Day 85: How Long?

Since I started with the through-the-bible reading plan from my church, Solid Rock, I’ve gained an appreciation for having a piece of everything in my reading plan.  Not only do I get to work through the old testament, but I also get to read about Jesus every day through a piece of the gospels, and get to meditate on both one psalm and one proverb a day.

Psalm 13 struck me in a huge way because it deals mainly with one question:

“How long, Lord?”

David asks the Lord how long He will forget him, and hide his face from him.  He even goes so far as to ask the Lord how long he must wrestle with his thoughts and have sorrow in his heart.

He asks the Lord how long his enemies will triumph over him.

David’s prayer/thought life, has always been something that I’ve admired.  He is so raw and visceral in his prayers; bold, unafraid, he tells God what is on his mind with jaw dropping genuineness.

In my opinion, he asks these questions not rhetorically, but because he believes that God will actually hear him.

How often do we pray like that?

For me, prayer is a time that I feel like I either hit or miss the mark.  Sometimes I feel like I’ve said everything I needed to say, openly and honestly, while other times I feel like I fake my way through it, hoping it was good enough.

Worthy enough.

I want to be like David, who even in the midst of asking all of these questions, still knows who to rely on and who to look to.  While his world is falling apart, and he is wrestling with what he is thinking and the sorrow that is devouring him, He still takes his questions to the Lord.

And sometimes, just asking is enough.  Sometimes, it’s all we need to do to get ourselves on the path back to God.

Asking God questions leads to more thinking, and to more powerful conversations with God.  Asking a question implies that you expect an answer.

And God is the only person who has all the answers.

At the end of the psalm, David speaks to God and says that He trusts in his unfailing love, and that his heart rejoices in His salvation.  

He ends with singing to the Lord, because he is GOOD.

David is unafraid to ask God the hard questions.  And that’s okay.  Because if anyone has anything to say about the hard questions of life, it’s God.  And if anyone has the answers, or any real clarity, it is Him.

But, David never questions the goodness of the Lord, because he knows that although it is difficult to go through the fire, it is the fire that refines the mind and soul.

Pray like David.  Be bold with what you bring to the throne of Grace.  Be open, be honest.

He knows what you’re thinking either way.

In Christ,

Lilia

Psalm 13

1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
   How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
   and every day have sorrow in my heart?
   How long will my enemy triumph over me?

 3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
   Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
4 my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
   and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

 5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
   my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD,
   for he has been good to me.