Studies in Psalms – Psa 13:1-6 “How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD?”

Psa 13:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
Psa 13:2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?
Psa 13:3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Psa 13:4 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
Psa 13:5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
Psa 13:6 I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

This shorter-than-most Psalm has three distinct sections which help demonstrate to us the process that God has set in motion to humble our flesh and bring us to cry out for deliverance, which resolves in praise after we learn of His faithfulness and His love to see us through the process.

1. The first section of the study, verses one and two, focus on the anxiety of our flesh which feels so easily forsaken and forgotten. God brings us to cry out with strong tears when the Lord brings us to our wits’ end, which comes about as a result of seeing that there is no hope in flesh. They remind us of the following verses in Psalm 107 and Hebrews that apply to Christ and His body and must be part of our walk if we are going to grow unto maturity and reign under Christ, becoming those who are of the circumcision and who have no confidence in the hopeless, corruptible, flesh in which we reside today.

Psa 107:4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. [thinking within]
Psa 107:5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
Psa 107:6 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:7 And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.

Isa 3:1 For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water

Isa 1:3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

Act 17:26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men (Gal 3:16) for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
Act 17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Heb 11:10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.[thinking within] (Luk_17:21)

Heb 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared^G2124;
Heb 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
1Jn 4:18 There is no fear^G5401 in love; but perfect love casteth out fear^G5401 (Joh 6:63, Rom 5:5): because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Php 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

2. The crying out to the Lord because He has brought us to our wits’ end of verses three and four is the second part of this Psalm, and it precedes the next verses that speak of hearts that give thanks and have praise on their lips. God is working all of our trials and tests as the body of Christ so that we can be stronger together as we learn to communicate and share our life of Christ through the trials and sufferings which is what nourishes the body as a whole when we come together. These following verses bring out this point of communicating this communion with one another to our spiritual growth and benefit.

Heb 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
Heb 13:16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Psa 107:13 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.
Psa 107:15 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Then verse 16 answers why we praise the LORD and see that it is connected to His goodness that leads us to repentance and breaks the “gates of brass, and cut(s) the bars of iron in sunder” within our hearts:

Psa 107:15-16 For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.

Mal 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

1Co 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion^G2842 of the body of Christ?

1Co 12:26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

3. The third part of this Psalm, verses five and six, resolves in a song of gratitude for the work of faith that God takes us through bringing us closer to being able to see Him face to face.

God never tries us beyond the measure that we can endure (1Co 10:13) so the answer to how long to which this particular Psalm speaks a few times will always be just long enough for us to realize that there is no help in the flesh, and there is an absolute certainty of deliverance through Christ.

Psa 146:3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
Psa 146:4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

Psa 118:8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

1Ti 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

2Co 1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves [in our flesh], but in God which raiseth the dead:
2Co 1:10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;

Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Mat 20:23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

Opening Verses:

Psa 13:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
Psa 13:2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

One way we can answer this question of “how long” mentioned four times in these first two verses is found in 2 Peter where we read:

2Pe 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord [or day of the Lord] as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward [God’s elect today], not willing that any should perish (Joh 18:9), but that all should come to repentance (Rom 2:4).
2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

The sovereignty of God is not in the creation which some worship today (Rom 1:25), but in the Creator who controls the clay perfectly, which is what 2Pe 3:8-10 is telling us. The creation is a reflection of His sovereignty, a type and shadow of his endlessness, as in the physical heavens that seem to extend forever. And being as vast as those heavens are, they declare His glory but are not His glory; a type in the physical revealing for us God’s grandeur (Psa 19:1, Rom 1:20, Heb 11:27). God’s intention is to bring Christ, as a “thief in the night”, into the life of every man in time so that “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up”.

Our heavens declare God’s glory as we go from glory to glory through Christ our hope of glory (2Co 3:18, Col 1:27) and scripture reveals how unsearchable the wisdom and declaration of that glory through our heavens [our minds] is (Joh 21:25). For God’s elect, whether in the flesh or as resurrected beings one day, we are on an endless journey to know His ways (G3598) which are ways of peace, a peace which is established through judgment.

Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

Isa 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

The connection that God’s word gives us with Isa 9:7 and 2Pe 3:8-10 is how his kingdom, which is within us, is established through judgment, or as it says “upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever” — King David being a type of Christ on the throne of our hearts in this age, God willing.

With this connection in mind, we can see that “the day of the Lord” in our own lives is what will establish Christ on the throne of our hearts through judgment. How much judgment? How long Lord?: “beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”.

In one day of the Lord, God can accomplish what is impossible for us to accomplish within these earthen vessels because of the hope of glory abiding within His people. Christ is the one who takes us through the process of judgment upon our flesh (3 tens – 10x10x10=1000), and from God’s perspective the 1000 years is symbolic of the dark flesh (1Co 13:12) that is destroyed by the brightness of his coming on the one day of the Lord (2Th 2:8). It takes the day of the Lord in each of our lives to illuminate our heavens to see who we are, and to be brought through the process of judgment to which these numbers point. Both the light and the darkness are the same to God because He is the Master Potter controlling the dark clay perfectly unto perfection through the Lord who represents that one day or ‘day of the Lord’ (Psa 139:12).

Psa 13:3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Psa 13:4 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

How true it is that the enemies of the cross “rejoice when I [we are] am moved” meaning they are there to try to divert our attention in times of sorrow and suffering to come down from the cross which is our altar and the place where the life of Christ abides and grows stronger (Mar 15:30, Gal 2:20, Act 2:40).

We are all guilty of spitting on Christ’s face, of buffeting him, and hitting him with the palm of our hands in our time (Mat 26:67). Without God’s spirit within, our unbridled flesh disdains the fact that He declares that there is none righteous and that we need a Saviour “lest I sleep the sleep of death” (Joh 16:7). Those who are not given to acknowledge this greatest of all crimes that we are guilty of, drinking the cup unworthily, continue to serve Him from a fleshly perspective, not acknowledging the need to die daily, mortifying the deeds of our flesh (1Co 11:27, Heb 6:4, 1Co 15:31, Rom 8:13). With this spirit they will see their enemy within prevail “against him”. Our flesh will continue to “trouble me” until they or we are given to admit that I am the man (2Sa 12:7). This is the painful judgment that first comes upon the house of God (1Pe 4:17) and is the means by which God “lighten(s) mine (our) eyes”.

Psa 13:5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
Psa 13:6 I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

God has dealt bountifully with us, teaching us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts (Tit 2:12), showing us step by step, trial by trial, from glory to glory, that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us and gave Himself for us as a spotless sacrifice (Rom 8:37, Eph 4:32, 1Pe 1:19). Blessed is the man that trusts in the Almighty and in His mercy that endures forever from age to age (Psa 100:5, Psa 107:1, Psa 136:1).

God mercifully brings us to trust in his mercy and burns out the conceit of our hearts so that we can become that branch along with Christ who will be used to support those who will come after us. We are being blessed in this age to see more clearly the sum of his word along with giving us the ability to trust in his mercy and want to share and show that mercy to the rest of the world (Gal 6:10). If God be for us and is dealing so bountifully with us in this age, we will be able to rejoice in Him and through this glorious work that He is accomplishing for the salvation of all mankind (Php 4:4, 1Co 15:22).

Rom 11:18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
Rom 11:19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
Rom 11:20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
Rom 11:21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Rom 11:22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Rom 11:23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.

The end result of His working in our heavens and making us into a new creation is a glorious unified body, ‘the bride of Christ’, who has made herself ready so that we can share in this joyous union with our Saviour and help bring in the other fold that he has promised to save in God’s perfect timing.

When we feel in our flesh, in our heavens, that our Lord has forgotten us, and we cry out “How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD?”, we are really witnessing to the fact that God is working in our lives and that we are learning of His righteousness through those judgments in our earth that often weary our weak flesh, which God can and will quicken within those who He is working with in this age.

Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.