How Long, O Lord? (Psalm 13)

Announcements

Let me remind you to prepare for the Lord’s Supper this Sunday during the Sunday AM service.

Friday, January 21st at 7pm, we’re going to show the movie American Gospel: Christ Alone in the auditorium. Admittance is free, we’ll have free popcorn, and free drinks as well. We’d love to have you here, please feel free to invite your friends and family.

As always, please continue worshiping the LORD through your giving. To help you with your giving, we have three ways for you to do so: (1) in-person giving can be done through the offering box in the front of the room. This is where cash and checks gift should be given—checks should be written to Grace & Peace and if you’d like a receipt for your cash gifts, please place it in an envelope with your name on it; if you’d prefer to give by credit, debit, or ACH transfers, you can do so either by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) by visiting us online at www.gapb.church and selecting giving in the menu bar. Everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Sermon

Introduction

It’s good to be back in the book of Psalms this evening as we continue in our series in Psalms. As you know, we’ve been working verse-by-verse and line-by-line through one psalm at a time in order for us to get the author’s original intent and then be able to apply it to our lives today. The beauty of the psalms is that each psalm is its own stand-alone passage, so, even though it’s been a few weeks since we last were in the book of Psalms, there isn’t a lot of material that we need to work through for us to get caught back up to where we are in the book of Psalms. In fact, beyond just reminding us of the general purpose of the psalms and how they can be applied to our lives today, there really isn’t much more that we need to say before jumping into the text itself.

So, let me remind you of what the purpose of the book of Psalms is. The book of Psalms isn’t a chronological account of any one particular event and it isn’t like the epistles in the New Testament that provide significant doctrinal teaching in a systematic way. The book of psalms is unique, because it’s a compilation of poems written by various authors during different situations in their lives with the ultimate purpose of being utilized for the musical worship of the LORD. The Israelites would utilize the book of psalms during their worship of the LORD.

In many ways, we can think of the psalms as an ancient collection of hymns. However, it is definitely notable that despite modern worship music’s attempt to only sing songs of joy with upbeat tempos, the psalms aren’t always filled with joy and they weren’t always sang with upbeat tempos. In fact, many of the psalms are somber reflections of terrible situations that were occuring in the author’s life and they’re filled with distress and discomfort.

Psalm 13, which is our psalm for this evening, is one of those psalms. Psalm 13 isn’t a psalm filled with only joy, in fact, it’s clear that there’s desperation in the psalmist and in his writing. Whatever he’s going through causes him great pain and suffering; and it wouldn’t be a leap to say that the psalmist is struggling with some amount of depression based on his melancholic attitude and hyperbolic questioning.

We know from the superscription, which says “to the choirmaster. A psalm of David,” that it was originally meant to be sang and that it was written by David. Beyond this, we don’t know much about the setting of the psalm itself. We’re not certain of the exact time or location that the psalm was written and thus, we aren’t certain of what in David’s life precipitated the authorship of this psalm; however, like I’ve mentioned a handful of other times the general nature of the psalm gives us a wider application. We can apply this psalm in more ways than if it were very specific in nature. This psalm, you’ll see applies to anytime that we might experience depression, sorrow, struggle, and pain, which for most people, is more often than what they would admit.

Let’s read Psalm 13 together as we dig into God’s Word this evening.

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.

As we study this passage, we’re going to look at it in three distinct parts. And I think it’s simple to see the distinctions, at least in the ESV, because the ESV provides gaps between each one of these sections, but not only that, they’re distinct in what they say: (1) Lament over Distress (1-2), the psalmist poses a series of rhetorical questions towards God. In doing so, he expresses great disdain and sorrow. (2) Prayer for Deliverance (3-4), after the psalmist’s rhetorical questions, he turns to prayer for God to deliver him from his distress. And (3) Confidence in the LORD and Praise for Salvation (5-6), ends the psalm with David showing confidence in the LORD and with David worshiping God. What this psalm will show us is the proper response to great distress in life. And while it might seem like a lot of our more recent psalms have focused on this theme or idea, the truth is that we all face more distress in life than what we typically would like to admit, and we all could use the remind to let our distress push us into prayer and praise of God.

Prayer for Illumination

Lament over Distress (1-2)

David starts this psalm with four rhetorical questions that all start with the same two words, how long?

I’m saying that they’re rhetorical, because its clear that David isn’t actually expecting God to respond to these questions with specific answers, though in vs. 3, he does ask God to answer him.

The questions in vss. 1-2 aren’t what he’s exactly asking God answers for in vs. 3, but we’ll get back to that when we reach vs. 3.

Vss. 1-2 gives us four questions that start with the two words how long? And already, in those two words repeated, we can sense a sort of desperation in the psalmist’s words—he poses these questions and it seems as if everything that he’s suffering through are issues that he’s suffered through for quite some time.

A person doesn’t ask how long unless it’s something that he’s dealt with for a significant amount of time—when faced with trial and tribulation, the first response typically isn’t to ask God how long you’ll have to deal with that trial or tribulation.

That response typically doesn’t occur until that trial and tribulation has been faced for a significant amount of time.

For instance, perhaps you get into a car accident on your way home from work and the accident is severe enough that you’re injured and have to go to the emergency room.

When you first arrive in the ER, depending on the severity of the accident, you might not even be conscious, when we you do wake up and you’re alert for the first time in the hospital—you might experience some pain, some discomfort, or soreness.

Usually, the first day in the hospital, while not pleasant, isn’t that bad. Even the second or third day might not be so bad.

However, the more days that you add to your stay in the hospital and the more time you spend having to deal with that injury while hospitalized, your mindset can shift.

Whereas as 2-3 days isn’t a big deal; 2-3 weeks can start causing you to wallow, it can cause depression, it can cause worry and concern.

Whereas a short stint in the hospital usually isn’t a big deal; a longer stint causes you to question whether you’re getting better, if you need more help, or if your life has changed permanently. A longer stint in the hospital will cause you to ask how long?

Now, we know in Psalm 13, that David isn’t in the hospital, but he’s still facing a situation in which he poses that question multiple times. He does expound on that question each time that he asks it, let’s take a look at each question. I’m going to read each one to you, and then we’ll look at each one individually.

Vs. 1a, “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?”—The first question clues us into something going on in David’s life in which he feels like God has forgotten him. Now, of course, we know that God doesn’t forget his people, in fact, typically when the Bible talks about God forgetting anything, it’s usually to do with our sins when we genuinely repent. However, the Bible, on occasion utilizes the idea of forgetting and remembering to talk about God’s giving and withholding of practical help—particularly in the Old Testament. When God is called upon to remember his people in the Old Testament, it isn’t saying that God had cognitively forgotten about them, but that he isn’t helping them in the way that he usually does and it’s a call for God to help them again. In Psalm 13:1, David is making the point that David is experiencing a time in which he feels that God has stopped helping him; stopped caring him; God has essentially forgotten David. That causes David’s first crying out. “How long, will you forget me forever?”

Vs. 1b, “How long will you hide your face from me?”—Then takes the same idea and amplifies it. Not only does David feel as if God isn’t helping him; God isn’t caring for him; and that God has essentially forgotten him, David’s question concerning the face of God being hidden from him shows us the personal nature of what’s going on. The Bible in 2 Chronicles 7:14, Psalm 24 and 105, and in various other texts talks about the upright seeking the face of God. The concept might be a little unfamiliar to us today because we typically don’t talk in that way today, but the idea of seeking God’s face is to seek God’s presence. It’s to seek his character and to desire him and in doing so, enter into the presence of God. You can think of it like this, in able to see someone’s face clearly, in-person, you have to look directly into their face, thus, they’re looking directly at your face—there’s a level of intimacy. David’s question of “how long will you hide your face from me?” Tells us that in that present situation David feels as if he isn’t even in God’s presence. There are times when we feel the same way, typically it’s a result of sinful behavior, occasionally it’s a result of experiencing depression. And judging by the questions that David poses here, it’s clear that he is facing some severe amounts of depression and he feels alone. We can see that abundantly in the first question in vs. 2.

Vs. 2a, “How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?”—David writes about the need of taking counsel in his soul and there’s actually a reason for it, but it isn’t seen clearly in the English translations. In Hebrew, it’s clear that the reason why he’s taking counsel in his soul is because he’s suffering with great anxiety or anguish in his soul. To take counsel in that sense means that he’s wresting with himself and his anxiety; the NIV translates this verse, “how long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?” And that is a good way to get the nuance of the Hebrew in mind. David is at war within himself and he’s struggling with depression, anxiety, pain, and struggle. This pain causes him to cry out again, “How long?”

The last how long? statement comes at the end of vs. 2b, “How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?”—now this could be taken in three ways. It could mean that as a result of David being forgotten by God and out of the presence of God, he’s lost God’s favor and thus, his enemies are exalting over him or triumphing over him. Or this can be taken conversely, that David’ feeling forgotten by God and feeling like he’s out of God’s favor and out of God’s favor is the result of his enemies exalting or triumphing over him. Or it could be just another reason for David’s overarching feeling of dejection and depression—that he feels this way because he thinks that God has forgotten him and that he feels like God’s presence is hidden from him. He thinks this way because he’s struggling with anxiety, depression, and pain and on top of that his enemies are exalting over him and triumphing over him. I’m partial to the idea that he feels dejected and depressed because of all these different reasons in vs. 1-2 and I base that on the fact that it doesn’t say one is the reason for the other, but all four issues are all issues that he’s struggling with.

David is suffering tremendously in his inner being or his inner man. Mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually, David is struggling. And this deep struggle has caused him to cry out to God four times asking “how long?”

And in light of all the tremendous suffering that he’s facing in his inner being or inner man, we can expound on that question, just a bit.

How long will I suffer?

How long will I struggle?

How long will I feel dejecting?

How long will I feel alone?

How long will I be at war within myself?

That emotional, mental, and spiritual struggle is what this psalm is focused on and in vss. 1-2, David takes a moment to essentially get it all of his chest in prayer.

And as I’ve mentioned through some of David’s other psalms, it is a good and right thing to do this. To express your emotional state to the LORD through prayer, is a good thing.

But he does this in a way that it’s clear that he still remembers that God is God and that he is not—he doesn’t demand that God obey him, he doesn’t blaspheme, and he doesn’t spew out heresy.

He simply asks God multiple times how long he’ll have to suffer, how long he’ll have to struggle, how long he has to feel dejected and alone. He simply asks God how long he’ll be at war within himself.

And then he transitions in vss. 3-4 into a prayer for God’s deliverance. Read with me vss. 3-4.

Prayer for Deliverance (3-4)

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.

Vss. 3-4 shows us the extent of the great suffering that David’s facing mixed in with a brief prayer for deliverance.

David starts vs. 3 with “Consider and answer me, O LORD my God.” And I do have to clarify one thing because I mentioned as we worked through vss. 1-2 that those questions were all rhetorical in nature, meaning David doesn’t necessarily want an answer to those questions. So, the question is, what does he want God to consider and answer?

I’m going to argue that it’s really found in the middle of vs. 3, “light up my eyes.” And I want us to talk about that phrase just a bit, but before we do, I want to clarify one other issue.

“Consider and answer me, O LORD my God” can seem like it’s a bit assertive, as if David is demanding God to answer him.

Let me first say, that it’s foolish to demand God do something for you, you aren’t not God, God is God. To demand that God do something for you is to reveal that you don’t truly understand who God is and who you are in light of who God is. He is your creator, your are his creation—to make a demand from him shows that you think you are greater than he is and that he exists for your pleasure (when the reality is that he’s greater than you and you exist for his pleasure).

David isn’t making a demand in vs. 3, he’s making a request and that bit of possible assertiveness is due to the desperate nature of himself. He’s desperate for God to reveal his face to him, to remember him and to help him.

It isn’t a demand, it is a request for God to intervene in a way that only God can.

I also want to point out the phrase or title that he gives God, “O LORD my God.” In Hebrew, he’s making the statement, “O yahweh my elohim. Yahweh is the personal name of God, elohim is the generic word for God or higher being. By stating it this way, he emphasizes the personal relationship that he has with Yahweh. David knows Yahweh and David understands Yahweh as his God. The basis of this prayer is the personal relationship between David and God.

David is asking God to intervene by “[lighting] up [his] eyes,” which is not a phrase that we use today.

However, we do talk about someone’s eyes lighting up or someone’s eye twinkling and that idea doesn’t quite capture what David is asking God for in vs. 3.

When we use that phrase, we’re talking about someone who sees something that peaks their interest and their countenance lights up, their face lifts. They look visibly happier and that can be for them seeing something or them thinking about something.

What David has in mind when he asks God to light up his eyes is more about life itself. He’s asking God to bring restoration to his life. And we see that in the next phrase, “Lest I sleep the sleep of death.”

David is asking for God to essentially preserve his life and considering the fact that up until this point, David has focused on spiritual, mental, and emotional issues rather than physical issues, it can mean one of two things: (1) it could mean that he’s facing an immediate danger to his own person or (2) and this is my argument, that he’s suffering so drastically spiritually, mentally, and emotionally that he feels like he’s going to die.

You might ask, do people ever actually feel that way? Let me assure you, someone struggling severely with depression, with anxiety, with any number of emotional, spiritual, or mental issues will admit that they’ve felt as if they were going to die. So yes, people do absolutely feel that way and David could very well feel the same way.

We see the extent of the suffering in the latter half of the verses, “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.”

David is praying to God and part of the reasoning for God responding to his prayer is so that he doesn’t die and so that his enemies don’t claim victory over him. In other psalms, David points towards the second reason as part of the reasoning for why God should act, so that people can’t talk down about God due to David’s suffering, it could be that David has a similar mindset here as well.

Utilizing the phrase “sleep of death” is a poetical choice that emphasizes how desperate David truly is for the LORD to intervene.

We would say it like this, “God, please help me or I’m going to die.”

You might be curious as to why David focuses so much about what his enemies will say and do if he does die or is “shaken” as he says in vs. 4 and I would argue that it’s part desperation, but it’s also part concern over what his enemies would say about God if David were to die.

Now, this text does make it apparent that there is a great amount of desperation in David’s life at this point. The tremendous suffering and struggle that he’s going through has compelled him to cry out to God and ask God to intervene, but you might hear that second part, “concern over what his enemies would say about God” and think, “where is he getting that?”

I’m getting it based on vs. 4 that David has a concern about what the people would say as well as other passages that David wrote.

Consider with me, David reveals in vs. 3 that he has a concern over his own death. Now whether that death is a legitimate fear or not is another story, but the truth is David thinks he’s going to die, if David genuinely thinks he’s going to die, why would he care what people who were still alive say about him? If he was genuinely concerned that he wasn’t going to survive, he wouldn’t really care what they said about him, he’ll be gone.

However, remember that David was chosen by God to be king and David knew that he was chosen by God to be king. In fact, David elsewhere speaks of those who oppose him as not just opposing him but also opposing God. Thus, David isn’t concerned about what they say about him concerning his death, he’s concerned with what they’ll say about God if he dies.

He shares similar concerns in psalms like Psalm 2-3, in which he describes those that are wicked speaking ill of God because of David’s death. They make the claim that God cannot possibly save him.

In David’s state of despair, suffering, pain, and struggle. He cries out to the LORD four times “how long?” And he speaks in such a way that he expresses himself as feeling alone, forgotten, and out of the presence of God.

He then prays an asks the LORD to consider and answer him. Answer him lest he dies, answer him lest his enemies rejoice and speak lies about God.

And so far, in this psalm, everything has been a bit dour—it’s been filled with great depression and suffering as David explains his current heart situation, his emotions, and his inner turmoil.

If we were to end here, this psalm would be filled with heartache and struggle, but the psalm doesn’t end here. The psalm actually ends on a great note of confidence and praise. Let’s read vss. 5-6.

Confidence in the LORD and Praise for Salvation (5-6)

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.

Vss. 5-6 shows us David’s absolute confidence in God. Consider all that he has told us in vss. 1-4 thus far:

He’s expressed great sorrow, pain, and distress in vss. 1-2

He’s asked God to respond to him, to keep him alive, so that those around him can’t rejoice in his death in vss. 3-4.

And in doing so, he’s expressed a situation that many of us have faced in our lives. We’ve all faced great sorrow, we’ve all experienced pain, and we’ve all been distressed in life.

We’ve all been in situations in which we’ve simply cried out “How long?”

Some of us have experienced situations in which our lives were at stake and we might not make it through; others have experienced situations in which our inner turmoil felt as if we were at the end of our lives.

Life is difficult and hard, to think that we won’t have deep struggles like David does in Psalm 13 is simply foolish.

And yet, David’s response to this is contrary to how most people respond to difficulties in life; and it’s actually something that we need to learn from and emulate because how David responds to the difficulties in his life is how God wants us to respond to our difficulties in life as well.

And that response is all predicated on the last two verses. Vs. 5, “But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.”

To trust in something means to have confidence in something and in the case of David in Psalm 13:5, he has confidence in God’s steadfast love.

The word translated as steadfast love is hesed, it very literally refers to the covenant keeping or loyal love of God.

Or in other words, it has in mind the part of God’s character concerning his willingness to keep his covenants based off his love.

David has confidence in God’s willingness to keep his covenants and God’s love.

That confidence causes his heart to rejoice in God’s salvation.

The word heart carries the idea of the inner man or the inner self, which in light of all that David had said concerning all the suffering and warring within his inner man, what we see is a juxtaposition between experiencing great suffering inside in the inner man in vss. 1-4, to experiencing confidence and trust in God, which results in the inner being rejoicing in God’s salvation.

Rejoicing is the idea of offering praise or being thankful for something and in this case it’s offering praise or being thankful for salvation that God himself provides.

It is notable that David calls this salvation, “God’s salvation.” David doesn’t take any credit for God’s salvific work, it is all God’s working within him and around him that provides him with salvation.

The last verse, then closes the psalm with praise. Vs. 6, “I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.”

Regardless of the situation that David is facing in which he feels forgotten by God, hid from God’s face; despite the inner turmoil that he faces within and the fear of death that he faces outwardly, David still has confidence and trust in God’s steadfast love.

He still rejoices in the salvation that God provides, and he still praises God, “I will sing to the LORD.”

And he has great reason for responding to the LORD in this way, it’s in the very last phrase, “because he has dealt bountifully with me.”

Often, when we find ourselves in situations like David describes in vss. 1-4, our response is to throw ourselves a pity party and wallow in despair.

David however, chooses to focus on what God has done for him.

He trusts God because of how God responds in his steadfast love.

He rejoices in God because of God’s salvific work.

He sings to God, because the God has dealt bountifully with him.

The idea here is that David trusts in, rejoices over, and sings to God because God has revealed himself to be one who acts in love, one who saves, and one who cares for his own people.

David, despite facing hardship, revels in who God is, he trusts God, he rejoices in God, he sings to God.

And quite frankly, what this shows us is an application that we all can walk away with learning from a growing from on a daily basis. In the last few minutes that we have, let’s take some time to look at specific application for this passage. Now, of course, because of the length of this psalm, it’s better for us to take the whole psalm in our application rather than splitting it into smaller sections, to just look at application in smaller sections would be for us to miss the point of the whole psalm. So, let me refresh your minds as we dig into application:

Application

We see in Psalm 13, David expressing himself in a time of great despair, trouble, and struggle. The Bible doesn’t tell us precisely when this even occurred or the reasoning for David writing this psalm beyond what the text itself says, and thus, our only understanding of the reasoning for the psalm is in what the psalm itself says. It’s clear that whatever David is facing in Psalm 13 has effected him to the level of him facing tremendous inner turmoil, probably great depression, and inner pain. He feels forgotten and alone with the very presence of God being hidden from him. All while dealing with this, he faces his enemies being exalted around him.

Despite the fact that we don’t know the precise details of this text, I think we all relate to David facing tremendous inner turmoil. I’m sure we’ve all struggled with great depression and inner pain. I know we’ve all faced times in which we feel alone and that God has left us. We all have people that would be excited by our downfall.

To say otherwise would be foolish and in some case naive. These struggles in life are simply a repercussion of living in a sin-cursed world.

We experience this suffering, depression, and inner pain because the world that we live in is fallen.

Many of us, when we face such tremendous difficulties respond in different ways—some people respond by turning to substances, others respond by turning to friends and family, still others respond by internalizing everything—holding it all in and hiding how we feel.

And quite frankly, none of those responses are exactly good responses and I’ve explained the reason for those responses not being healthy before—if something negative happens to you and your response is to run to substances, then eventually the substances dissolve and you need to continuously take more and more of that substance for the same effect.

If your response is to run to friends and family, that might help a little, but the reality is that your friends and family are fallible human beings, which means that your friends and family are just as liable to sin and err as you are—thus, they can’t always be relied upon because they can also fail you.

If your response is to hold everything in, the truth is, it seems to work until you slowly allow bitterness and anger to seep in as part of you holding everything in. Eventually it just leads to cynicism and eventually an explosive response.

We all face great trials and tribulations in life, how should we respond according to Psalm 13? Do what David does:

Lament over Distress (1-2)—take time to cry out to God, it’s perfectly normal and healthy to do so, keeping in mind that you do so reverently.

God is still God, so don’t act like you’re God. You are his creation; he is your creator. You are not his creator and he is not your creation.

To think or act otherwise is sinful, it’s the very concept of blasphemy and idolatry.

In times of great distress, cry out to God, it’s perfectly acceptable to ask God hard questions:

God why is life so difficult right now?

God, I feel absolutely terrible, what’s going on?

God, I feel like I’m all alone, where are you?

Again, keeping in mind that God is God and you are not; and remembering to be reverent as you pose these questions is vital.

It is perfectly acceptable to cry out like David does in times of great tribulation and trial in life—when you’re facing depression, cry out to God; when you’re suffering internal turmoil, cry out to God; when you feel all alone, cry out to God reverently and respectfully.

Be genuine and authentic with him—he already knows how you feel and what you think, so there’s no concern that you’re going to tell him anything he doesn’t already know, just simply and authentically tell him how you feel.

But don’t just leave it at that. Don’t cry out and make all these different complaints about how life is horrendous and you feel alone and you’re struggling with depression, continue in what David does:

Pray for Deliverance (3-4)—Ask God to hear you and ask God to respond favorably to you.

Now, of course, you do need to keep in mind that God is sovereign and he has a plan; keep in mind that God doesn’t exist to give you everything that you want. God never promises to give you exactly what you want in every situation.

However, Jesus does mention that you should petition the LORD. Ask him for help and ask him for deliverance. There’s an old hymn that says, “you are coming to a King, great petitions with you bring, for his grace and power are such, none can ever ask too much.”

That mindset is important for us as Christians to develop. Ask God, he is our King, ask him for help.

What that looks like is this. In times of great distress, cry out to God:

God why is life so difficult right now? I’m struggling, please help me and give me grace for endurance.

God, I feel absolutely terrible, what’s going on? Did I commit sin, do I need to repent? Please reveal the truth to me so that I can repent and reconcile with you.

God, I feel like I’m all alone, where are you? Please remind me that you’re always with your people and encourage me to remember that I am yours.

Again, remember that God doesn’t promise to give you every thing that you want, but he is sovereign and he does have a plan.

And in all these times of great trial in which you pray prayers like this, if you are a genuine believer, you can have the same confidence in God that David does and you can praise God just like David does in vss. 5-6.

Confidence in the LORD and Praise for Salvation (5-6)

Despite the hardships that you’re facing in your life right now, we all know that God has done tremendous things in our lives and in your life up to this point.

If you are a true believer in Jesus Christ—you’ve experienced such tremendous grace and mercy, that that alone is worthy of your praise.

In addition, you as a believer experience the indwelling of the Spirit and you as a believer are sealed to the day of redemption because of Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit.

These are just a couple examples of the things that God has done for you, that doesn’t include what Colossians 1 says, that “by [Jesus] all things were created . . . through him and for him.” That he holds all things together, that he provides your salvation to reconcile you to God through the blood of his cross.”

God has done amazing things in your life thus far and he has only ever been good and loving and kind to you in your life. Because God is only, ever good and he only, ever responds and acts in his steadfast love, you can have confidence in him. You can trust in him.

You can stand firm in him because he is worthy of your trust; and then you can sing praises to him every day.

In prayer, what this looks like is this: In times of great distress, praise God.

God why is life so difficult right now? I’m struggling, please help me and give me grace for endurance. I am so thankful that you give me more grace each and everyday. Thank you for who you are and what you do for us.

God, I feel absolutely terrible, what’s going on? Did I commit sin, do I need to repent? Please reveal the truth to me so that I can repent and reconcile with you. I praise you for your sin and his substitutionary atonement for my sins. Without Jesus, I am nothing, but I thank you for the opportunity that I have to repent and believe.

God, I feel like I’m all alone, where are you? Please remind me that you’re always with your people and encourage me to remember that I am yours. I am so thankful that I am yours and that you hold me in your hand. I am thankful that even though I feel alone, I know that your word says that you never leave me. Thank you.

And truthfully, despite the fact that David does all this in a rather distressing time of his life, you can do this every day. Cry out to God, tell him how you feel, make petitions, and praise him; give thanks.

Put simply, what Psalm 13 teaches us is that in times of great distress, (1) cry out to God, tell him how you feel, (2) ask him to deliver you to intercede on your behalf, and (3) then praise him for what you know God does and what you know he’ll continue to do.

We serve an amazing and great God; even in times of great distress in our lives, he is still an amazing and great God who is only ever good. He is worth our trust and he is worth our praise and he is worth our thanksgiving.

Prayer Requests

This is this week’s prayer list:

Bill Stiver has had his surgery and is recovering well.

Caleb Miller - Medical Issues

Alan Wisor - Medical Issues

Deane Herbst is currently hospitalized for Covid. The doctors think it’ll be mid-January before he can return home. Please pray for a quick recovery and pray for his family to find comfort in Jesus alone.

We’ve had a few people mention that they’ve been in proximity with others who have COVID—while none of them are exhibiting symptoms, they are still staying home just in case. Pray for them as they quarantine.

Our missionary friends, The Dunlops sent our an update a few weeks ago. They plan on returning to full-time deputation travel mid-January and hope to be in France during the month of June to visit with missionaries already in France.

Pray for the remaining renovation work—we’re currently $4,800 short of completing all the projects. Continue praying for the LORD’s provision for these projects. I recently heard from a church that might help us with the remaining cost, but they don’t know for sure that they can yet.

Pray for our church, in particular, concerning consistent attendance and increased attendance.

Continue praying for Philipsburg and the surrounding areas; that we can be utilized by God to continue making mature believers of Jesus Christ.