How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? Psalm 13:1

I love the honesty of David. He worked through the problems in his life and always turned to God in the end, but he was honest. He didn’t pretend things were better than they were. In this psalm, he feels forgotten by God, do you ever feel this way? Do you feel like you cannot get into God's presence? Notice that David says your face is hidden from me. Do you ever feel like this, distant from God?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Psalm 13:2

Often when we are worried or afraid we 'wrestle' with our thoughts. We think about things, we try to plan and prepare for the worst possible situations. We do mental gymnastics in the hope we can be adequately prepared for what might come. This is exhausting, David says it produces sorrow of the heart. Worse still is when this season seems to linger showing no sign of ending. David says he feels like this, ‘day after day’.

Look at me and answer, LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. Psalm 13:3-4

It can be especially hard when we feel like we are overwhelmed. When all we can see is total destruction. Our emotions can be too easily overwhelmed. Our minds can go into the depths of what might happen. David is envisioning a time when he will lose and be defeated. Isn't it easy to worry about all the probabilities, the worst possibilities? We often imagine the most remote or unlikely possibilities. We worry, because while some things are very unlikely, they are possible. We worry about our family, our jobs, our homes, our health and so on. There is so much to be concerned about.

Let's face it, if David could do this, we certainly can. But the psalm doesn't end here...

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me. Psalm 13:5-6

Despite these genuine reasons David has for not praising God, David decides to trust and praise God rather than let himself be overwhelmed. This is the man who admits he is overwhelmed, he has just had a real moan. If these last two verses were not added to the Psalm it would not have made it into the Bible. After admitting the truth, that he is overwhelmed. After moaning about everything, being honest about how he feels. After imagining the worst case scenario, David decides to praise God anyway. Like David, even after we consider all our problems we have to make a decision. Are we going to put our trust in God despite everything? Or will we stop short of praising God.

- adapted from Pastor Dave's Sermon 29/09/24