Have you ever had to wait for someone, and at the appointed time, they did not show up? So you waited longer, and longer…“Why aren’t they here? Did they forget me? Where are they?” you began to ask yourself.
Well, Psalm 13 starts out that way. In verses 1 and 2 David begins his prayer to God, “How long, God? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 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?” David is saying, You forgot me, You have hidden Your face from me. I have to look to myself for counsel and I am sad all day at this separation from You.
Why would David feel this way? Maybe his external circumstances (he was on the run from Saul a LOT), maybe he felt pressure/harassment from The Enemy, maybe his disconnection from God depressed him or maybe his own personality and character tended toward the melancholy. We don’t know what he was referring to at the moment he wrote this. But I am sure all of you have felt that way at one time or another, or even now with the craziness of this world, at this moment.
In verse 3 he continues his prayer, “Consider and answer me, O Lord my God, light up my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death.” He asks God to enlighten him, to shine a light in his spiritual darkness. He asks God to remember him and to answer him.
Then there is a mood change in verse 5. “But I have trusted in Your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.” Did something amazing happen between verse 4 and 5? Did his enemy suddenly let up his attack? Did he get good news? OR was there a choice made here?
I believe that David CHOSE to TRUST in God’s steadfast love, that He CHOSE to REJOICE in God’s beautiful, redemptive love and salvation. After feeling the grief, the darkness, the sorrow, he took his petitions to God, he placed them before Him, and then cried out for relief. Then he made a CHOICE to believe God, to trust His words and promises, and in future tense he says “my heart SHALL REJOICE in Your salvation.” He charts a course toward God and chooses to believe and rejoice! Post-choice, in verse 6, comes the next part -- “I WILL SING to the Lord, because HE HAS DEALT BOUNTIFULLY WITH ME.” The difference between verses 1 and 2 and verses 5 and 6 are two things: PRAYER and a CHOICE.
Today, when the world is chaos, stresses abound in our hearts, homes, and all the world, we can cry out to God, lay out our petitions before Him, then CHOOSE to believe He IS with us, He has NOT abandoned us, and then with this choice, TRUST our lives to His love and SING and REJOICE because He IS there, He is PRESENT in our lives.
Take a few minutes right now (yes, we have lots of in-the-house moments rights now), lay out your stresses, your fears, your loneliness, your sadness to God. Then make that choice – CHOOSE to claim His promises, BELIEVE His promises, and then finish with a song of praise, because He is STILL on the throne!