Context No. 2960 of 4322 · Psalms

Psalms 13:1-6: in context

1How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart every day? How long shall my enemy triumph over me? 3Behold, and answer me, LORD, my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death; 4lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed against him;” lest my adversaries rejoice when I fall. 5But I trust in your loving kindness. My heart rejoices in your salvation. 6I will sing to the LORD, because he has been good to me.

This short psalm travels a long way in six verses. It opens in raw anguish: How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face? How long must I carry sorrow in my heart and watch my enemy triumph? Four times over, the cry of someone who feels forgotten by God.

And then a single word turns the whole psalm: but. But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation; I will sing to the LORD, for he has dealt bountifully with me. Nothing in the circumstances is said to have changed. What changes is where the psalmist fixes his heart, on God's steadfast love. The psalm gives permission to voice the how long honestly, and then shows the road back to trust, not by pretending the pain away, but by deliberately turning to remember God's covenant love.

Can I voice my honest "how long, O LORD," and then, like the psalm, turn on the word "but" to trust in his steadfast love?

Sources

Psalm 13:1: "How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?"
Psalm 13:5: "But I trust in your loving kindness. My heart rejoices in your salvation."
Psalm 42:11: "Why are you in despair, my soul?... Hope in God!"