When God Delays: Psalm 13
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?
How long, O Lord? How long will my trial last? How long will these troubles go on? Have you asked that of God before?
That was the question David was asking God
You see, from the time David struck down the giant of the Philistines, King Saul hunted down David
He was bitterly jealous toward David, because David had gained the hearts of the people
What made it even stickier was that Saul’s son Jonathan was David’s close friend and Saul’s daughter Michal was David’s wife
Strange arrangement, right?
David did have a faithful band of soldiers that stayed with him for most of the time he was running for his life
But when they returned to camp after a battle and David’s family and the soldiers families had been taken captive by the enemy, David’s soldiers turned against him
So, David was pretty much alone at this point
David cried out to God, and said something that we may often think but never say: How long, O Lord?
Let’s notice how David, a godly man, faced real pressures in his life and see how he resolved those pressures.
What did he do when God delayed answering his prayer? When God let David go through a time of suffering?
Let’s consider:
David’s Struggles When He Wasn’t Hearing from God
- He felt as if God had forgotten him
1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
If we are honest with ourselves, sometimes when God delays coming to our rescue, we feel like he has forgotten us
Seems like our trial lasts a long time…
Someone has said that it is the length of the trial, not the severity of it that threatens us the most
Whenever we have a trial come on us, whether it is financial, our family or our health, we will call for people to pray, we rally the troops so to say
And then the trial keeps on going. It doesn’t seem that everyone’s prayers are doing much good…God doesn’t seem to be around
We start thinking that God has forgotten us
Consider Job: he was hit with one tragedy after another. He lost his livestock, he lost his family, his health was struck down.
He was patient at first through all of it. But when he wasn’t hearing from God, he began to grow impatient and grew tired of waiting on God
The same is true of us. We believe God, but we expect God to move faster than he does
And when he doesn’t, and our trial just keeps going on and on…we get impatient and tired of waiting
We think God has forgotten us
Well, not only did David think that God had forgotten him:
- He felt as if God had forsaken him
See the end of v1?
“How long will you hide your face from me?”
David felt like God had purposely forsaken him
Someone might accidently forget about us, but to be forsaken is hurtful
David was God’s anointed King. He was the one that would take Saul’s place
And now that David was running from Saul and hiding out in caves from his enemy, maybe he didn’t seem like king material and God had forsaken him…kicked him to the curb as we say
Let me tell you something: God is never going to forsake you
If you feel like he has, think of the cross
When Jesus was on the cross, God momentarily turned his back on his own Son who was carrying your sin…so that you could be saved and forgiven and cleansed of your sin so that God would never turn his back on you!
Are you saved this morning? Truly saved and forgiven of your sin?
Have you made a definite decision for Christ?
If so, then as your trial continues, know that God has not forgotten you, nor has he forsaken you!!
Notice again in v2, David asks God “how long” as matter of fact he asked, “how long” 2 more times
It is v2, we see David begin to be emotional about his problems
“how long must I take counsel in my soul”
I’m asking God and he’s not giving me any advice
I’m all alone so there isn’t anyone else to advise me
So, I take counsel in my own soul, but it’s not working out!
All this has created sorrow in my heart, because I don’t know how long this trial is going to last
Then David asked God, “how long will you let my enemy be exalted over me?”
Saul was David’s enemy, bigger and stronger than any human enemy you or I will ever have
But we have a bigger and stronger enemy in the spiritual world, his name is Satan and he’s always looking for ways to attack us
It’s easy to be frustrated, when our enemy continues to attack us
It’s easy to feel forgotten and forsaken
But we can learn from David what to do when the enemy doesn’t give up
Note with me:
David’s Prayer as His Trial Continued
I want you to make note how long David’s trial was
From the time that God anointed David as the next King of Israel, to the time he became King was approximately 15 years
So, it was a long time that David spent running from Saul
It was a time of desperation for David, so David began to pray
He really began to pray intensely. That’s when you and I really learn how to pray, is when we find ourselves in a situation like David’s
Notice, David’s prayer was out of fear of what might happen to him if God didn’t intervene
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.
First off, David was afraid if God didn’t answer him that he might die
How much more does your prayer life increase when you think you might die?
Then David was troubled that he wouldn’t win this battle against Saul…that his enemy would prevail
David was to be the next King, and he was afraid that Saul wasn’t going to let that happen
Thirdly, he was afraid those who opposed him would rejoice because David who was supposed to be strong would fall
He feared that he would be disgraced
Hard, tough times that David was facing
So, he kept he prayer focused on God
Consider me, God!
Hear my prayer, God!
Bring my strength back and enlighten me, God!
So, David prayed a deep intense prayer to God
I’ve been there, have you? I can relate to David, can you?
But notice the turn that David makes in the next verses:
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.
This beaten down man, the would-be king suddenly in the middle of his prayer declares his trust in God
I don’t know about you, but often when I am praying about my own needs and my own struggles, God reminds me of how good he has been to me in the past
And sometimes when I am praying about a need in my life, God reminds me of someone who is much worse off than me
Or I’ll pray about a minor need, and God reminds me that he has already taken care of a greater need in my life
I must at that point, just stop and praise Him
Stop and declare that I will trust God; I will keep my faith in Him and believe Him no matter how long it takes
I belong to God. God will take care of me. I will not turn my back on God
He has not forgotten me
He has not forsaken me
When I say these things, my prayers become God-focused instead of Keith-focused
That’s how we really get in tune with Him
When I focus my prayer toward God, then God will take care of my needs.