Verse: Psalm 13
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?

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.

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.

Devotion
Maybe you need to hear this today. Or maybe I do 🙂

Do you see how David deals with his frustration? He doesn’t sugar coat it with platitudes, but he also doesn’t curse God and run. He comes to God in honesty. He starts this Psalm of lament not only expressing his frustration with his circumstances, but also his frustration (and even anger) with God. You can almost hear him shouting, “WHERE ARE YOU GOD?!”

Then he asks God to answer his prayer. And then, it takes a turn. He basically says, but either way (answered prayer or not) I will trust your unfailing love. By the end somehow he is singing.

Now listen, not every Psalm of lament ends with singing (see Psalm 38). But the point for today is that God’s unfailing love and salvation are for you today, no matter how deep the pit is. Think about, consider, and meditate on those two truths.

Unfailing love: what is it we crave when we are in trouble? We want someone to love us, to comfort us, and to strengthen us. This is the promise of God’s love. His love is with you right now, no matter what. And his love will never leave you. His love will not forsake you. His love will never fail.

Salvation: David rejoices not in his circumstances changing (they haven’t yet), but in your (God’s) salvation. He rejoices in the salvation of God, looking forward to Jesus, having faith in a Savior he hasn’t met yet, but trusting a God he knows deeply. He rejoices that even when this earth is full of pain and frustration and disappointment, we can look forward to the day of salvation. We can look to a time when all evil and pain and suffering and sickness will be ultimately defeated and come to an end. And in that knowledge we too can rejoice.

Prayer
Lord, I pray that you would draw near to me. I am hurting today. I pray that your unfailing love would surround me, and I pray that your salvation would fill my heart with hope.

Author: Christian Dunn