Psalm 13
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
4 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD,
for he has been good to me.
for he has been good to me.
I love this Psalm. It is painfully honest and vulnerable. David has juxtaposed two very familiar scenes of life: God's seeming silence in the face of adversity and His everlasting love and faithfulness.
How many times have we found ourselves in the same state of weariness: "How long, O LORD?... How long...everyday sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph?" Our laments sound more like "Why is this happening to me? Why me, LORD? When are you going to show up and save the day? Any time, LORD...right about now would be great! Will you forget me forEVER?"
While we are probably not running out in the woods from a king who is out for our blood like David was, we often find ourselves between a rock and a hard place, throwing prayers much like this up to God. Laments like these litter the Psalms, teaching vulnerability and an honest heart before God.
However, by the end of the Psalm, after David has painted a bleak picture of his life and situation, proclaims, "But I trust in Your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for He has been good to me." He hasn't forgotten God's goodness and faithfulness to him in past days. He doesn't dwell on his uncertain circumstances but instead chooses to remember God's unfailing love, His perfect salvation, His goodness and grace.
Perhaps, through our tears, heart-wrenching sobs and cries of desperation that we lay at the foot of our Lord, Jehovah, we are to finish our prayers just as David has shown us: "for He has been good to me."
i appreciate psalms and i appreciate the sentiment but aren't you cheapening depression? i mean sometimes there are days where you really just don't know, whether or not god claims unfialing love and salvation, whether there is anything out there other than deep, black space.
ReplyDeleteit is not unbiblical to truly doubt. besides, if you can see god pull you through the darkest times in your life when you are convince he is never there all the more your love will be for him, and all the more will your faith be built.
yes your faith only has to be that of a mustard seed but god isn't going to smite you if you don't use the wishful thinking tactic of "my life is falling apart. i am so alone, and in complete mind-bending despair. but i know you'll be there god!" part of faith is banking on what you can't see, but there is a place for true doubt.
and we're talking about more doubt than just failing a test or losing your cell phone or breaking down on the side of the road. we're talking heavy duty and unflinching deep doubt that wracks your system inside and out.
i understand what you're trying to say but using the line "how to be depressed... the right way" really sounds like you're cheapening real crises of faith and people that really do struggle with pure doubt and depression. its not a sin. its human.
The point is precisely that - it is not a sin to find yourself in the deep pits of despair and depression. It is clearly all over the Psalms. We serve a God who created in us emotions - one of them being sadness. We have the Psalms partly to teach us how to handle them, this being one example of how we are to biblically deal with our emotions.
ReplyDeleteDepression is real, yes. But in the midst of our depression, despair, and hopelessness, we must remember what God's faithfulness and what He has done for us in the past - something that we often fail to do. Deuteronomy was written to a people who kept forgetting who God is and how He had been so faithful to them. Psalm 13 is not a "Grin and bear it, suck it up and be happy" Psalm. It is a Psalm of remembrance in the pit of despair, a very real place.