To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
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 daily?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God;
Enlighten my eyes,
Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
4 Lest my enemy say,
"I have prevailed against him";
Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
5 But I have trusted in Your mercy;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.
Have you ever felt like the Lord has forgotten you? I have. We probably all have. Suddenly, we find ourselves in a situation with no way out and no way to get away from the pain. And sometimes you don't even do anything to get yourself there. But your right in the middle of it and you feel like your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. And you wonder where God is and why this is happening. How long will God allow this to go on? How long will He look the other way? Does God really approve of this place where I stand? He must because He is sovereign.
That's where David is standing. He was on the run from Saul. He didn't really do anything wrong. In fact, he did a lot of things right. He was a man after God's own heart. But Saul was obsessed with killing him. Every way he turned, Saul was trying to kill him. And he feels like God is a long way off. How long O Lord? David wanted to know how long this was going to go on.
We can get another view into this situation from 1 Samuel 20 where David is talking to Jonathon.
1 Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and went and said to Jonathan, "What have I done? What is my iniquity, and what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?"
2 So Jonathan said to him, "By no means! You shall not die! Indeed, my father will do nothing either great or small without first telling me. And why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!"
3 Then David took an oath again, and said, "Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, 'Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.' But truly, as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death."
David was surely feeling the pressures of being pursued by Saul. This was a very real threat to him. He knew the truth of his life. Death sometimes seems so far away but in reality we are never more than one step away. The very next step may be our last.
David said, "How long, O Lord?" He thought this situation would never end. There was no good ending to this as far as he could see. Someone, or several someone's, would end up dead.
David probably felt his own strength starting to wane. God, will you forget me forever? Every one of us has a time in our life where it feels as though the Lord has forgotten us. We look up and wonder if we've done something wrong. Show me where I took the wrong turn Lord. Give me a chance Lord.
David asked, "How long will you hide your face from me?" David was sure that God had turned away. Somehow He's not seeing my circumstances. Because if He did see them, if He really understood how I feel, then He would intervene. But He's not. For some reason God is not moving when I want Him to.
David seems to be left to these circumstances. He has to 'take counsel in his soul.' This wrestling with his own thoughts is trying to figure it all out on his own. He continues to seek God and cry out for relief. He has sorrow in his heart daily. Sorrow can wear you down can't it? It will sap the life right out of you.
In David's case, not only is he full of sorrow daily but his enemy is being exalted over him. Isn't it great when you feel beat down and think you can't take anymore, then you find out one of the people or persons who beat you down has everything in life going their way. They got a fat raise, a pat on the back or they won an award or were recognized by the local college. Someone is singing their accolades and their life is good!! And your depression just feels like it is closing in on you.
David said in verse 3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death; That one step away from death was feeling very real. David continues to cry out to the Lord asking him to give him life and enlighten his eyes; gird him up; strengthen him or death would surely come. And if death did come then Saul would say he had prevailed against David. And not just David but also the Lord. Because God had said David would be the king of
David had a promise from God. And it seems as though he's having trouble hanging on to it. If God said he would be king would God allow him to die? Does David trust the promise of God?
Do we trust the promise of God? He says that he will never leave us or forsake us.
That's a promise. So when we feel as though He has left us what do we do? In spite of the circumstances, we must trust the promises of God. Jeremiah 17:9 says……….
9 " The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
We need to say in our heart, I still trust in you. Regardless of my feelings I know you are Lord. My feelings deceive me. They lead me down paths I shouldn't go down.
It's okay to feel but feelings can't affect the truth. The truth is immovable. Feelings can't move the immovable. God said he is the same yesterday, today and forever. He said he would never leave us or forsake us. He said we can cast our cares on him. His Lover never fails. His mercies are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. We been given a lot of promises haven't we? We could go on a long time.
David said in verse 5 "I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. David's circumstances haven't changed. His attitude has changed. Instead of having his eyes on his circumstances and getting drawn into a pitty party, He decides to trust in the mercy of the Lord. David said his heart shall rejoice in Your Yeshuah. That is 'the salvation of the Lord.' Our Yeshuah is Jesus Christ. He is the Yeshuah ha meshiach.
Then in verse 6 David says he will sing to the Lord. He will sing the praises of an awesome and mighty God who continues to be with him even when his feelings tell him otherwise.
When we feel like we are alone, we are not. That feeling is wrong and we need to remember that. We shouldn't get depressed and feel as if we are alone to face our problems when we know God is with us. We know the unchanging, immovable truth of an immutable God. We know the presence and comfort of an Omnipresent God. We know the strength that comes from Omnipotent God.
That lonely feeling should serve as a reminder of the God we serve. When we feel deserted and lonely and near death, use it to prompt a question in your mind, asking, do you trust your feelings? Do you trust yourself? Or do you trust god?
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