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Remember His Lovingkindness

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Psalm 13

1 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? 2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, 4 And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken. 5 But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; 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 looks like the structure or outline 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. He is certain he is lost in hopelessness. Then there is verse 5 and he remembers the lovingkindness of the Lord. In just a very few verses he goes from despair to singing thanksgiving. David remembers how time and time again God has heard his prayers, rescued him, and comforted him. 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 the downward spiral of our own rumination. God allowed David, as He allows us, to pass through that dark time, but not to stay there. Rather to experience the faithfulness of God and His promise to never leave us. 

We need verse 5 and 6. We can remember that we have trusted God, remember His provisions and salvation and then sing to Him. Oh, yes, we can say, “I have known His lovingkindness and because of that, I can trust God’s faithfulness.” We don’t see if David’s trouble went away, but we do know that the Lord was with David. As God’s children we also know He is with us, and in that knowing we can trust Him. Let’s talk 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.