⁵But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. ⁶I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.

“How long, O Lord?” That is how this psalm begins, though it ends with a faithful expression of trust and gratitude. But don’t miss the nuance. Trust in the Lord as a God of lovingkindness deepens when our faith is stretched beyond what we can endure in our own strength. Further, trusting God does not mean we should not cry out to Him in lament. In fact, calling to Him in our desperate need is a profound act of faith.

The nonbeliever, when faced with troubles that seem never to end, will ultimately get to a breaking point of giving up on God. Whether the words are spoken or not, the heart that does not draw near to God in times of trouble will ultimately curse God for not relieving the pain and torment. (They may blame fate, but that is, in reality, a slap in God’s face.) Satan brought immeasurable suffering to Job to get him to curse God (Job 1:11, 2:5). Job’s wife found his suffering intolerable and taunted him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9). We read that finally, Job “cursed the day of his birth (Job 3:1), the suffering was so great. But Job never cursed God!

The cry of the psalmist’s heart resonates in all who have experienced unending trouble. We don’t know what David was wrestling with in Psalm 13, but we find comfort in knowing that the godliest of people struggle with delayed answers to prayer. This lament is not unique in the psalms; in fact, it is not uncommon for people of faith. On the one hand, we believe God is vitally interested in and cares for us, and we believe He answers prayer. Many promises in Scripture assure us of these truths. On the other hand, life experience faces us with times when the Lord delays meeting our needs to the point of stretching our faith to the limits. It seems like He is taking His dear old time and is oblivious to our desperate need.

Even though we experience blessing by living righteously, trouble is often not far away. Psalm 1 begins, “How blessed is the man” who lives in the ways of righteousness, yet Psalm 3 begins, “O Lord, how my adversaries have increased!” Look at how many psalms reflect this bewilderment and confusion in their opening lines:

Psalm 4 “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness … how long will my honor become a reproach?

Psalm 5 “Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my groaning.”

Psalm 6 “O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger.”

Psalm 7 “O Lord, my God, in You I have taken refuge; save me.”

Psalm 10 “Why do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?”

Psalm 11 “In the Lord I take refuge.”

Psalm 12 “Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases to be…”

So Psalm 13 continues in this vein; we see how the godly man David handles what seems like unanswered prayer. We can identify a few salient points. First, a godly person brings his lament to God; he knows that his mind, heart, and emotions are an open book to God—no secrets. There was no false spirituality with this mighty man of God, for only truth will prevail in the Lord’s presence. And the truth is that we must be honest with ourselves and before God. If we feel God is taking too long, we might as well bring it out into the open. We may fear honesty with people who may use our admission of emotional weakness against us. But being fearful of God on this makes no sense because He already knows what we are feeling. Honesty is good for our soul, as the popular proverb goes. To do anything else makes us a fraud in God’s eyes.

Second, David’s emotions were genuine. His sense of trouble being unending is fourfold: 1) God’s seeming to ignore him, 2) his tumultuous inner self-talk (“How long shall I take counsel in my soul?” 3) the overwhelming sorrow that never lets up, and 4) seeing his enemies gloat over having the upper hand over him. These are heavy things that weigh David down emotionally.

In verses 3-4, he lays out his specific request to the Lord, basically asking for a solution to his predicament. He asks for enlightenment to see his situation as God sees it; otherwise there is no point in continuing on.

In verses 5-6, though, David rehearses his trust and praise for the Lord, who is characterized by saving those who trust in Him. If all he had was the knowledge of what God had done for him in the past, David would have enough. Yet, he speaks of past blessings to remember the kind of God he trusts. In a sense, he desires to get on the same page with the character of God. This is a prime example of how a man “after God’s own heart” seeks the Lord (1 Sam. 13:14).

Lord, as I have trusted You in the past, I continue to trust You in my present challenge to my faith. I do not need to wait for Your answer to my prayer because I know You will deal me blessings far beyond what I deserve or can even imagine.