"To the choirmaster. 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 take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me."
Psalm 13
This Psalm opens with a desolate and anguished cry. There is an intensity and agony. The Psalmist is 'up against it', and there seems no relief in his situation, no light in the darkness. There are three stanzas, each of two verses. First of all, there is his com- plaint (1, 2). Two notes in especial ring out, one the length of the anguish - it has gone on for so long - and the other its sheer meaninglessness. What does one do to find relief in such a situation? The Scripture teaches much about this, and this is where the message of the previous Psalm about the trustworthiness of God's Word is so reassuring. What, for example, must a word like Isaiah 49:14ff mean in such a time of distress, or Hebrews 12:7-13, or Matthew 15:21-28? But these passages help us to 'see the force of our sufferings as 'tests of faith'; and there is something beyond this, namely the meaninglessness of long continued testing. There is the feeling and assumption in our hearts that when we have learned enough from the trial the suffering will cease, because it will have fulfilled its function. And the moment at which we think it must stop because we have learned enough is precisely the moment when it does not cease, but goes on senselessly. As has been said, there is a degree of suffering at which one ceases to mature, and then the pain loses all meaning through its severity. This is where the Psalmist appears to be in this utterance. When you still can see the force of the trial, you have not yet touched the ultimate mystery of things. It is when the darkness is complete that faith is summoned to 'believe in the dark'; and it is in this context that we see the greatness of the faith that overcomes.