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From Hopelessness to Thanksgiving - Psalm 13

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Scripture

Psalm 13

1How 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.

Meditation

Although the 13th Psalm is the shortest Psalm, it is powerful and the structure of many of David’s Psalms. The first four verses are the picture of a person overcome by crisis, depression, and his own rumination. He is certain he is alone, unable to deal with the weight of life. Then there is verse 5 and he remembers the lovingkindness of the Lord. In just a very few verses he goes from hopelessness to singing thanksgiving. That could be us. We often find ourselves gripped by life and the feeling of hopelessness. We struggle with the fear of no answers and our own rumination. God allowed David, as He allows us, to pass through that dark time, but not to stay there. We need verse 5 and 6. We can remember that we have trusted God, remember His provisions and salvation and then sing to Him. We don’t see that David’s trouble went away, but we do see the knowing that the Lord was with David/us and in that knowing we can trust Him. Confess those problems to God today.

Prayer

Lord, there are times when the weight of life seems too much and we feel desperate and hopeless. In ourselves we can find no solution. Father, we need verse 5 so that we can sing verse 6. Father, we each want to tell you the things that are fearful and weighing us down. Remind us of your lovingkindness, and put a song of thanksgiving in our mouth.