Certain people in the Bible seem like kindred spirits to me. David is someone I especially relate with. Some of his psalms seem full of worry, introspection, and honest questions of wrestling faith. I am prone to these same things. David has also been a mentor. He gives me example after example of preaching to himself instead of allowing the inner dialogue of doubt or discouragement to reign in his thoughts.
Psalm 13 is one of my favorite examples of this. Two thirds of this short Psalm are self pity, complaints to God, or just honestly wondering what God is up to. Davids wonders how much more of this struggle he has tolive with. His circumstances are dire. His life is often harder than anything I can imagine. He has concrete enemies coming against him. He is often literally running for his life. How much more reason does he have to complain than I do? In the end I believe God inspired him to write psalms like this to instruct us. It's like he's saying, "I have it pretty bad, and I have a lot of questions for God but that doesn't mean I won't trust him, praise him, or see how gracious he has been towards me."
That's David, but then there is you and me. We know Jesus. We have seen the fulfillment of God's plan to redeem his people. We have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Our chains to sin and death are broken. We live as people declared righteous before a holy God because Jesus exchanged places with us. Our risen and ascended Jesus lives to intercede for us before the Father and reigns as king over the world. How much more then can we say along with David, "but I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me" no matter what circumstances we are in?
What follows is my rendition of Psalm 13 based on those thoughts and some typical struggles of believers today.
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I think about all my troubles and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long will I be struggling with the same sin?
How long will I have to repeat your message to my kids, my neighbor, my relative, or my co-worker without seeing you work in them to respond?
How long will my marriage be less than what I had hoped?
How long will I feel discouraged by my circumstances and feel like there is very little victory in my life and much failure and defeat?
How long will I struggle to make ends meet?
How long will I live with this pain?
How long will I feel spiritually dry and unexcited about your word?
How long before I see the revival of your Holy Spirit?
How long will it seem like evil is triumphing?
How long...?
(The questions are deeply felt but irrevelant really.)
But (despite what is going on in my life), I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will (I can, I choose to) sing to the LORD
because he has dealt bountifully with me...through Jesus.
Those are the facts regardless of my feelings or my circumstances. There will never be a time that I am unable to say that the LORD has dealt bountifully with me because of what Jesus Christ accomplished for me.
Therefore I can and will rejoice and sing praises to my trustworthy and loving King!