Psalm 13
A Cry from One Who is Utterly Undone
Ps 13:1-2
The personal cry with which David opens Ps 13 harmonizes with the general lament which he introduces into Ps 12; and for this reason the collector has coupled these two Psalms together. Hitzig (a commentator) assigns Ps 13 to the time when Saul posted watchers to hunt David from place to place, and when, having been long and unceasingly persecuted, David dared to cherish a hope of escaping death only by indefatigable vigilance and endurance. Perhaps this view is correct. The Psalm consists of three strophes, or if it be preferred, three groups of decreasing magnitude. A long deep sigh is followed, as from a relieved breast, by an already much more gentle and half calm prayer; and this again by the believing joy which anticipates the certainty of being answered. This song as it were casts up constantly lessening waves, until it becomes still as the sea when smooth as a mirror, and the only motion discernible at last is that of the joyous ripple of calm repose. (from Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
Ps 13:1-2
How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?
Ps 13:1-2
The complicated question: till when, how long…for ever? (as in Ps 74:10; 79:5; 89:47), is the expression of a complicated condition of soul, in which, as Luther briefly and forcibly described it, amidst the feeling of anguish under divine wrath “hope itself despairs and despair nevertheless begins to hope.” The self-contradiction of the question is to be explained by the conflict which is going on within between the flesh and the spirit. The dejected heart thinks: God has forgotten me for ever. But the spirit, which thrusts away this thought, changes it into a question which sets upon it the
mark of a mere appearance not a reality: “how long shall it seem as though Thou forgettest me for ever?” It is in the nature of the divine wrath, that the feeling of it is always accompanied by an impression that it will last for ever; and consequently it becomes a foretaste of hell itself. But faith holds fast the love that is behind the wrath; it sees in the display of anger only a self-masking of the loving countenance of the God of love, and longs for the time when this loving countenance shall be again unveiled to it.
Three times does David send forth this cry of faith out of the inmost depths of his spirit. We must think of these cares as taking possession of his soul in the night time; for the night leaves a man alone with his affliction and makes it doubly felt by him.
By night he proposes plan after plan, each one as worthless as the other; and by day, or all the day through, when he sees his distress with open eyes, sorrow is in his heart, as it were, as the feeling the night leaves behind it and as the direct reflex of his helpless and hopeless condition. He is persecuted, and his foe is in the ascendant.
Ps 13:3-4
3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
4 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
Isa 63:15 Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained? KJV
In contrast to his being in perplexity what course to take and unable to help himself, he prays: `aniniy,’ answer me, who cry for help, by the fulfillment of my prayer as a real, actual answer. In contrast to the triumphing of his foe: in order that the triumph of his enemy may not be made complete by his dying. To lighten the eyes that are dimmed with sorrow and ready to break, is equivalent to, to impart new life.
Ezra 9:8 And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. KJV
This is reflected in the fresh clear “brightness of the eye”.
1 Sam 14:27-29 27 But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath: wherefore he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in an honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened. 28 Then answered one of the people, and said, Thy father straitly charged the people with an oath, saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any food this day. And the people were faint. 29 Then said Jonathan, My father hath troubled the land: see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.
The lightening light is the light of love beaming from the divine countenance, Ps 31:17. Light, love, and life are closely allied notions in the Scriptures. He, upon whom God looks down in love, continues in life, new
powers of life are imparted to him, it is not his lot to sleep the the sleep of death. Such is the light of life for which he prays, in order that his foe may not be able at last to say, “I am a match for him, I am superior to him, have gained the mastery over him.”
Ps 13:5-6
5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
6 I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.
This psalm gives us a model for approaching God when we are being cast down by the enemy. Our feelings of abandonment are real. It is entirely appropriate for us to express them to God. But we must not cast off hope even in despair. We must allow the despair to drive us to the impossible thought that God has abandoned us forever and then reject that thought in faith, resolving to rejoice in the reality that He will never do that. We must not take the seat of the scornful and doubting but rest in what we know of the character of God.
Heb 13:5-6 5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
— April 16, 2020