps the real deliverance you need is- To come to point when you can say - storm or no storm - in Christ alone do I trust.

Maybe that is the deliverance you needing all along.

Dependence upon

The one that will ride you through the storm.

The one that will keep you from sin.

The one that will give you true peace.

The one that will truly give you what you need.

Is not that not the faith that God lead David too?

He lead David to Reassurance of Gods love, with confidence in God’s power, with Faith that he will be able to ride out this storm through God.

And that is exactly the purifying Work Christ is meant to do in own lives.

May we lean upon the greatness of God when our hearts are trembling.