Despair Into Delight

As has become commonplace, we’re taking a bit of the Summer to teach in The Psalms. The Psalms are an expertly and intentionally crafted collection of poems, songs, and hymns written by God’s people to reflect on the Story of God. If you haven’t already, we highly suggest you take a moment to watch the video overview our friends at Bible Project did for Psalms — it’s AMAZING!

For this first week, we tackled a Psalm of Lament from David and explored the very essence of how we approach the Lord when he feels distant. Here’s Psalm 13:

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.

Repeated four times, David asks, “How long…” “will you forget me forever,” “hide your face from me,” “must I take counsel in my own soul,” and “shall my enemy be exalted over me?” He’s in distress over his relationship with God, himself, and his enemies. And he’s not wrong to do so. His four “how long’s” are mated with three imperatives: “look,” “answer,” and “give light.” But despite his distress being so great, David never gives up. The “But I” in v. 5 is emphatic. He turns his attention not to the quality of his faith in the moment, but to the object and its outcome! We have much to learn from this Psalm.

Give the sermon text a read and a listen as we close out the Book of Ruth and we hope to see you this week at a Family Meal and/or a DNA group to dive even deeper.