How Long?

Psalm 13 (CSB)

For the choir director. A psalm of David.

¹ How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
² How long will I store up anxious concerns within me,
agony in my mind every day?
How long will my enemy dominate me?

³ Consider me and answer, Lord my God.
Restore brightness to my eyes;
otherwise, I will sleep in death.
⁴ My enemy will say, “I have triumphed over him,”
and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

⁵ But I have trusted in your faithful love;
my heart will rejoice in your deliverance.
⁶ I will sing to the Lord
because he has treated me generously.

I think King David may have invented Emo. If you are unfamiliar with the term and do not feel like clicking the link I will give you the definition in the most simplest of terms. Emo is a style of music that evolved out the hardcore punk scene. Lyrically it focuses on emotion and it often comes across as whiny by those who don’t like it. I can’t help but imagine David brooding in the dark as he penned these words by lamplight. In those first two verses he’s as moody and inconsolable as any fiften year old moping over unrequited love.

I have heard others suggest that David may have been the first bluesman. He obviously didn’t have a beat up guitar sitting across his knee but I assume he could have lamented while strumming his harp or lyre. Blues music orginated with slaves in the South and incorporated spirituals and other songs they would sing in the fields. It is music born out of oppression. Lyrically it addresses the ills of life and laments the struggles the singer must go through. I think David is doing just that in many of his psalms.

One thing we must be careful of when reading passages like this is that we read ALL of the passage. I confess that I have quotes the first two verses of this one when things weren’t going well. Sometimes I was dealing with serious issues and sometimes I was just in a mood. I was moaning and whining for the sake of it and I wasn’t truly calling out to God. This is a brutally honest prayer by someone who is hurting and I’m sure we all can relate to that opening line.

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?

I believe it is appropriate to cry out to the Lord in times of distress. He tells us to. Scripture assures us that He hears us when we do so. However, I believe there is a difference between earnestly seeking God and whining. If I’m being honest, many of my prayers have fallen into the latter category. Those first verse may be the way I honestly feel but I need to keep in in the context of the last two.

⁵ But I have trusted in your faithful love;
my heart will rejoice in your deliverance.
⁶ I will sing to the Lord
because he has treated me generously.

Unlike an emo kid or a bluesman, David isn’t hopeless. He may be filled with despair but not to the point that he forgets God’s goodness. Even in his distress he thanks God for being faithful to him. He recognizes that trusting in God will get him through this ordeal just as it has gotten through those that came before. David still worships God in spite of his suffering. Long before the Apostle Paul wrote Romans 8:28 David is expressing the same sentiment: God is here and He will take care of this. It is my prayer that I am able to do the same the next time I get the blues.

Grace and peace.