How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me (Psalm 13:1, 2). The four “how longs,” literally 'until when,' of these two verses represent four aspects of David's complaint to the Lord. In the first, David feels forgotten, it feels like the trial has gone on forever. In the midst of our own trials and difficulties, at least for me, it often feels like they will never end. Even towards the end of Joseph's many trials he was left to languish in jail for “two full years” (Genesis 41:1). When the end in sight the time can seem to go so slowly, it feels like forever! And our focus is so often on the end result, the bottom line, but God is more interested in the process. That is why He councils us to “let patience have its perfect work” (James 1:4). He has things He wants to do in the waiting (i.e Isaiah 40:31), best to cooperate with Him, and do our best to wait patiently!
The second “how long” has to do with the feeling that God had hidden His face. The expression “seeing someone's face” has to do with their presence. When Paul was telling the Ephesian elders that this was his last visit he described it as “you will see my face no more” (Acts 20:25). So David was feeling abandoned. The “footsteps” poem comes to mind, where though the poet felt abandoned at his most difficult times because there there were only one set of footsteps in the sand, the Lord reveals that was the time He carried him. He has promised “I will never leave you, nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). He never promised it would not feel like it! The third “how long” concerns the emotional toll that accompany trials and difficulties. That and the tendency for us to obsess on them, with trying to find solutions to problems that seem to have no solution, that and the painful reality of the situation, the heart hurts and the difficulty of coming to terms with things.
In David's case, his enemies (with respect to the last “how long”) was likely Saul who was seeking to take his life. But even if that is not our situation, there are those, who like Job's “comforters” likely blame us for what when wrong, either that or they are totally unsympathetic, and of course all these things tend to make things worse. The Psalm however does not end in despair. After having poured out his complaint to the Lord (Psalm 142:2), he starts to feel better. He remembers times in the past when he trusted in God's mercy, and when God “dealt bountifully” with him. And because of this, he sets his heart to rejoice in the Lord's salvation (deliverance), and determines to sing to the LORD (verses 5, 6).
Father, I am reminded of the teaching that in every negative circumstance, we need to approach the situation in the opposite spirit. In cases like David's, we will not likely feel like singing praises to You. But it's a big part of what allows us to rejoice in tribulation. We are not pretending Lord, we are practicing. And as I look back Lord, I can truly say You have dealt bountifully with me. And I too set my heart to rejoice in Your salvation in Jesus Name Amen
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