“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” (Psalms 13:1 ESV).
I remember being in the back seat of our family’s Buick on a long trip and asking my Dad, “How much longer?” And he’d say, “Son, you just asked me that five minutes ago. Why don’t you take a nap? We’ll be there soon.”
It was so hard to be patient on such trips as a little kid. But the truth is, I don’t know whether we ever truly outgrow such feelings and questions. It’s hard to live in the moment, especially when you’re stuck in the back seat with no control of your destination and don’t know how long the trip is going to last.
It must’ve been a similar kind of time for David when he wrote this psalm. He cried out to God, “How long, O Lord?” He felt that God had forgotten him. But did God really “forget” David? Was He really hiding his face from him? No, this was the language of David’s heart. This was how David felt and so he expressed his feelings to God through questions.
Psalm 13 is a short prayer. It begins with David’s questions and ends with David’s firm resolve to keep trusting, rejoicing, and singing in and to the Lord. David was going through a season of spiritual dryness. He didn’t sense the Lord’s presence. He despaired at how long the season would last. Yet, he still believed in God’s mercy and salvation, and he knew that God had always “dealt bountifully” with him in the past. David prayed out his doubts by asking questions, but he also prayed out his firm faith.
Have you ever gone through a challenging time that you thought would never end? Have you ever prayed like David, asking God, “How long, O Lord?”
PRAYER: Dear Father, we are your children and we sometimes feel impatient and afraid about the times in which we live. We wonder “how long” it will be before we hear from You or see you act. Yet, like David we believe in You. We trust You and know that You will answer and act according to Your perfect will and timing. Help us to rest in You. In Jesus’ name, amen.