How Long?

Read: 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 take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Record: The psalmist is caught in the difficulties of life and wants to free of his enemy.  His heart is heavy all day long, because he feel the Lord has abandoned him.  He believes the Lord’s face has been hidden from him.

Reflect:  The distress that the psalmist is feeling is purposefully vague, which allows for numerous connections.  Whatever his lot may be, the psalmist is pleading for the Lord’s help.  He wants an answer from the Lord and help from his enemy.

Respond:  My response is one of prayer hoping that verses 5-6 will always be my response.  No matter what the situation may bring forth, I would hope to trust in the Lord’s steadfast love because of the joyous salvation I have in the Lord and the infinite blessings that come with that pricey and priceless salvation.

This psalm tells that any difficult situation can finds its comfort in the gospel, that the Lord truly does hear me and ultimately answers me with the cross.  Notice that actual deliverance from the difficult situation in which the psalmist found him may not have even occurred.  In the end, God is still good.  My enemy may seem to be winning but the final victory (the one that matters) has been secured in the victorious work of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.

The Blessed Man

Read: Psalm 1 (focus on vv. 1-2)

1 Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

Record:  As Book 1 of the Psalms begins, the psalmist describes the blessed in light of three negatives:

1. who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
2. nor stands in the way of sinners,
3. nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

The psalmist then shifts to the positive giving definition to the true blessed man of God.  Verse 2 describes him as one:

• who delights in the law of the LORD
• who meditates on his law day and night.

Next the psalmist gives two illustrations to further describe the righteous man as opposed to the wicked man.  The righteous person is like a tree, while the wicked person is like chaff.  The righteous person is like a tree planted by streams of water with fruit coming in its season, never whithering away.  All that the righteous man does prospers, because the Lord knows his way.

The wicked man is not like this.  He is easily blown away by the wind.  He will not be able to stand in judgment, nor before the righteous, but his way will ultimately perish.

Reflect and Respond: The psalms were poetry meant to be sung.  The very first psalm that we find in book 1 tells us to avoid the wicked, sinners, and scoffers, and instead to delight and meditate upon the law of the Lord day and night.  The song the Scriptures want me to sing is to delight and mediate upon God’s very Word.  There is nothing more righteous than the true words of God; furthermore God wants me to sing His righteous Word into my heart and to respond in righteousness.

Ultimately though, this psalm brings me to the most righteous, most blessed man, namely Jesus.  His delight was fully in the law of the Lord, because He perfectly upheld every aspect of the law.  Jesus’ drive was to obey the Father’s will, and His will was set forth in the law of God.  To keep the law is to love and delight in it, which Christ did so clearly.  He had the deepest delight in the law because He sought to obey it in every way.  Failure to obey the law is fundamentally a hatred for the law and the giver of the law… God.  Jesus loved the Father and kept his commandments.  He who kept the law, was the very Word of God, and is now the righteous man who blesses his people because of his perfect obedience to the Father’s will.