(Psalm 13) “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? (Vs.2) How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? (Vs.3) Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, (Vs.4) and my enemy will say, ‘I have overcome him,’ and my foes will rejoice when I fall. (Vs.5) But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. (Vs.6) I will sing the Lord’s praise, for He has been good to me.”
As a New Covenant believers there will be times when it seems God is hiding His face from us and we are left with a deep sense of feeling abandoned by Him even though we know from His Word that He will never abandon those who seek Him even though His presence is not felt. (Hebrews 13:5). We may have examined our heart with all due spiritual diligence to see if there is any offensive way in us or unconfessed or un-renounced sin, or any other matter that might need to be put right with Him. However, after examining ourselves honestly and openly before our Lord we find that to our best knowledge there is no sin left unconfessed, yet we still feel a sense of being forgotten by God and even though He answers others He has somehow passed us by.
We live in a generation that lives on its feelings and to the man or woman without the indwelling Holy Spirit whatever feels right to them must be right. However, Jeremiah tells us that “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked or beyond cure and who can know this apart from God and those who have been spiritually reborn from above by the Holy Spirit (Jeremiah 17:9) (Psalm 51:5) (Ephesians 5:8). We are also told to “Guard our heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23).
Now David was a man who lived in the presence of God and relied upon Him for everything that pertains to life and godliness and even after he had committed murder and adultery ran to the Lord after his sin had been exposed. He ran to God not from Him and received mercy and forgiveness even though the ramifications of what he did never left his household. Most of us even though we have been forgiven and cleansed by the blood of the Messiah, still have to live with the results of what we have done. However, over time as we keep walking with the Lord we are told in God’s Word that “He will restore the years that the locusts (demons) have eaten” (Joel 2:25). Let’s now look at this Psalm briefly.
(Vs.1-2) ““How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?”
There are three things David mentions…
Firstly; a sense that God had forgotten him and had left David to his own devices and that David somehow had to work things out for himself. This sense of being forgotten by God is most keenly felt by us when we have been pleading with God to answer a certain request that is very dear to us but He has not answered and we are kept waiting.
Secondly; the anguish of an unanswered request, as we see expressed by David, is compounded by the thoughts that God has hidden His face from us and that somehow we do not deserve His favour because of the sinful tendencies of the flesh and the weight of the sin that can so easily beset us if we give into temptation. When it seems that God has forgotten us and hidden His face from us, and we have a sense that He is not listening, it is at such times the accuser of the brethren, who accuses us day and night before our God, afflicts us by accusing us, bringing up sins and improper images from the past and we find a lingering heaviness through manifold temptations afflicting us (1 Peter 1:6).
Thirdly; David was constantly wrestling with his thoughts which were always under siege by Satan and causing sorrow in David’s heart. The mind of the believer is a spiritual battlefield because we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, even though Satan does use circumstances and other people to afflict us, but we wrestle daily with principalities and the powers of wickedness in high places in the unseen spiritual realm. The only recourse we have to fight these dark and brooding thoughts from the adversary and the enemy of our souls is the spiritual weapons of our warfare being the blood of the Messiah, the Word of God, the Spirit of God and by putting on the whole spiritual armour of God daily and by praying in the Holy Spirit which will build us up in our most holy faith (Revelation 12:11) (Ephesians 6:10-18) (Jude 1:20).
Also the most effective way to overcome those dark, brooding, lingering and accusatory thoughts from the evil one is to take communion every morning before the activities of the day and to proclaim what the Word of God says that the blood of the Messiah does for us. This will keep the devil from our doorstep even though at times he will hit us hard with the same old temptations that have grievously afflicted us in the past and caused us to buckle over at the knees. And then we read…
(Vs. 3-4) “Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, ‘I have overcome him,’ and my foes will rejoice when I fall.”
In Psalm 139 David writes; “If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you” (Psalm 139: 11-12). David learnt to see beyond the dark circumstances and thoughts that were an affliction to his soul and his enemies were numerous even to plotting to take his very life. Now notice in Psalm 13 that David changes the focus from himself and his conflicting thoughts to focus on the character of God. Even though David is asking God to vindicate him David has in mind the fact that if he does fall beyond recovery that his enemies will have the opportunity to taunt him and in this also to denigrate the God whom David loves and worships.
One of the great benefits David had, and that we have as believers, is that the blessed Holy Spirit will give us light in the midst of darkness and this He does through the Word of God which is “a lamp for our feet and a light on our path” (Psalm 119:105). Brothers and sisters let’s always remember that whatever we feel or do not feel, and our feelings fluctuate depending on our circumstances or physical constitution, that God’s Word will say the same thing tomorrow that it says today because He does not change (Malachi 3:6) (James 1:17).
The whole Word of God has been sealed and cemented forever by the New Covenant cut in the blood of the Messiah our Lord Jesus. As it is also written; “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8). As it is also written; “Your word, O Lord, is everlasting; it is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 119:89).
Satan cannot overcome the power of the blood of the Messiah our Lord Jesus and when we stand by faith in the blood Satan must give ground. He hates the blood of the Messiah and when we confess what the Bible says the blood of the Messiah does for us Satan will leave us alone. When the destroying angel passed through Egypt those who had the lambs blood spattered on the doorposts of their houses were spared. The blood in the basin itself did not protect the Israelites until it was smeared on the doorposts. We can know about the blood of the Messiah and what it can do for us but it becomes powerful and effective when we apply it by proclaiming what it does for us. It is in the proclamation of the blood wherein lies the spiritual power to run Satan and his cohorts from hell out of our affairs and that big time (Revelation 12:13) (James 4:7).
It is by the blood of the Messiah our Lord Jesus that we are forgiven, redeemed. justified, cleansed, sanctified, purged in our conscience form dead works to serve the living God, given access to the very throne room of the Triune God Himself and protected from the wrath to come. Never lose sight of the power of the Messiah’s blood and taking communion every morning will remind us of its power to cleanse us and to set us apart to God and keep us from giving into temptation and preserving us from the wrath to come! Taking communion will also order our day aright so that whatever we say and do will be pleasing to the Lord. The blessed Holy Spirit will enlighten us as to what pleases or displeases God as we walk moment by moment under His control. What a wonderful, divine and loving friend we have in the blessed Holy Spirit. Finally we read…
(Vs.5-6) “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for He has been good to me.”
As David focuses on the character of God and takes his eyes off of his own feelings and depressing thoughts, which the enemy of the soul had afflicted him with, David affirms his trust in God’s unfailing love because he understands the blood covenant and the permanency of its power for the soul. It is a love that never fails and that can be depended upon however we are feeling. Quite frankly our feelings are deceptive at the best of times. Most often our circumstances whether favourable or unfavourable will affect how we feel and especially when we are not feeling well physically.
However, deep in our human spirit where God dwells by His Spirit, “being joined to the Lord and one in spirit with Him,” we can know shalom, being the peace of God that transcends all human comprehension even though our soul is in conflict and our circumstances daunting to say the least. Shalom is to have a sense of being filled up and at peace deep down on the inside even though we might be in the midst of a trial or a test. This shalom is not some happy clappy feeling but primarily a deep and settled peace in the inner spirit that will evoke the right and appropriate emotional response to God telling Him we do trust Him even when we do not see the way out or even feel that we love Him.
Faith in both Testaments also means to remain faithful or faithfulness as well as belief. If we truly believe then we will desire to be faithful to God and to His Word and the blessed Holy Spirit will give us the power to be obedient to the Word of God because the law of God (the Torah) has been written on our hearts by the blessed Holy Spirit himself (Jeremiah 31:33-34). Singing and praising God and praying in the Holy Spirit will keep the devil at bay and especially when we are being tempted to entertain those evil thoughts from the past and to commit those sins that can so easily trip us up. David knew this when he wrote Psalm 8 in which we read; “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger” (Psalm 8:2).
When we offer up praise to God with a childlike unbridled expression of worship emanating out from a pure and undefiled heart cleansed by the blood of the Messiah, our praise will reach the very throne room of God Himself and be a very pleasing fragrance to Him and cause Him to respond (Revelation 5:8) (Hebrews 11:6). Our faith exercised in this way will please Him beyond measure especially when we reflect back to Him His unchanging word. Also reflecting on how He has delivered us in the past will also encourage us to trust Him for our future.
And so we find David starting out His prayer with a sense of abandonment but through reflecting on God’s character and unfailing love, and by rejoicing in His salvation, and by singing His praises David’s thoughts are changed. He is given the capacity to look beyond his current circumstances that have so easily beset him and to find relief and release from his depression and conflicting thoughts. By taking the focus off from his own feelings and circumstances and praising and thanking God by faith for past mercies he is encouraged to trust God for his future. Sometimes we need to reflect on how God has delivered us in the past and realise that He will deliver us in the future as well. Reflecting on past blessings will empower us to look to Him for future blessing! He does not change!
May the Lord enable us to obey His command to be filled with His Spirit moment by moment, not only to be blessed ourselves, but also that we might be a blessing to our brothers and sisters in the Messiah, through speaking with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs as we make melody in our hearts to the Lord, giving us the capacity to be thankful to Him for every spiritual blessing given to us in the Messiah our Lord Jesus and the capacity to submit to each other out of our reverence for Him (Ephesians 5:17-21).
We may come into our prayer closet feeling unspiritual and aware of our own weaknesses and tendencies to sin but through trusting in His unfailing love, by rejoicing in the salvation we have in the Messiah and by singing and praying to the Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit we will come to see and to feel the goodness of God! Our devotional time may start out with faltering lips but end with praise and thankfulness for past blessings and those to come that we have not yet seen but are promised to us in his unchanging Word!
Added to this, taking communion will cement the truth of God’s Word and give us the capacity to stand against the world, the flesh and the devil and to overcome those lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life! In doing this we will experience the peace of God that surpasses all human understanding and a supernatural peace that will garrison our hearts and minds to stay connected to the Messiah our Lord Jesus whom has sealed us with His blessed Holy Spirit for the day of redemption! God never forgets us and constantly watches over us in all our ways because He neither slumbers nor sleeps! (Psalm 121:3-4).
