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PSALM 13 COMMENTARY
Written and edited by Glenn Pease
Psalm 13PREFACE
As with all of my commentaries, I quote many other authors, and sometimes I do not know theauthor of a quote. If you spot one you know the author of, let me know and I will give credit. If anyone does not want their words of wisdom shared in this commentary I will delete it if sonotified. My e-mail isglenn_p86@yahoo.comSome of my quotes are just a brief part of theauthors full work, and you can get a great deal more insight by looking up their work on theinternet.
INTRODUCTION
1. This Psalm is unusual because of the rapid change from deep despair to high joyous praise. Inthe Preacher's Commentary we read, “In this psalm we see a servant of God, long and sorelytried by the persecutions of unrelenting enemies, and, as it seems to himself, forgotten andforsaken of God, pouring out the agony of his soul in prayer. It is a long and weary struggle, it isa daily and hourly martyrdom ; and wrestling with his despair, he can but cry (like the soulsunder the altar, Rev. vi. 10), ' How long?' And then calmer words of prayer rise to his lips (ver. 3,4) ; and at last Faith asserts her perfect victory (ver. 5). The rapid transition of feeling, from adepth of misery bordering on despair, to hope, and even joy, is very remarkable." — Perowne.2. Spurgeon, “THIS is a very short Psalm, there are only six verses in it, but what a change thereis between the beginning and the end of it! The first two verses are dolorous to the deepestdegree, but the last verse is joyful to the highest degree. David begins many of his Psalms sighingand ends them singing, so that I do not wonder that Peter Moulin says, “One would think thatthose Psalms had been composed by two men of a contrary humor.” If I were asked, “Are theretwo men here, or is there only one?” My answer would be that there is only one, but that one istwo, for every man is two men, especially every
 spiritual 
man. He will find within himself an oldman and a new man, an old nature and a new nature—and even the new nature, itself, is subjectto strange changes—so that, like April weather, we have sunshine and showers blended.Sometimes it seems as if all the showers were poured on top of the sunshine and the sunshine,itself, were quenched and could scarcely gladden us. David was a wonderful man for changes of experience. God permitted him to go through many experiences, not so much for himself, as forthe good of succeeding generations. Whenever you look into David’s Psalms, you may somewhereor other see yourselves. You never get into a corner but you find David in that corner. I think thatI was never so low that I could not find that David was lower—and I never climbed so high that Icould not find that David was up above me, ready to sing his song upon his stringed instrument,even as I could sing mine! These are two instantaneous photographs. The first one gives us theman complaining, the second one gives us the man rejoicing.”
 
For the director of music. A psalm of David.1 How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?How long will you hide your face from me?
1. This is a common feeling when we sense the absence of God. We seem to be on our own, andnot doing well, and we could really use some help to smooth out the rough path we are walking. Itis lonely and discouraging and we wonder where is our God who has promised never to leave andforsake us. Most of us, however, are not as bold as David to complain to God about it as he doeshere. We hold our feelings in, and stoically keep plodding on our own with our forsaken feelings.Nobody likes a complainer, and so we assume that God is in that same category, and we do not lethim hear our complaints. How strange it is that the Psalms are so full of complaints, and we callit the Word of God, and yet we fear to respond as men of God do in the Psalms. They are here forour guidance, understanding and comfort, and yet we do not share our complaints with God. Weare convinced we need to hide our negative feelings from God lest he be angry with us, but here isDavid, a man after God's own heart, pouring out his complaint to God.2. David cries out twice in this verse, and twice in the next verse, “How Long..” His patience isworn, not just thin, but worn to the bone. He has had it, and he is fed up with God's delay incoming to his rescue as he has so often in times past. He is wrestling with his thoughts of doubt,for his enemy seems to be winning the battle, and his own heart is bringing him down as well, forit is filled with sorrow. He is a hurting man who has endured God's silence and absence longenough, and he can not longer contain his complaints. Thank God if you have never been in thisstate of mind, but don't be surprised if you still arrive there some day soon, for just about all of God's children are tried by times when God seems to say, “You are on your own for now.”2B. Spurgeon,”Said I not truly, when I called it howling? There is so much of complaining here,so much of questioning—“How long? How long? How long? How long?”—four times over, thatwe may call it, as David did once call his prayer—“the voice of my roaring.” It is a kind of howling, roaring, moaning complaint before God in the bitterness of his soul.”3. Gill in commenting on David's feelings, and all of God's children, when things are not the sameas the used to be “..they are ready to conclude he has forgotten them; and sometimes thiscontinues long, and then they fear they are forgotten for ever; and this they cannot bear, andtherefore expostulate with God in a querulous manner, as the psalmist does here; but this is to beunderstood not in reality, but in their own apprehension, and in the opinion of their enemies; Godnever does nor can forget his people; oblivion does not fall upon him with respect to commonpersons and things; and much less with respect to his own dear children...”3B. Spurgeon, “How long wilt thou forget me? Ah, David! how like a fool thou talkest! Can Godforget? Can Omniscience fail in memory? Above all, can Jehovah's heart forget his own beloved
 
child? Ah! brethren, let us drive away the thought, and hear the voice of our covenant God by themouth of the prophet, "But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgottenme. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of herwomb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palmsof my hands; thy walls are continually before me."4. When you feel strained to the breaking point, remember, even the man after God's own hearthas been there, and so do what he did,and pour out your frustration with complaints to God.Pretending you do not fee like David is only hypocrisy. Be honest, and tell God how you feel soforsaken and forgotten. This will release much of the tension that is building up in you. God canhandle the complaints, and he does not get angry at you for feeling the lack of his presence. Heexpects you to feel it, and not like it at all. David is being psychologically and spiritually healthyin getting his frustration off his chest. God always knows how you feel, and it is not surprise tohim, but it can do you a lot of good to complain and release the tension. Our relationship withGod is like that of other persons. When we are bothered by something, be need to express it. If webottle it up long enough it leads to resentment and a broken relationship. Many people whobecome atheist have a terrible thing happen in their lives, and instead of crying out to God howthey feel let down, they go off saying, “If that is the way God is going to treat me, I will forsakehim.” That is what they do, and they lose the chance to work out the problem and restore therelationship. It can be hard to save any relationship where people are not willing to be honest andwork through the issues that are dividing them. How much more so, when the person is God?5. David seems to have every reason to forsake God who seems to have forsaken him, but heknew the folly of that, and so he kept fighting to restore the relationship, and this bittercomplaining man of God was in a few short verses singing the praises of this God who wasmaking him so frustrated. You never get to the happy ending if you cannot endure the hard partsin the middle. Almost every movie ever made has the same pattern. Things look good, but thenthings get messed up, and it looks hopeless. Then things get resolved in ways not expected, andthose who persevered to the end are there for the joyous and happy conclusion. This happens tobe the very theme of the Bible, and just about all of life. Things started perfect, the Satan threw amonkey wrench into the mix, and life became a hell on earth. God sent his Son to provide asolution to the mess caused by the sin problem. He died for our sins, and so now we can have ahope to return to the original perfection. It is not easy, however, for sin and folly are still powerfulenemies, and only those who hold on when all seems to be falling apart will enjoy the happyconclusion of eternal singing to the glory of the Living Savior. God's goal is always the happyending, but a taste of hell on earth is often a trial we have to endure to get there, and David, forone, was a man who held on even though his taste of hell was more like a full meal of it.6. Maclaren, “If the psalmist had not held fast by his confidence, he would not have appealed toGod. So the "illogical" combination in his first cry of " How long ? " and " for ever " is not to besmoothed away, but represents vividly, because unconsciously, the conflict in his soul from themingling of the assurance that God's seeming forgetfulness must have an end and the dread thatit might have none. Luther, who had trodden the dark places, understood the meaning of the cry,and puts it beautifully when he says that here "hope itself despairs, and despair yet hopes, andonly that unspeakable groaning is audible with which the Holy Spirit, who moves over the waterscovered with darkness, intercedes for us." The psalmist is tempted to forget the confidence
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