Let's open the scriptures to Psalm 13. We'll read the whole psalm and the whole psalm will be the text for the sermon. Let us hear the word of the Lord. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord, forever? 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? Consider and hear me, O Lord my God. Enlighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lest mine enemies say I have prevailed against him and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. But I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me. Truly the Psalms are songs like no other. And that's why, at least one of the reasons why God's people throughout the centuries have loved to sing the Psalms. Songs that are at the same time God-breathed, yet so very human. In the Psalms, the written word comes alive. And though that's true of all of the scriptures, yet we all sense when we read the Psalms and we sing the Psalms that there's something special here. There is a kind of word of God made flesh. Made flesh in all of the fullness, messiness, the realness of our human experience. The Psalms bring truth to our minds. They teach us about God and teach us about ourselves. The Psalms at the same time express everything that's in our hearts, capture and put into words the full range of our human experience. And even as the Psalms teach us, fill our minds with truth and express the feeling and sentiments of the heart at the same time, they also direct our wills, pointing us to God, pointing us to the ways of the Lord, leading us in the way we are to live. There's no songs quite like the Psalms. Psalm 13 is a psalm that is well suited to the expression of sorrow as well as the expectation of hope. It's one of the psalms of lament. Many such psalms can be found in the Psalter. Psalms which were written for the purpose of pouring out one's heart to the Lord and that's what David does in this psalm. He pours out his heart to the Lord and honestly says to God what's on his mind, what's in his heart, and what he's feeling at the time. This psalm expresses the full range of our experience of sorrow. But one of the beautiful things that this psalm does is it speaks particularly to God's people when they go through sufferings or afflictions that last a long time. Suffering and sorrow that goes on and on and maybe it seems like there's no end in sight. And this psalm captures what many of us may feel in such seasons of life, and puts it to words, and that's on purpose. It's one of the reasons God gave us this psalm, so that we could read it, sing it, make use of it, take its words as our own, when we are led through such valleys which are deep and very long in this life. And so it's a psalm in which we give voice to sorrow as well as find comfort in the true hope that we have as God's people in Jesus Christ. So let's look at Psalm 13 as a whole. We're gonna focus on the big picture rather than a particular text or part of the psalm and see how this psalm is of use to us as God's people. Our theme is going to be how long, O Lord, that central question of the psalm, how long, O Lord. Let's first notice that Psalm 13 is the voicing of the psalmist's inner turmoil. Secondly, that it is him crying for God's help. And finally, how in these words of Psalm 13, we see the psalmist holding on to hope. And in these three areas, we can relate to the psalmist, draw instruction and comfort from this word of God. How long, O Lord? Voicing inner turmoil, crying for help, holding onto hope. Striking, isn't it? Striking. in the opening two verses of this six verse psalm, that that question is repeated in quick succession four times. How long? And the repetition upon the page of scripture should convey to us the powerful emotion that was in these words when the psalmist undoubtedly spoke them, cried them, before he wrote them down. How long, O Lord? Those are the words that best capture David's experience at this time in his life when he was wrestling with, struggling with, burdened beneath an ongoing affliction that was also long lasting and seemed to be unending. And it was wearing him down, wearing him thin, bringing him to the point where he wondered, could he go on with it anymore? We can't say with certainty what his affliction was. Perhaps it's an affliction that isn't recorded in the Bible. But it was a severe one. When we see how it pulled this psalm from his soul, A painful one. One that stuck around. One that kept on piercing his heart. One that he couldn't easily get away from or get out from under. And relief from it seemed so very elusive. A couple of possibilities. One would be the long period in which David was on the run from Saul. Remember that history in the book of 1 Samuel. David is anointed king. He's told by the prophet Samuel that God has chosen him to be the next king. leader of his people Israel. God blesses him. God elevates David to a position of prestige in Israel. He's a good and faithful servant of Saul. And what does it get him? All it gets him is persecution from the petty, jealous king who was afraid of the one who would come after him. And so David is hounded like a fugitive. In Israel and even outside of Israel's borders. He's never able to stay in one place for too long. Hiding in caves. Then this psalm would have very well fit that season in David's life. You can imagine David sitting in a cave. Hiding in the cool dark. Saying to himself, how long? How long O Lord? I'm your anointed. Why is King Saul doing this to me? Why is this lasting so long? Why must I go through this? How long, O Lord? Another possibility would be that this psalm was written by David during the time of Absalom's rebellion when he would have experienced some of the most acute pain a person can experience. A beloved family member that betrays him and turns his back on him and now seeks not only to supplant him and take his throne, but to have his head. While the rebellion of Absalom was not an extremely long-lasting trial, each day that passed must have seemed like forever to David. How long, O Lord? How long? That question really expresses the inner turmoil that the psalmist feels He gives voice to that inner turmoil in the opening verses of the chapter. He struggled with the reality of his affliction. The affliction that befell him. But what especially intensified his struggles was the length of time that passed. And it seemed like the affliction didn't go away and didn't get better. And the end was not in sight. How long? It seemed as if it would stretch on indefinitely. And as time dragged on, more perplexing questions mounted in the psalmist's heart and soul and forcefully intruded themselves into his mind. You can imagine The psalmist at first resisting these questions, suppressing them, pushing them to the side. But as things keep going the way they've been going, that resistance breaks down. How long? Why? Where is God in all of this? How long wilt thou forget me? Oh Lord, forever? There's the crux of the matter. In verse 1, it felt like it had been forever and would go on forever. And because of the length of time in which the psalmist is suffering with seeming no relief, he begins to wonder, where's God? Is God gone? Has he forgotten me? And those thoughts that before he would have pushed to the side, now he can't resist their intrusion into his mind and the unsettling questions that such thoughts begin to generate. Forgotten, forgotten me? Forever? What is God doing? Why would God send Samuel to anoint me? And lift me up and make me a servant of Saul? And I put my heart into that service. I served him faithfully. I served faithfully in his army. I did such good. Why would God lift me up to cast me down into this cave where now I am hiding? Why would God bring me through the rebellion of my own son who I love? Why does this go on? A length of time. More and more questions. Searching for answers. The feeling of coming up empty. Has God forgotten me? How long? How long will you hide your face from me? He goes on to say. As the psalmist struggles with this long lasting affliction, it feels to him as if God has turned his face away from him. Withdrawn his favor. God felt distant and withdrawn. As if God wasn't paying attention to him anymore. As if David was no longer on his mind. How long? How long? Maybe the thought intruded into David's mind is God punishing me for something. Does he not love me after all? How long, oh Lord? Forever. How long? Shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? There is the inner turmoil. Inner turmoil that came not only from the suffering that arose from the affliction that David was going through, but inner turmoil that especially arose from these disturbing questions with which David wrestled. Inner turmoil as he ruminated, as he went back and forth, casting this way and that within himself. How do I understand my experience? How do I reconcile my experience with what I know in my head about God? That's the idea of taking counsel within himself. Thinking over and over, rehearsing, going back and forth, Trying to get out of a maze. A maze of questions. A maze of uncertainties. A tangled knot of feelings. That's what David's experiencing. Inner turmoil. A constant storm within. And then it's only aggravated by what's going on outside of him. All of those enemies. Whether it's Absalom's band of rebels. Or whether it's King Saul and his men hunting him. It seems like those who are after him have the upper hand. And God isn't doing anything about it. Why is it that they seem to succeed? It makes no sense. They are in flagrant opposition to what God said to me. His promise to me. Miscompounded. The questions he was wrestling with. How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? How long? How long, Lord? Psalm 13 here gives us a window into a real man's soul. Wrestling with real suffering. Struggling in a very real way. with the mystery of God's ways and the mystery of God's will. We see the struggles of a believer, the very human struggles of a believer. His inner turmoil, which stems from his struggle to reconcile his lived experience with what he knew and believed about God. They seemed not to line up. He knew God. He loved God. God is good. God is faithful. And yet, why do I feel forgotten? What explains this? And what's so instructive about Psalm 13 is that by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, David does The only thing he can do in such a season of life. He goes to the Lord. And he voices his inner turmoil to the Lord. Pours out his soul to the Lord. Even as he says, How long, O Lord? How long, O Lord, wilt thou forget me? How long, O Lord, will you turn your face from me? It doesn't stop him from going to the Lord. And crying to the Lord. And giving voice. to that inner turmoil in his heart. He expresses it. He lays it before the Lord. And that is so very instructive and so very encouraging for us. That brings out one of the main purposes of a psalm of lament such as this one. Psalm of Lament is really a means by which a suffering saint communes with God in the way that he or she needs to in this season of his or her life. When songs of joy don't come easily or can't come. This is the kind of communing with the Lord that the suffering saint needs. Voicing one's inner turmoil. Bringing one's suffering. Bringing those vexing questions. Not bottling them up inside and trying to wrestle them down by our own strength. Which in many long lasting afflictions we won't be able to do forever. but bringing them to the throne of grace. Even when we feel God has turned His face away from me, bringing them to Him. David's experience has been put in the scripture here for us so that we can relate to it so that we can draw benefit from it. So that we can find our own experiences here in the pages of scripture and be directed to our God. David was a man after God's own heart, the Bible says. Nobody questions that David was a man was a big sinner, but a man who had a deep relationship with God. Man after God's own heart. And yet this man after God's own heart has this going on in his heart. And a superficial look at David would lead a person to the conclusion, this man might not be a believer. How can this person be a child of God? Look at what a mess he is. Look at what's going on in his heart and his mind. Look at the questions he's wrestling with. This was a man after God's own heart. Men and women after God's own heart go through things like this. Have seasons of struggle like this. God's people. Sometimes cry, how long O Lord? God's people sometimes feel forgotten in the furnace of affliction. Sometimes they even wonder, where's God's love for me? Sometimes that thought intrudes into our hearts. Is God punishing me for something? Psalm 13 shows us that what explains David's experience here is not that he had committed some grievous sin and that God was punishing him. We don't find mention of that here in Psalm 13. And there's no indication that whatever the historical background was to Psalm 13, that a flagrant sin on David's part was the reason for it. Yes, flagrant sins stand behind a psalm like Psalm 51 and Psalm 32, which arose out of David's experience of walking in impenitent sin for a time and then being turned around and confessing his sin against the Lord. But that's not what we find here. We find an afflicted saint whose struggles and whose questions and whose doubts are arising from that experience of unrelenting, long-lasting affliction. David wasn't being punished. David wasn't being unmasked as an unbeliever here because he's struggling with these things. Yes, David was a weak human being like all of us and a sinner beside. But what we read about his experience here in Psalm 13 isn't meant to relegate him to a category of some pathetic, super weak believer, whereas most Christians shouldn't go through this kind of thing. No, we have a real saint here. A man after God's own heart. In whose heart, for a time, there was things like this. Can you relate to David? Have you gone through or are you going through afflictions that pull out of your soul the words, how long O Lord? Have you forgotten me? Have you turned your face away from me? Maybe it is an absalom in your life. Dear family member that's turned around and turned against you. Maybe it's ravage of disease that steals. Steals health. Steals life. Or it's death. The passing of a loved one so dear and now there's that empty place and death is final on this side of glory. And that affliction is long lasting and you know it. And it hurts. Maybe you struggle with a health condition, mental illness, whatever it might be. Something that's always there, piercing, prodding. It seems like not a day can pass without being confronted with this ugly reality. of affliction. How long? How long, O Lord? Forever? It could feel like forever. Maybe your heart yearns for a good gift of God and it makes no sense why he hasn't given it to you. But he hasn't. How long, O Lord? What does a believer do when he or she has such inner turmoil? Such thoughts racing in the heart? Psalm 13 is so very instructive. Because it shows us what to do. Pour out your heart. Before the Lord. And keep on pouring out your heart. Give voice to that inner turmoil. This is part of how God reaches down and helps His people. He communes with His people in their sorrow. And in that special communion, we find the measure of refreshment and help that we need. That's not to say it's simple and easy. or that it'll happen just like that. The Bible is full of too many examples for us to go down that track. Examples of it being a process, it taking time. But our God is a God who doesn't turn His back upon His suffering people. Or shove them away when they are wrestling with such questions. But He is a God who patiently draws near and communes with His people in their suffering. We see that in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ who is the image of the Father. Jesus Christ who is God in our flesh. Our Emmanuel God with us. So much of his earthly life in ministry, even as he was carrying out his main work of making satisfaction for our sins and fulfilling all righteousness for us. And yet as you read the Gospels and you see Jesus in action, he always had time for compassion. He was a Savior who was willing to sit with his people where they were at and minister to them and speak the words that they needed to hear in that moment. Jesus is the revelation of the heart of our God. David poured out his heart. He honestly told God everything that was on his heart and on his mind. It wasn't sinful for him to cry out like this. Perhaps you read Psalm 13 and you say, wow, David uses strong language there. He says, why O Lord? Or how long O Lord? How long wilt thou forget me? Forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? David isn't murmuring there. His cry is categorically different than the murmuring of Israel in the wilderness. Israel's murmuring was unbelief coming to sinful expression. It was not a crying to God, but a complaining about God and His ways. It was not crying out and voicing, pouring out the heart to the Lord. But it was making rash accusations about God, calling into question who He is in His faithfulness. David's cry is something completely different. David's cry is the faith of a frail child of God talking to His Father and striving to understand and seeking the help of Heavenly Father. His crying is not murmuring. Even His forthright honesty is not irreverent. There is no rash accusation in David's words. He is giving voice to what he is experiencing and what he is feeling as he goes through this affliction. And he is laying it before God's throne of grace. Let that be encouraging. As a Christian, you're allowed to suffer and to express the feelings of that suffering to your Heavenly Father. That's part of the liberty we have in Christ. The freedom that we have as children of God. That's part of being able to come boldly before the throne of grace. Use language like the language of this psalm. This is what 1 Peter 5 verse 7 is talking about when it says, casting all your care upon Him for He careth for you. Part of that casting is voicing it and pouring out the heart. Casting your cares upon the Lord. Talking things through with Heavenly Father. Talking things through with Heavenly Father, that's the kind of communion the suffering saint needs. Just as sitting down and talking to a close friend in this life can be a means by which relief and comfort comes, so too unburdening the soul, casting those cares before the throne of grace, and talking things through with Heavenly Father, is a means by which Heavenly Father strengthens and encourages. Psalm 13 shows us that going to God in prayer is something so much more than just bending our knees and folding our hands It's so much more than those stated times of prayer before and after dinner or at the bedside. But prayer really in its essence is an ongoing covenantal conversation with God. And that covenantal conversation is going to take a different shape depending on one's current circumstances in life. For David right now, prayer was groaning. Groaning and crying out. And that was prayer. That was His prayer. Sometimes for us, maybe that's all we can pray is groaning. But it's just as much a prayer as the most elegant prayer that might be offered in church. Or the prayer at the dinner table. Groaning. Think of Romans 8 verses 26 and 27 which bear this truth out. Profound passage that speaks about one of the works of the Holy Spirit who indwells us. The indwelling Spirit intercedes for us in such seasons when by reason of affliction, we can't find the words. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought." Now, what follows? Does Romans 8 say, because you can't find the words, God looks down on you in fury. God's going to punish you for not praying well. No, the verse continues. Spirit, that comfort her, the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8, 26 and 27 in large part explain Psalm 13. These are David's spirit prompted groanings that made a beautiful prayer, an act of communion with God in which this suffering saint would be strengthened. And we'll see that now as we continue through the psalm. We've looked at the emotion-laden first couple of verses of the psalm in which David expresses, gives voice to his inner turmoil. As one commentator puts it, what's interesting about Psalm 13 is that as we progress from the first couple of verses. It's like a big wave that surges out of David's soul. He gets it out. He voices it before the Lord. He casts his care before the throne of grace. And now that wave that surged out of his soul begins to lessen. It calms down until we reach the end of the psalm where there is a certain stillness. A certain peace. And we see that starting to happen already in verses three and four now in the middle of the psalm, where David moves from voicing his inner turmoil to a cry to the Lord for help in the midst of this affliction. Verses three and four. How long, or rather that's verse two, Verse 3, Consider and hear me, O Lord my God. Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lest mine enemies say I have prevailed against him, and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. Consider and hear me, O Lord. Notice how his petition here is connected to what he has given voice to in the opening verses of the psalm. He has said, how long, O Lord, will you forget me? How long will you turn your face away from me? And now he says, consider me and hear me. Consider. That is, hold me in the forefront of your mind. See me and hear my voice. And not only that, but make me know. that you see and that you hear me. I feel as though thou hast forgotten me. In my experience it seems as if your face is turned from me and its light no longer shines upon me. Give me to know that you are still with me. That you see me. That you hear my voice. It's striking that In verses three and four, David doesn't directly ask for the removal of his affliction. Now to be sure that is the desire of his heart and to be sure he has made that request over and over and over again. We see here that through his affliction, God has taught him of a more basic need. The need for His God. The need to feel again and to be assured that His God is with Him. That His God sees Him. And that God hears Him. And that His relationship with God, which is the bedrock of His life. The bedrock of His joy and peace. That that relationship hasn't gone anywhere. Even through this lasting affliction. Through this lasting affliction he has come to see and to know in a more potent way this most basic need. And so his cry for help, though again undoubtedly he desires the removal of his affliction, his cry for help focuses on this. Lord, help me to know that you are with me. Restore to me that sense of your presence. Let your face shine upon me again and let me feel it. Let me see that you see me. Let me know that you hear me. Lighten mine eyes, he says, lest I sleep the sleep of death. That's a vivid expression, the sleep of death. That's where he felt his life was going in the midst of this long lasting affliction. As it was wearing him down and he was becoming exhausted beneath this burden. It was as if he was slipping into slumber that felt like he would never awake from. It was bringing him down to his death. And so he says, lighten mine eyes. The idea there is a restoration of strength and vitality. The vitality is seen and the brightness and the clarity of the eyes. David's eyes had become dim with sorrow. Dim with the weight of his affliction. Lighten mine eyes. Restore clarity to my spiritual vision. David here understands that weak creature that he is with his limited spiritual vision and his sinfulness in addition, which only clouds his vision more, that he's prone not to perceive things aright. So he says, Lord, revive me. Restore strength to me. Give clarity again to my spiritual vision that my faith might pierce these clouds and see thee again." And in reality, it is this prayer which is already faith piercing those clouds. David asks, help, help me Lord. And he asks for the help that he needs precisely in this moment. And then in verse four, he appeals to the glory of God. You find this often, especially in the Old Testament. David says, lest mine enemies say I have prevailed against him, and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. David points to his enemies, whether it's Saul and his men unjustly hounding him, or Absalom and his rebels seeking his head. And he says, in essence, Lord, how will this bring you glory? If my enemies who oppose not just me, but oppose your cause, if they prevail against me, and are able to gloat and to boast in that victory over me. It is as if David says, for your name's sake, Lord, for thy own glory, hear me, help me, come to my aid. If David can say those things, we can too. In the midst of seasons of affliction. Lord, for Thy name's sake, remember that You've attached Your glory to me because You've redeemed me in the blood of Thy Son, Jesus Christ. Let not my adversary, let not this trouble have the victory over me. Preserve me, rescue, help me, for thy glory's sake. The scriptures testify abundantly that that prayer is ready entrance to the ears of God. But now what we see is that God did answer David's prayer. God sent help. God saw him and God heard him. For God always sees and always hears his people. The answer to the question of why God does what he does in our lives is a question we can't always answer in this life. Why are there seasons when God seems distant? When true believers feel what David felt here and gave voice to in Psalm 13. We don't always know all of God's reasons. But what we see in Psalm 13 is that God never left David. God was always there for David. And it was God that got him through this long lasting deep affliction. God gave him the help that he needed. We know from biblical history David would emerge on the other side a man strengthened, his faith refined. But now, In Psalm 13, God gave David what he needed in that moment. Not that God instantly lifted David out of his affliction. But God gave David to know. I'm with you. I see you. I hear you. Notice the pronoun in verse 3. Easy to overlook, but brimming with significance. Consider and hear me, O Lord. My God. My God. We don't find that pronoun in verses 1 and 2, where David was giving expression to his experience, what he felt. He said, How long, O Lord? Forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? Now in verse 3, Consider and hear me, O Lord my God. As the psalmist poured out his soul, as he talked with his Heavenly Father, in this act of communion with his God, even the seemingly distant God, by grace he remembers, he rediscovers, he re-experiences the reality of the Lord. My God. Perhaps his mind goes back to the things that God had done for him before this time. His faith thinks upon the redemption that he had in the blood of the coming Savior. That relationship that God had established Which was something that nothing could undo. That relationship means God cannot but see or hear me. For I am the apple of his eye. There is a return. A return to David of that realization that yes. Even when God seems distant, yet He is very close. Even when I feel as though He has forgotten me, He is there. And He sees me. And He hears me. And His Word is sure. His promises do not fail. He is the I AM THAT I AM. And the unchanging faithfulness of the I AM THAT I AM is faithfulness that withstands everything. And it remains the same. Whether I perceive it or not. My God! My God! Lamentations 3 verses 31-33 says this, For the Lord will not cast off forever But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. David, as he poured out his heart before the Lord, was in that act of pouring out his heart, that he grasped again that truth expressed in Lamentations 3. The Lord is my God. And I am His. And nothing, not even my present experience can ever change that. And so that wave which came surging out of David's heart becomes calmer. And now as we get to the last two verses, verses 5 and 6, we see that wave come to a new found peace and stillness. As the psalmist lays hold of and holds on to his hope. Amidst his continued struggle, the psalmist holds on to hope and he finds peace amidst the storm. He felt the touch of God's mercy again. And though this trouble, this trial was not yet removed, he has hope. He has hope. And Christian hope is not just a wishful thinking. It's not a desire for something that would be wonderful, but probably won't come to pass. It is the certain expectation of what is truly good that is coming. I don't see it right now, but it's coming. And it will come. Because God guarantees it. Note the beautiful change that we see here in verses five and six. Signaled by that word, but. Something's happened in David's heart. And that but doesn't negate everything that came before it. But points us now to the hope that sustains the psalmist and even gives him peace in the midst of and in the face of everything that he's described before this point. But I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me." Beautiful words. Now we have to carefully understand what David is saying here. There's a temptation in a short six verse psalm to think that all of this happened in just a moment. We can be left with the impression that David just prayed once and everything became better in a flash. There was a quick turnaround in David's experience. Sometimes commentators have fallen into that trap of reading the psalm this way. And they've said that David prays and he becomes, in a flash, a new person. All of the darkness is cleared away and there is this glorious light that shines upon David and all he feels now is joy and peace. And that's not the case. That's not what is being described here. The psalm isn't teaching that if you just pray the right way, everything will become better just like that. The psalm isn't telling us to look for simplistic solutions in the midst of the dark seasons of this life. It's not saying that there's a spiritual magic pill. If you can just find it, it'll instantly cancel your grief or your troubles. No, there's a process. There's a process behind the words of Psalm 13. It was a process of much struggle, much crying out to the Lord. And through that process, the Lord leads David here to the words of verses 5 and 6. The beauty of it is that David voices these words and he means these words even in the midst of continued struggle. Of affliction that has not been entirely removed. Psalm 13 is part of his working through these things and persevering through them. And so we see how the end of Psalm 13 is something far, far richer. It shows us a child of God who is truly more than a conqueror. One who is still in the battle, still struggling with the hardships of the battle, and yet is holding on to hope by the grace of God. The same man who says, how long O Lord, is the man who is more than a conqueror. Psalm shows us true faith, that overcomes the world. Not because that faith is so strong in itself. It isn't. You see the weakness that cleaves to David's faith. It's written all over this psalm. But because the God and the Christ to whom faith clings is so strong and all sufficient. It shows us a saint who gets through great turmoil and suffering not because he works his way out of it on his own or because he does a bunch of things right, but because his God is there for him and sees him and hears him and leads him through the waters and the fires. It's a psalm not of easy solutions, but a psalm that sets before us ultimately the all-sufficient God full of mercy and loving kindness, who never forsakes His people, who is there with them even when in their struggles and their doubts, they for a time don't see Him. It's a psalm that sets before us the God who holds us, even when we are too weak to hold on to Him. The God who keeps us in His grip, Even when our faith might, for a time, lose its grip on Him. And it's fascinating to look at the verb tenses in verses 5 and 6. How David goes between past and future. And that too is instructive for us. In the midst of his present adversity, when all seemed dark, David is led to ponder God's works for him in the past. How he experienced the mercy of God. And how God had dealt bountifully with him. And that remembrance of God's goodness in the past, is the rock solid confirmation that God shall continue to be good to him. And that even if in his lived experience right now, it's hard to reconcile what he is going through with the goodness of God. God is good. I know. He has dealt bountifully with me. And what God has done, guarantees what is to come. And He'll bring me through this, so that I will rejoice in His salvation. I will rejoice in His deliverance. I will sing joyfully to Him. Even if right now Psalm 13 is about all I can sing. He has dealt bountifully with me. David holds on to hope. Really, he holds on to hope because God was holding on to him, giving him that hope. How much application and comfort can we draw from this for ourselves, people of God? Much. Has not God dealt bountifully with us? And here as New Testament Christians from our vantage point in covenant history, we can look back on that past bountiful dealing of God with us in the gift of Jesus Christ. Christ. Christ, who was in truth forsaken of God upon the cross and suffered all the pangs of hell, its terrors, its misery in our place for us. He cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And He cried those words Because the Father's face was indeed turned away from Him. And in those three hours of darkness that enshrouded Him on the cross, there was no light. How long that darkness must have lingered for Christ on the cross. Though it was compressed into three hours, it must have felt like an eternity. He bore our sins. He bore them away. He took the sting out of death. He tore up suffering and affliction by the root. By His death and resurrection, He has put our afflictions to death. His death and resurrection is the guarantee that none of these things can prevail or continue forever as long lasting as they feel and seem in the midst of this world. Even afflictions that last the rest of our earthly pilgrimage will come to their end and must give way to that eternal weight of glory which Christ has secured for us. Hold on to hope. What reason we have, Christ, Christ, And so observe the beautiful end of the psalm, where two seemingly dissonant notes, sorrow and joy, distress and hope, meld together into one song, perfect harmony. Here too, interpreters can miss the mark. When they present it as if David just gets over all of his sorrow and now he's a joyful person. No. In Psalm 13, these two blend. They meld together into one beautiful song. And this is what resonates with our experience, does it not? These two potent feelings exist in the same person at the same time. And Psalm 13 therefore sets before us this reality that there is this space for this tension to exist at times in our lives when we go back and forth between sorrow and joy. And those two things are intermingled. We struggle with questions at the same time as we lay hold upon Christ by a true faith. That's the life of the child of God in this world. David sat in that space for a while. Many of us have. Maybe some of you are. And the psalm assures you that this place of joy and sorrow, the tension that you feel, is not because you're a discontented person. It's not because you're sinning and God's punishing you. But this is part of our earthly pilgrimage. This is part of the valley that God, our shepherd, is leading us through. Psalm 13 is a beautiful song for us to sing in hope. Hope that we'll never be ashamed. And so suffering saint, make this psalm your own. Sing it with both sorrow and joy. Know that God's eyes are ever on you. He sees, He hears, He never forgets. Our names are graven upon the palms of His hands. And the proof of it is the nail prints in Christ's hands. So go to Him. Voice your sorrow to Him. Cry out to Him for help. Remember how bountifully He has dealt with you in Christ. Amen. Heavenly Father, we pray that this psalm may comfort and uplift us. as well as give us words to use to express sorrow when we go through such times in this life. Grant us thy spirit to press this word upon our hearts and even to intercede with us when we cannot find the words ourselves. Bless us now and dismiss us in thy peace. This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.