PSALM 13 COMMENTARYWritten and edited by Glenn Pease

Psalm 13

PREFACEAs with all of my commentaries, I quote many other authors, and sometimes I do not know the

author of a quote. If you spot one you know the author of, let me know and I will give credit. If

anyone does not want their words of wisdom shared in this commentary I will delete it if so

notified. My e-mail is glenn_p86@yahoo.com Some of my quotes are just a brief part of the

authors full work, and you can get a great deal more insight by looking up their work on the

internet.

INTRODUCTION1. This Psalm is unusual because of the rapid change from deep despair to high joyous praise. In

the Preacher's Commentary we read, “In this psalm we see a servant of God, long and sorely

tried by the persecutions of unrelenting enemies, and, as it seems to himself, forgotten and

forsaken of God, pouring out the agony of his soul in prayer. It is a long and weary struggle, it is

a daily and hourly martyrdom ; and wrestling with his despair, he can but cry (like the souls

under the altar, Rev. vi. 10), ' How long?' And then calmer words of prayer rise to his lips (ver. 3,

4) ; and at last Faith asserts her perfect victory (ver. 5). The rapid transition of feeling, from a

depth of misery bordering on despair, to hope, and even joy, is very remarkable." — Perowne.

2. Spurgeon, “THIS is a very short Psalm, there are only six verses in it, but what a change there

is between the beginning and the end of it! The first two verses are dolorous to the deepest

degree, but the last verse is joyful to the highest degree. David begins many of his Psalms sighing

and ends them singing, so that I do not wonder that Peter Moulin says, “One would think that

those Psalms had been composed by two men of a contrary humor.” If I were asked, “Are there

two men here, or is there only one?” My answer would be that there is only one, but that one is

two, for every man is two men, especially every spiritual man. He will find within himself an old

man and a new man, an old nature and a new nature—and even the new nature, itself, is subject

to strange changes—so that, like April weather, we have sunshine and showers blended.

Sometimes it seems as if all the showers were poured on top of the sunshine and the sunshine,

itself, were quenched and could scarcely gladden us. David was a wonderful man for changes of

experience. God permitted him to go through many experiences, not so much for himself, as for

the good of succeeding generations. Whenever you look into David’s Psalms, you may somewhere

or other see yourselves. You never get into a corner but you find David in that corner. I think that

I was never so low that I could not find that David was lower—and I never climbed so high that I

could not find that David was up above me, ready to sing his song upon his stringed instrument,

even as I could sing mine! These are two instantaneous photographs. The first one gives us the

man complaining, the second one gives us the man rejoicing.”

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

1 How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

1. This is a common feeling when we sense the absence of God. We seem to be on our own, and

not doing well, and we could really use some help to smooth out the rough path we are walking. It

is lonely and discouraging and we wonder where is our God who has promised never to leave and

forsake us. Most of us, however, are not as bold as David to complain to God about it as he does

here. We hold our feelings in, and stoically keep plodding on our own with our forsaken feelings.

Nobody likes a complainer, and so we assume that God is in that same category, and we do not let

him hear our complaints. How strange it is that the Psalms are so full of complaints, and we call

it the Word of God, and yet we fear to respond as men of God do in the Psalms. They are here for

our guidance, understanding and comfort, and yet we do not share our complaints with God. We

are convinced we need to hide our negative feelings from God lest he be angry with us, but here is

David, a man after God's own heart, pouring out his complaint to God.

2. David cries out twice in this verse, and twice in the next verse, “How Long..” His patience is

worn, not just thin, but worn to the bone. He has had it, and he is fed up with God's delay in

coming to his rescue as he has so often in times past. He is wrestling with his thoughts of doubt,

for his enemy seems to be winning the battle, and his own heart is bringing him down as well, for

it is filled with sorrow. He is a hurting man who has endured God's silence and absence long

enough, and he can not longer contain his complaints. Thank God if you have never been in this

state of mind, but don't be surprised if you still arrive there some day soon, for just about all of

God's children are tried by times when God seems to say, “You are on your own for now.”

2B. Spurgeon,”Said I not truly, when I called it howling? There is so much of complaining here,

so much of questioning—“How long? How long? How long? How long?”—four times over, that

we may call it, as David did once call his prayer—“the voice of my roaring.” It is a kind of

howling, roaring, moaning complaint before God in the bitterness of his soul.”

3. Gill in commenting on David's feelings, and all of God's children, when things are not the same

as the used to be “..they are ready to conclude he has forgotten them; and sometimes this

continues long, and then they fear they are forgotten for ever; and this they cannot bear, and

therefore expostulate with God in a querulous manner, as the psalmist does here; but this is to be

understood not in reality, but in their own apprehension, and in the opinion of their enemies; God

never does nor can forget his people; oblivion does not fall upon him with respect to common

persons and things; and much less with respect to his own dear children...”

3B. Spurgeon, “How long wilt thou forget me? Ah, David! how like a fool thou talkest! Can God

forget? Can Omniscience fail in memory? Above all, can Jehovah's heart forget his own beloved

child? Ah! brethren, let us drive away the thought, and hear the voice of our covenant God by the

mouth of the prophet, "But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten

me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her

womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms

of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."

4. When you feel strained to the breaking point, remember, even the man after God's own heart

has been there, and so do what he did,and pour out your frustration with complaints to God.

Pretending you do not fee like David is only hypocrisy. Be honest, and tell God how you feel so

forsaken and forgotten. This will release much of the tension that is building up in you. God can

handle the complaints, and he does not get angry at you for feeling the lack of his presence. He

expects you to feel it, and not like it at all. David is being psychologically and spiritually healthy

in getting his frustration off his chest. God always knows how you feel, and it is not surprise to

him, but it can do you a lot of good to complain and release the tension. Our relationship with

God is like that of other persons. When we are bothered by something, be need to express it. If we

bottle it up long enough it leads to resentment and a broken relationship. Many people who

become atheist have a terrible thing happen in their lives, and instead of crying out to God how

they feel let down, they go off saying, “If that is the way God is going to treat me, I will forsake

him.” That is what they do, and they lose the chance to work out the problem and restore the

relationship. It can be hard to save any relationship where people are not willing to be honest and

work through the issues that are dividing them. How much more so, when the person is God?

5. David seems to have every reason to forsake God who seems to have forsaken him, but he

knew the folly of that, and so he kept fighting to restore the relationship, and this bitter

complaining man of God was in a few short verses singing the praises of this God who was

making him so frustrated. You never get to the happy ending if you cannot endure the hard parts

in the middle. Almost every movie ever made has the same pattern. Things look good, but then

things get messed up, and it looks hopeless. Then things get resolved in ways not expected, and

those who persevered to the end are there for the joyous and happy conclusion. This happens to

be the very theme of the Bible, and just about all of life. Things started perfect, the Satan threw a

monkey wrench into the mix, and life became a hell on earth. God sent his Son to provide a

solution to the mess caused by the sin problem. He died for our sins, and so now we can have a

hope to return to the original perfection. It is not easy, however, for sin and folly are still powerful

enemies, and only those who hold on when all seems to be falling apart will enjoy the happy

conclusion of eternal singing to the glory of the Living Savior. God's goal is always the happy

ending, but a taste of hell on earth is often a trial we have to endure to get there, and David, for

one, was a man who held on even though his taste of hell was more like a full meal of it.

6. Maclaren, “If the psalmist had not held fast by his confidence, he would not have appealed to

God. So the "illogical" combination in his first cry of " How long ? " and " for ever " is not to be

smoothed away, but represents vividly, because unconsciously, the conflict in his soul from the

mingling of the assurance that God's seeming forgetfulness must have an end and the dread that

it might have none. Luther, who had trodden the dark places, understood the meaning of the cry,

and puts it beautifully when he says that here "hope itself despairs, and despair yet hopes, and

only that unspeakable groaning is audible with which the Holy Spirit, who moves over the waters

covered with darkness, intercedes for us." The psalmist is tempted to forget the confidence

expressed in Psalm ix. i8 and to sink to the denial animating the wicked in Psalms x., xi. The

heart wrung by troubles finds little consolation in the mere intellectual belief in a Divine

omniscience. An idle remembrance which does not lead to actual help is a poor stay for such a

time. No doubt the psalmist knew that forgetfulness was impossible to God ; but a God who,

though He remembered, did nothing for, His servant, was not enough..”

7. Ashton points out that sometimes the enemies that we face are not as great a problem to cope

with as the God we serve and love. We expect our enemies to be a problem, and not contribute to

our well being and joy in life, but we do expect this of our God, and so when it is lacking we are

faces with a burden greater than what any enemy can place on us. It is the old saying, “with

friends like that, who needs enemies? God seems our greatest enemy at times when he seems so

absent. Ashton's own words are, “And he further mentions his distress lest his enemy should

exult, and lord it over him. But the thing which grieved him most was the thought that God had

turned away from him. This was the real sting of his pain, the throbbing pulse of his misery.”

8.Caldwell in his lecture on this Psalm said, “David complains elsewhere, "Lord, why castest thou

off my soul"? why hidest thou thy face from me' Ps. Ixxxviii. 14. Job says, " O that I were as in

months past, as in the days when God preserved me ; when his candle shone upon my head, and

when by his light I walked through darkness." Job xxix. 2, 3. Isaiah intimates the same idea of

desertion, saying, "Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant,

that walketh in darkness, and hath no light '? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay

upon his God." Isa. 1. 10. So also Jeremiah complains: "I am the man that hath seen affliction

by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light." Lam.

iii. 1, 2. The believer who, when in spiritual darkness, thinks that his trials are peculiar, and says,

"Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the

Lord hath afflicted me," (Lam. i. 12,) may learn, in the Scriptures here recited, that holy

prophets were tried in the same way thousands of years ago. What particular spiritual grief

pressed so heavily upon David's heart at the time he wrote this psalm, he does not tell us. His

words, therefore, are applicable to any spiritual desertion that the believer may experience. And

where is the earnest believer who has not experienced some spiritual sorrow so intense, and so

long-continued, as to force him to cry out, how long?”

9. Jesus felt these same feelings, and he cried out from the cross, quoting another Psalm with a

portion of its cry, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, why art thou so far from

helping me, and from the words of my roaring." In reality, God was there with him, for God was

in Christ reconciling the world to himself, but it felt like he was God forsaken and abandoned by

the Father. What we feel and what is the facts are two different things, and that is why we must

never let feelings become the death of our faith. Feelings are not the final word on anything, and

those who let them become that are heading for disaster, for they will let negative feelings

eventually kill their faith.

10. David is crying out over and over the words how long, and Spurgeon said, “We have been

wont to call this the "How Long Psalm." We had almost said the Howling Psalm, from the

incessant repetition of the cry "how long?" But here is the good news, for when one is crying out

how long, he is saying also that he is waiting for the end of the bad times, and the beginning of the

good old days again. In the very act of complaining and asking God how long it was going to be

before he came into his life again, he was expressing expectation of that good news. He is saying,

“Give me an answer Lord. Tell me when this trial is going to be over, and we can move into the

future with a brighter outlook. Tell me Lord that this bad time will end, and good times will come

again.” In other words, he was waiting on the Lord. It was miserable, but he was waiting. He was

impatient, but he was waiting, and those who wait upon the Lord will eventually experience his

blessing. His very complaint has hope and faith in it, and that is why this Psalm has a happy

ending.

11. Thomas Gataker back in 1637 had his interpretation of just why God sometimes does leave

his children feeling alone and abandoned. He wrote, “As a father will sometimes cross his son to

try the child's disposition, to see how he will take it, whether he will mutter and grumble at it,

and grow humorous and wayward, neglect his duty to his father because his father seemeth to

neglect him, or make offer to run away and withdraw himself from his father's obedience

because he seemeth to carry himself harshly and roughly toward him, and to provoke him

thereunto; so doth God likewise ofttimes cross his children and seemeth to neglect them, so to try

their disposition, what metal they are made of, how they stand affected towards him: whether

they will neglect God because God seemeth to neglect them, forbear to serve him because he

seemeth to forget them, cease to depend upon him because he seemeth not to look after them, to

provide for them, or to protect them. Like Joram's profane words, "This evil," saith he, "is of the

Lord; what should I wait for the Lord any longer?" Or whether they will constantly cleave to

him, though he seem not to regard them, nor to have any care of them; and say with Isaiah, "Yet

will I wait upon God, though he have hid his face from us, and I will look for him though he look

not on us;" for, "They are blessed that wait on him; and he will not fail in due time to show

mercy unto all them that do so constantly wait on him." Isaiah 8:17 30:18. As Samuel dealt with

Saul; he kept away till the last hour, to see what Saul would do when Samuel seemed not to keep

touch with him. So doth God with his saints, and with those that be in league with him; he

withdraweth himself oft, and keeps aloof off for a long time together to try what they will do, and

what courses they will take when God seemeth to break with them and to leave them in the suds,

as we say; amidst many difficulties much perplexed, as it was with David at this time. Thomas

Gataker, 1637.

12. Andrew Fuller, “HOW LONG wilt thou forget me? HOW LONG wilt thou hide thy face from

me? HOW LONG shall I take counsel in my soul? The intenseness of the affliction renders it

trying to our fortitude; but it is by the continuance of it that patience is put to the test. It is not

under the sharpest, but the longest trials, that we are most in danger of fainting. In the first case,

the soul collects all its strength, and feels in earnest to call in help from above; but, in the last, the

mind relaxes, and sinks into despondency. When Job was accosted with evil tidings in quick

succession, he bore it with becoming fortitude; but when he could see no end to his troubles, he

sunk under them.” Henry adds to this idea, “Long afflictions try our patience and often tire it. It

is a common temptation, when trouble lasts long, to think it will last always; despondency then

turns into despair, and those that have long been without joy begin, at last, to be without hope.

"Lord, tell me how long thou wilt hide thy face, and assure me that it shall not be for ever, but

that thou wilt return at length in mercy to me, and then I shall the more easily bear my present

troubles."

13. One speculation on the historical occasion of this Psalm comes from an unknown author who

wrote, “When David wandered in Judea, and mused on the long-deferred promise of the Throne

of Israel, he might use these words first of all. When he saw no sign of Saul's dominion ending,

and no appearance of the Seed of the Woman, he was in such circumstances as fitted him to be

the instrument of the Holy Ghost in writing for all after-times words which might utter the

feelings of melancholy weariness.” Jewish authors say this refers to the persecution of God's

people in general, and not just to a specific individual. Christian authors recognize it is applicable

to the best of believers in times of trial.

14.Delitzsch explains: "The dejected heart thinks, God has forgotten me for ever ; but the Spirit,

which thrusts away this thought, changes it into a question which sets upon it the mark of a mere

appearance, not a reality : How long shall it seem as though Thou forgettest me for ever? Faith

holds fast the love that is behind the wrath; it sees in the display of anger only a self-masking of

the loving countenance of the God of love, and longs for the time when this loving countenance

shall be again unveiled to it." Thus, although God never really forsakes or neglects His people,it

often seems as if He had done so. In providential matters, they fail to recognize His hand; His

consolations cease in their spirit; and they are full of darkness and bitterness. And yet, as at

midnight we know that the sun still lives, and will soon again shine on the earth; so in the saint's

deepest darkness, his faith penetrates through the gloom, and awaits the shining of God's face.”

15. When we feel the absence of God we are made to realize that his presence is the key to true

happiness. Life is barren without God, and when we feel that desolate abandonment it is like

being lost with no idea which way to go to get home. It is a form of terror, and one can never

forget how awful it is to be forsaken, and how wonderful it is to be found and restored again to

the sense of God's presence. That is why this dark night of the soul, as it is called, is a valuable

experience, for it makes you aware for the rest of your life where the real meaning of life is found,

and that is in the awareness of God's presence in your life. It is a fearful experience, to be sure,

but it makes for joyous singing the rest of your life.

16. It is not always so, and not for all believers, but life is often in a constant flux from positive to

negative emotions, and then back again. For many life is a roller coaster of emotions with its ups

and downs. Someone described it like this: “..despair to exultation, from doubt to assurance,from

lamentation to praise ; and so might as easily pass back again, as indeed we see him do in other

psalms. How constant the changes of the mood of the soul ! We are ever changing from bright to

dark, from low to high, from sweet to bitter, or the reverse. How extreme these changes of

thought and feeling ! We are conquerors, captives ; kings, worms ; strong as Samson, reeds

shaken with the wind ; singing at heaven's gate, weeping on ruin's brink. The Christian soul is a

microcosm, in which you may see in an hour hope, fear, joy, sorrow. In Iceland, we are told,

contradictory elements and phenomena are strangely blended. Snow is often blackened with

ashes, ashes are white-washed with snow ; water flows under the lava, and there freezes and

forms subterraneous glaciers. As in this strange land fire and frost are thus fantastically mingled,

so in the Christian soul do day and night, summer and winter, snow and harvest, strangely mix

in perpetual flux.”

17. “The sharp and sudden contrasts are necessary to perfect us in the deep places of our nature.

The Arabs say of the palm-tree that it must have " its feet in the water and its head in the fire."

And so the soul needs strong contrasts of experience to ripen it in the things of God. The

continual variation of experience is necessary to touch and perfect us on every side of our

manifold nature. As with a thousand changes of sky, and wind, and atmosphere God ripens the

fruit of the orchard, so with countless variations of thought and emotion does God ripen the

Christian heart in His love and likeness.” Author unknown

18. The benediction says, “Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord's face shine

upon you and be gracious unto you. May he lift up his countenance upon you and give you

peace.” We notice that the strong point is that God's face be toward you and upon you, for when

a person looks at you with a smile, it is a positive thing of approval and acceptance. If God's face

is shining on us, we are in his light and under his approval, and that is why we are blessed. If

someone turns their face away from you it is a sign of disapproval and rejection, and that is how

we feel when God seems to be absent in our lives because we do not sense his guidance and

blessing. Too many things are wrong, and we cannot on our own figure out how to make them

right. We feel the sun has set, and we are under a cloud filled, and moonless night. Spurgeon

wrote, “Are you crying, tonight, “Lord, how long will You hide Your face from me?” I am glad

you cry about it! The ungodly do not cry for God’s face to be revealed to them—they wish that

God would always hide His face from them. They do not want either His face or His favor. But if

you are longing to see His face, it is because that face is full of love to you. I do not wonder that

you are unhappy if you have lost the light of God’s Countenance, for he who has ever had it,

cannot lose it, no, not for a moment, without feeling his heart ready to break!”

19. Keble,

How long, O Lord, wilt Thou forget,

And scorn me day by day ?

And how long hide Thy face, and set

Thine Eye so far away ?

20. Hall

How long forgotten, Lord, by Thee,

Forbidden still Thy face to see,

Shall I, by daily grief distrest,

Take counsel with my doubtful breast?

21. Henry, “ It is some ease to a troubled spirit to give vent to its griefs, especially to give vent to

them at the throne of grace, where we are sure to find one who is afflicted in the afflictions of his

people and is troubled with the feeling of their infirmities; thither we have boldness of access by

faith, and there we have parresia--freedom of speech. Observe here, What David complains of.

God's unkindness; so he construed it, and it was his infirmity. He thought God had forgotten

him, had forgotten his promises to him, his covenant with him, his former loving kindness which

he had shown him and which he took to be an earnest of further mercy, had forgotten that there

was such a man in the world, who needed and expected relief and succor from him. Thus Zion

said, My God has forgotten me (Isaiah 49:14), Israel said, My way is hidden from the Lord, Isaiah

40:27. Not that any good man can doubt the omniscience, goodness, and faithfulness of God; but

it is a peevish expression of prevailing fear, which yet, when it arises from a high esteem and

earnest desire of God's favor, though it be indecent and culpable, shall be passed by and

pardoned, for the second thought will retract it and repent of it. God hid his face from him, so

that he wanted that inward comfort in God which he used to have, and herein was a type of

Christ upon the cross, crying out, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? God sometimes hides his

face from his own children, and leaves them in the dark concerning their interest in him; and this

they lay to heart more than any outward trouble whatsoever.”

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?

1. If you ever had a tooth ache that was killing you in the middle of the night, you know how long

the night is before you can go for help. It seems endless, and that is how the Psalmist feels about

his trials. He has endured it seems for ever, and there does not seem to be any light at the end of

the tunnel he is trapped in. His thoughts are wavering between faith in God and doubt that God

even exists or cares about him. He is tempted to say it is worthless to believe in and serve God,

and why should I be obedient to his laws? Maybe I should just give up on my religion, and have a

wild time of sinful pleasure with the worldly people. All the temptations and doubts of life would

go through his mind as he struggles to make sense of this seemingly endless abandonment by

God. If you ever go through this mind battle and spiritual wrestling, it is good to know that it is a

normal reaction to a sense of the loss of God's presence and favor. It is no time to throw in the

towel, and abandon your faith, for it will be stronger than ever is you hold on and never give up.

It is hard, but well worth it in the end.

2. One of the worst trials of all is when the bad guy seems to have the upper hand, and you are at

his mercy. The bad guy always gets his judgment in the end, but meanwhile he can make life a

hell on earth for those he chooses to oppress. It seems so wrong that the evil schemer can make

life miserable for innocent people. The injustice of it makes us so mad, and we cannot help but

get angry at God for being so slow to bring down the hammer of justice on his head. It is just not

right that the wicked should be so successful for so long. We want God to judge evil on the spot,

and not let another minute go by with such scoundrels being left alive. What we forget is that if

God judged evil on the spot, there would be no one left to enjoy his mercy and salvation. He gives

all evil men a chance to repent and enjoy his salvation just as he did the people of Nineveh who

were right on the edge of the cliff ready to be cast into hell. There would be no gospel if God did

not have patience with the wicked, but it can be the worst trial that the righteous have to endure.

They have to live in a world where the enemy of God, and their enemy, is the one winning the

battle and keeping them from experiencing the full joy of liberty in God's kingdom. It may be

temporary, but nevertheless terrible.

2B. Steve Zeisler, “David has asked a serious question, and it's a proper question. There's an

impatience to it, but it's an honest impatience. Real prayer is not routine. Too often we think of

prayer as something that exists in a compartment at a certain time during the day or the week.

There's a kind of routine reciting of words; we fulfill an obligation. But prayer is much more akin

to wrestling. It's much more likely to be shouting, stomping one's foot, and crying out things like,

"I don't understand, this isn't the way it ought to be! Lord, where are you in the midst of it?

Lord, why is this world the way it is? Why are these people the way they are, and why am I the

way I am? How long will it be until you answer? I'd love to see your face again! How long must I

wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?"

3. HALL

How long amidst triumphant foes,

Who mock my agonizing woes,

To heaven's high throne must I complain,

And seek the Lord my God in vain?

4. Barnes, “Having sorrow in my heart daily. Every day; constantly. That is, there was no

intermission to his troubles. The sorrow in his heart seems to have been not merely that which

was caused by troubles from without, but also that which sprang from the painful necessity of

attempting to form plans for his own relief, — plans which seemed to be in vain. How long shall

mine enemy he exalted over me ? This is the fourth form or phase of his trouble, and he asks how

long this was to continue. This clause suggests perhaps the exact form of the trial. It was that

which arose from the designs of an enemy who persecuted and oppressed the psalmist, and who

had done it so effectually that he seemed to have triumphed over him, or to have him completely

in his power. All the other forms of the trial — the fact that he seemed to be forgotten ; that God

had apparently averted his face; that he was left to form plans of deliverance which seemed to be

vain, were connected with the fact here adverted to, that an enemy had persecuted him, and had

been suffered to gain a triumph over him. Who this enemy was we do not know.”

5. Wiersbe, “We expect God to do what we want Him to do--and right now! But He doesn't

always act immediately. Abraham had to wait for 25 years after God's promise before Isaac was

born. Isaac had to wait 20 years for his children. Joseph had to wait 13 years before he was set

free and put on the throne. Moses had a wait of 80 years. You see, God's schedule is not the same

as ours. Sometimes He waits so that He can do more for us than we expect. When He heard that

Lazarus was dying, our Lord waited until his friend's death before He came. But when He came,

He brought a greater miracle and received greater glory. The hardest thing to do is to wait on the

Lord. But we can if we will trust Him and rest on His Word. Some of your greatest blessings

come with patience. When you must wait for God to act, you can be confident that He knows

what is best for you and what will best glorify Him. Are you waiting for God to act on your

behalf? Align with His timing and rest on the promises of His Word.”

6. Gill, “...the phrase denotes the distressing circumstances and anxiety of mind the psalmist was

in; he was at his wits' end, and cast about in his mind, and had various devises and counsels

formed there; and yet knew not what way to take, what course to steer;......by reason of God's

hiding his face from him; on account of sin that dwelt in him, or was committed by him; because

of his distance from the house of God, and the worship and ordinances of it; and by reason of his

many enemies that surrounded him on every side: this sorrow was an heart sorrow, and what

continually attended him day by day; or was in the daytime, when men are generally amused

with business or diversions, as well as in the night, as Kimchi observes;

how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

even the vilest of men, (Psalms 12:8) ; this may be understood either of temporal enemies, and

was true of David when he was obliged not only to leave his own house and family, but the land of

Judea, and flee to the Philistines; and when he fled from Absalom his son, lest he should be taken

and slain by him; or of spiritual enemies, and is true of saints when sin prevails and leads captive,

and when the temptations of Satan succeed; as when he prevailed upon David to number the

people, Peter to deny his master, &c. The Jewish writers observe that here are four "how longs",

answerable to the four monarchies, Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman, and their

captivities under them.”

7. Caldwell, “David, too, seems to have had some particular enemy whom he specially dreaded. "

How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me"?" This enemy may have been Saul, of whom

David had often thought in his heart, "I shall surely perish one day by the hand of Saul." 1 Sam.

xxvii. 1. And who of us have not, besides our spiritual sorrows, besides our days and nights of

distracted thoughts and aching hearts — also our specially dangerous enemy'? — our Saul, our

easily besetting sin'? — and, most dangerous of all, the great spiritual Saul that overthrew the

bliss of Eden, tempted the second Adam in the wilderness, and leaves no means untried to destroy

all who would be such as he was.”

8. Wesley,

Suffer not my foe to boast

His victory o'er a child of Thine,

Nor let the proud Philistines' host

In Satan's hellish triumph join.

Will they not charge my fall on Thee?

Will they not dare my God to blame ?

My God, forbid the blasphemy !

Be jealous for Thy glorious name ! "

9. Spurgeon, “There is in the original the idea of "laying up" counsels in his heart, as if his

devices had become innumerable but unavailing. Herein we have often been like David, for we

have considered and reconsidered day after day, but have not discovered the happy device by

which to escape from our trouble. Such store is a sad sore. Ruminating upon trouble is bitter

work. Children fill their mouths with bitterness when they rebelliously chew the pill which they

ought obediently to have taken at once.

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? This is like wormwood in the gall, to see the

wicked enemy exulting while our soul is bowed down within us. The laughter of a foe grates

horribly on the ears of grief. For the devil to make mirth of our misery is the last ounce of our

complaint, and quite breaks down our patience; therefore let us make it one chief argument in

our plea with mercy. Thus the careful reader will remark that the question "how long?" is put in

four shapes. The writer's grief is viewed, as it seems to be, as it is, as it affects himself within, and

his foes without. We are all prone to play most on the worst string. We set up monumental stones

over the graves of our joys, but who thinks of erecting monuments of praise for mercies received?

We write four books of Lamentations and only one of Canticles, and are far more at home in

wailing out a Misere than in chanting a Te Deum.”

10. “How long? There are many situations of the believer in this life in which the words of this

Psalm may be a consolation, and help to revive sinking faith. A certain man lay at the pool of

Bethesda, who had an infirmity thirty and eight years. John 5:5. A woman had a spirit of

infirmity eighteen years, before she was "loosed." Luke 13:11. Lazarus all his life long laboured

under disease and poverty, till he was released by death and transferred to Abraham's bosom.

Luke 16:20-22. Let every one, then, who may be tempted to use the complaints of this Psalm,

assure his heart that God does not forget his people, help will come at last, and, in the meantime,

all things shall work together for good to them that love him.” W. Wilson, D.D.

3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; 1. HALL

Consider, Lord, and hear my cries,

Pour light upon my darkling eyes,

Lest, yielding up my weary breath,

I sleep the dreamless sleep of death ;

2. Calvin sees his positive faith and hope in the fact that he prays. He wrote, “When he saw not a

single ray of good hope to whatever quarter he turned, so far as human reason could judge,

constrained by grief, he cries out that God did not regard him; and yet by this very complaint he

gives evidence that faith enabled him to rise higher, and to conclude, contrary to the judgment of

the flesh, that his welfare was secure in the hand of God. Had it been otherwise, how could he

direct his groanings and prayers to him? Following this example, we must so wrestle against

temptations as to be assured by faith, even in the very midst of the conflict, that the calamities

which urge us to despair must be overcome; just as we see that the infirmity of the flesh could not

hinder David from seeking God, and having recourse to him: and thus he has united in his

exercise, very beautifully, affections which are apparently contrary to each other.”

3. What Calvin says above is interesting, for it means that the human personality can be negative

and positive at the same time. It is called ambivalence when we feel both hope and despair at the

same time. We are confident and fearful at the same time, and we are both glad and sad, and we

need to get out of this mixture to be stable. That is what David is doing as he puts his focus on

God, and what he has done for him, rather than on what is lacking at the moment. When we

focus entirely on the negative and what is not, we lack the balance of the long outlook that is filled

with God's blessings and faithfulness. We need to stop focusing on what we wish was reality, and

focus on what is reality. The big picture is far more positive than the narrow outlook of the

present negative situation. Prayer is itself an act of faith, for you do not pray if you do not

believe.

4. Gill, “The psalmist amidst all his distresses rightly applies to God by prayer, claims his interest

in him as his covenant God, which still continued notwithstanding all his darkness, desertions,

and afflictions; and entreats him to "consider" his affliction and trouble, and deliver him out of

it; to consider his enemies, how many and mighty they were; and his own weakness his frame,

that he was but dust, and unable to stand against them: or to "look" upon his affliction, and

upon him under it, with an eye of pity and compassion; to have respect to him and to his prayers,

and to turn unto him, and lift up the light of his countenance upon him: and so this petition is

opposed to the complaint in (Psalms 13:1) ; and he further requests that he would "hear" him;

that is, so as to answer him, and that immediately, and thereby show that he had not forgotten

him, but was mindful of him, of his love to him, and covenant with him.”

5. He is desperate and prays for light for his eyes lest he die in his darkness. He is saying that he

needs to see the light at the end of the tunnel, or he cannot endure any longer. He needs to see

hope of an end to his sense of being forsaken, or he may just give up and perish in despair. He

may just stop fighting and let his enemy take his life if he does not get a reason to fight on in hope

of victory. He needs something to look forward to in order to keep fighting and pressing on. Give

me some vision to cling to; some view of the future that motivates me to refuse surrender; some

hint that it is worth fighting and not giving up. Let the eyes of my heart see that I am still your

child, and that I have a future with meaning and purpose. A man can endure just about anything

if he knows there is meaning and a positive end. The Jewish Targum gives this paraphrase,

“enlighten mine eyes in thy law, lest I sin, and sleep with those who are guilty of death.'' If this is

what David has in mind, he is saying that he is on the brink of collapsing in his faith, and he

needs to be rescued before he forsakes righteousness for evil, and dies the death of a rebel. It is

clearly a cry for help now, before it is too late.

6. “Even death may be God s answer to our prayer; but we cling to his life here, and

earnestly desire to do some effective work on this very battlefield ere we go hence. David

makes this desire an argument: "Help O Lord! Enlighten mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of

death." Brighten mine eyes through the infusion of a fuller life. Death is at hand and if thou

tarry longer he shall have me for his prey. Then the enemy will say: "I have prevailed

against him," and when I shall pass away he shall rejoice as if he had conquered Thee.

Arise, O Lord, for thy name s sake and for the deliverance of thy servant. I have trusted

thee in the past and my heart shall yet rejoice in thy salvation. When ye ask anything

believe that ye have it. Blessings be come actual possessions when we believe that we have

them. Little faith often keeps on calling for that which God is beseeching us to take. It is

ours to appropriate them, and then we have the things which we have asked for. They can

be realized only when we act as if we had them. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for,

the evidence of things not seen." Alexander R. Robson

7. Calvin, “Look upon me, answer me. As when God does not promptly afford assistance to

his servants, it seems to the eye of sense that he does not behold their necessities, David, for

this reason, asks God, in the first place, to look upon him, and, in the second place, to

succor him. Neither of these things, it is true, is prior or posterior in respect of God; but it

has been already stated in a preceding psalm, and we will have occasion afterward

frequently to repeat the statement, that the Holy Spirit purposely accommodates to our

understanding the models of prayer recorded in Scripture. If David had not been persuaded

that God had his eyes upon him, it would have availed him nothing to cry to God; but this

persuasion was the effect of faith. In the meantime, until God actually puts forth his hand to

give relief, carnal reason suggests to us that he shuts his eyes, and does not behold us. The

manner of expression here employed amounts to the same thing as if he had put the mercy

of God in the first place, and then added to it his assistance, because God then hears us,

when, having compassion upon us, he is moved and induced to succor us. To enlighten the

eyes signifies the same thing in the Hebrew language as to give the breath of life, for the

rigor of life appears chiefly in the eyes. In this sense Solomon says,“The poor and the

deceitful man meet together; the Lord lighteneth both their eyes.” (Proverbs 29:13)

And when Jonathan fainted for hunger, the sacred history relates that his eyes were overcast with

dimness; and again, that when he had tasted of the honeycomb, his eyes were enlightened, (1

Samuel 14:27.) The word sleep, as it is used in this passage, is a metaphor of a similar kind, being

put for death. In short, David confesses, that unless God cause the light of life to shine upon him,

he will be immediately overwhelmed with the darkness of death, and that he is already as a man

without life, unless God breathe into him new vigor. And certainly our confidence of life depends

on this, that although the world may threaten us with a thousand deaths, yet God is possessed of

numberless means of restoring us to life.

7B. Calvin continues, “Lest my enemy. David again repeats what he had a little before said

concerning the pride of his enemies, namely, how it would be a thing ill becoming the character of

God were he to abandon his servant to the mockery of the ungodly. David’s enemies lay, as it

were, in ambush watching the hour of his ruin, that they might deride him when they saw him

fall. And as it is the peculiar office of God to repress the audacity and insolence of the wicked, as

often as they glory in their wickedness, David beseeches God to deprive them of the opportunity

of indulging in such boasting. It is, however, to be observed, that he had in his conscience a

sufficient testimony to his own integrity, and that he trusted also in the goodness of his cause, so

that it would have been unbecoming and unreasonable had he been left without succor in danger,

and had he been overwhelmed by his enemies. We can, therefore, with confidence pray for

ourselves, in the manner in which David here does for himself, only when we fight under the

standard of God, and are obedient to his orders, so that our enemies cannot obtain the victory

over us without wickedly triumphing over God himself.”

8. Spurgeon, “But now prayer lifteth up her voice, like the watchman who proclaims the

daybreak. Now will the tide turn, and the weeper shall dry his eyes. The mercy seat is the

life of hope and the death of despair. The gloomy thought of God's having forsaken him is

still upon the psalmist's soul, and he therefore cries, Consider and hear me. He remembers

at once the root of his woe, and cries aloud that it may be removed. The final absence of

God is Tophet's fire, and his temporary absence brings his people into the very suburbs of

hell. God is here entreated to see and hear, that so he may be doubly moved to pity. What

should we do if we had no God to turn to in the hour of wretchedness?

Note the cry of faith, O Lord MY God! Is it not a very glorious fact that our interest in our God is

not destroyed by all our trials and sorrows? We may lose our gourds, but not our God. The title

deed of heaven is not written in the sand, but in eternal brass. Lighten mine eyes: that is, let the

eye of my faith be clear, that I may see my God in the dark; let my eye of watchfulness be wide

open, lest I be entrapped, and let the eye of my understanding be illuminated to see the right way.

Perhaps, too, here is an allusion to that cheering of the spirits so frequently called the

enlightening of the eyes because it causes the face to brighten, and the eyes to sparkle. Well may

we use the prayer, "Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord!" for in many respects we

need the Holy Spirit's illuminating rays. Lest I sleep the sleep of death. Darkness engenders sleep,

and despondency is not slow in making the eyes heavy. From this faintness and dimness of vision,

caused by despair, there is but a step to the iron sleep of death. David feared that his trials would

end his life, and he rightly uses his fear as an argument with God in prayer; for deep distress has

in it a kind of claim upon compassion, not a claim of right, but a plea which has power with

grace. Under the pressure of heart sorrow, the psalmist does not look forward to the sleep of

death with hope and joy, as assured believers do, but he shrinks from it with dread, from which

we gather that bondage from fear of death is no new thing.”

9. Henry, “What his petitions are: Consider my case, hear my complaints, and enlighten my eyes,

that is, (1.) "Strengthen my faith;" for faith is the eye of the soul, with which it sees above, and

sees through, the things of sense. "Lord, enable me to look beyond my present troubles and to

foresee a happy issue of them." (2.) "Guide my way; enable me to look about me, that I may

avoid the snares which are laid for me." (3.) "Refresh my soul with the joy of thy salvation." That

which revives the drooping spirits is said to enlighten the eyes, 1 Samuel 14:27,Ezr+9:8 . "Lord,

scatter the cloud of melancholy which darkens my eyes, and let my countenance be made

pleasant."

10. David Guzik, ““This was a great prayer. We need the light of God to shine upon us and to

give us His wisdom and knowledge. No matter what problem we are in, we should cry out with all

our heart, “Enlighten my eyes.” The apostle Paul knew the importance of having our eyes

enlightened by the Lord. This is what he prayed for Christians: that the God of our Lord Jesus

Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge

of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of

His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the

exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty

power. (Ephesians 1:17-19) Lest I sleep the sleep of death: If we are not enlightened by God, we

will surely fall asleep. And often, spiritual sleep leads to spiritual death. Paul may have had this

verse in mind when he wrote of our need for the light of Jesus: Awake, you who sleep, arise from

the dead, and Christ will give you light. (Ephesians 5:14)”

11. Steve Zeisler, “David goes on then and imagines two things happening. "Give light to my eyes

or I will sleep in death." He's saying he's afraid that if God doesn't answer, he's going to quit.

He's afraid he will slide off into a kind of slumber and stop fighting the good fight. Sleep is a way

of shutting everything down. There's no light left, the eyes are closed, the war's over. I think this

metaphor is suggesting that he is going to lose his willingness to stay awake. He won't care

anymore. In the book "The Spirit of St. Louis," Charles Lindbergh told of flying across the

Atlantic all by himself. His greatest agony was to stay awake the whole time. He went through a

cycle where he just literally could not keep his eyes open. The plane would dip close to the water,

and if he had given up and fallen asleep he would have died. David is afraid here that either he

will quit, or, as he says in verse 4, "My enemy will triumph over me." He thinks of his enemy

astride him, laughing at him, defeating him. David's wrestling with God in prayer occurs at the

same time he acknowledges his own vulnerabilities. He fears that he will quit or be defeated.”

4 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"

and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

1. It is one of David's greatest fears that his enemy will be able to rejoice at overcoming him. He

has escaped many foes before, but now it seems he is on the brink of being defeated and going

down in disgrace with his enemies mocking his fall with laughter. It is an intolerable picture of

defeat and he is in despair lest that be the final scene of his life.

2. Gill, “Which is an argument God takes notice of; and for which reason he does not give up his

people into the hands of their enemies; see (Deuteronomy 32:27) . The Chaldee paraphrase

interprets this of the evil imagination or corruption of nature, and represents it as a person, as

the Apostle Paul does in (Romans 7:15-21) ; and which may be said to prevail, when it pushes on

to sin, and hinders doing good, and carries captive; and it may be applied to Satan, the great

enemy of God's people, who triumphs over them, when he succeeds in his temptations; They that

trouble the saints are sin, Satan, and the world; and the two last rejoice when they are in an

uncomfortable and afflicted condition; and especially Satan rejoices when he gains his point, if it

is but to move them from any degree of steadfastness, of faith and hope, or from the ways of God

in any respect...”

3. Spurgeon, “Another plea is urged in the fourth verse, and it is one which the tried believer may

handle well when on his knees. We make use of our arch enemy for once, and compel him, like

Samson, to grind in our mill while we use his cruel arrogance as an argument in prayer. It is not

the Lord's will that the great enemy of our souls should overcome his children. This would

dishonor God, and cause the evil one to boast. It is well for us that our salvation and God's honor

are so intimately connected, that they stand or fall together. Our covenant God will complete the

confusion of all our enemies, and if for awhile we become their scoff and jest, the day is coming

when the shame will change sides, and the contempt shall be poured on those to whom it is due.”

4. Hall

Lest o'er my fall the foe rejoice,

And cry with loud exulting voice :

''Lo where he lies, a trampled clod,

Who vainly trusted in his God.'

5. Caldwell, “Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him. I have overpowered him ; I have

conquered him. That is, to triumph over him as having obtained a complete victory. And those

that trouble me. Heb., My adversaries. The reference here is the same as in the former member of

the verse. It is to the enemies that seemed almost to have triumphed over him already, and under

whose power he was ready to sink. Rejoice. Exult ; triumph. When I am moved. Moved from my

steadfastness or firmness ; when I am overcome. Hitherto he had been able to hold out against

them ; now he began to despair, and to fear that they would accomplish their object by

overcoming and subduing him. His ground of apprehension and of appeal was, that by his being

vanquished the cause in which he was engaged would suffer, and that the enemies of religion

would triumph.”

6.Caldwell “Dark, dense, and chilling as the cloud is that overshadows David, he still sees God

through it, or rather, trusts him behind it. "Consider and hear me, O Lord my God" — still his

God, though he seemed to have forgotten him, and hid his face from him. He hopes against hope;

hopes and despairs, despairs and hopes. Such is always the working of the heart that has been

touched by the regenerating grace of God; like the magnetic needle, however much agitated by

external force and disturbing influences, continually struggling to regain its pole. It is impossible

for such a soul altogether to despair ; it will retain, in the lowest depths, still enough of hope to

send up winged words to the throne of grace. Its language evermore is, "out of the depths have I

called unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice." However broad the arc of its oscillations of

despondency may be, they are evermore at least crossing the line that points to the Star of

Bethlehem. " Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death." It is well known to those who are

familiar with its approach-that the immediate precursor of death is failing vision — the sure

indication to the dying man that he is passing away, that life's strength will soon be wholly gone.

Something of this failing vision David experienced. The sorrows of his heart, like those of the

Savior in the garden, had been so severe, that soul and body appeared sinking beneath the load.

Neither seemed able longer to bear up under the hidings of God's face. Hence the prayer, "lighten

mine eyes," restore my expiring strength, revive my fainting soul by the enlivening beams of thy

love and mercy, or I die, body and soul. " Lighten mine eyes, lest mine enemy say, I have

prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.”

7. Caldwell goes on, “David here advances another reason why God should restore unto him the

joy of his salvation, and uphold him by his grace. His fall would give the enemies of religion

occasion to revile it, as vain, and worthless, and powerless to save. David asks God to deliver him,

because it would be for the honor of religion for him to do so. And his example in this respect is

one that we cannot imitate too closely. We should seek deliverance from the evils that may beset

us, not merely for the comfort which the deliverance will bring ourselves, but for the honor it will

bring to the religion we profess, and the God whom we serve. In every petition we offer unto God

we should seek his glory and the advancement of the religion of his Son. We should ask light and

grace of him, only that light and grace may be conspicuously manifested in our lives, to the

silencing of enemies and gainsayers, and the encouraging of those that hope in his mercy.”

5 But I trust in your unfailing love;

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

1. Wait a minute! Did we skip to another Psalm? This is not the theme we have been following. It

is just the opposite, for trust and rejoicing are not words that fit the vocabulary or mood of the

Psalm we were following. But, the fact is, this is how the Jewish conception of life with God

works. You can be angry at God one minute, and be praising him the next. Dr. Carol Miles quotes

this account: “Holocaust survivor Elie Weisel recounts this incident from his experience at

Auschwitz: "Inside the kingdom of night I witnessed a strange trial. Three rabbis, all erudite and

pious men, indict God for having allowed his children to be massacred. An awesome conclave,

particularly in view of the fact that it was held in a concentration camp. But what happened next

is to me even more awesome still. After the trial at which God had been found guilty as charged,

one of the rabbis looked at the watch which he had somehow managed to preserve in the

kingdom of night and said, ‘Ah, it is time for prayers.' And with that the three rabbis, all erudite

and pious men, all bowed their heads and prayed."

She goes on to write, “How can we account for the actions of these men? How could they indict

God one moment and offer praise and thanksgiving the next? The only possible explanation in

my mind is this: their quarrel with God is a lover's quarrel. And it has been revisited again and

again since the early days of the relationship, when the people of God were first bound to their

Creator in a covenant of love.” “When we look at the prayers of lament in the bible, we find

nearly all of them share the same structure. After God is addressed, and words of complaint and

petition have been uttered, in a final breath the psalmist turns and offers a statement of faith, an

expression of trust in God's goodness and grace. In a final move, abruptly and without

explanation, the psalmist turns from the language of lament to the language of praise.”

1B. As Christians we have a hard time following the Jew at this point. We love the positive

ending, but we shy away from the negative lamenting of the beginning of this Psalm. We believe

all of the Bible is inspired, but we don't like the parts that are too honest about our feelings.

Adam Langley has the best sermon on this Psalm called “In the Waiting,” well worth looking up,

and he wrote, “Shockingly Alien.” Those are the words C.S. Lewis once penned to describe how

the Psalms strike him. I think I can identify with Lewis. This lament Psalm, all the lament

Psalms in fact, seem to be so foreign to the Christian culture I grew up seeing, the culture I still

see: a culture of hope, a culture of answers, of courtesy and niceties. It’s in our songs both in

worship and on the radio stations (and the radio stations’ slogans: “Positive, encouraging music:

K-LOVE.”) It’s in our paintings. Thomas Kincade is the “painter of light,” painting happy little

trees and happy little cottages where light plays freely and you feel like your “in heaven” (or at

least in the 1950’s before the fall of mankind). Christian movies are sterilized, free of the

shadows of profanity and violence and nudity and plot. Why? Because, “As Christians, we are

only supposed to think about things that are ‘pure, noble, excellent, and praiseworthy’, and all

that.” No wonder the Psalms, especially those such as Ps 13, seem so “shockingly alien.” This is

not what is often set up for us as the “Model Christian Temperament.” I don’t know about you,

but I have often gotten the impression that there is no room for questioning God in Christianity.

That if there is not a smile on your face, then you must not be a Christian. If you are angry with

God, you must not be a Christian, or at least must not be acting like one.....” After a number of

good insights he wrote, “You and I, as Christians, have inherited the legacy of Israel, and the

legacy of our Christ. It is a legacy of paradox, a wrestling match of contradictions, and as we

look into the void of suffering here on earth, we must embrace that paradox, negating neither

despair nor hope, but letting them wrestle with each other, as we wrestle with them.”

1C. It was there all the time. He had heart full of hope and joy in the salvation of God. It was his

mind that was so disturbed by the doubts and the struggles with thoughts of being alone and

abandoned by God. He found his inner being and got in touch with the depths of his faith in God,

and that turned everything around. He had let the negatives of life so cloud the positives that he

forgot what he had in his relationship with God. His faith, hope and love were buried under the

burdens of his doubts and skepticism about God's love and care. These greatest of virtues in both

Testaments can fail to support you when the negatives of life become your dominate focus. There

is no doubt about the power of positive thinking, for we see it here as clear as anywhere. When

David took his focus off the miserable darkness he was feeling, and began to focus on the light of

God's salvation, his heart was rekindled with joy, and he was ready to press on assured of being

able to sing a victory song of praise to God. How and what you think can change the dark black

and white picture of despair, and turn it into a color filled vision of happy victory. You are what

you think, and David now is thinking I am a child of God who is never failing in his love, and who

has provided for me the only hope in the world of salvation in both time and eternity. Such

thinking blew the black clouds from the sky of his mind, and he could see the glorious light of all

he had in his wonderful God.

2. Caldwell, “Here is indeed a pleasing change! despair exchanged for faith, complaints for

thanksgiving, and prayer for praise. We hear no longer the voice of sorrow, but in its stead, the

voice of gladness and melody. God has at last given his servant " beauty for ashes, the oil of joy

for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." First, we hear the voice of faith,

"I have trusted in thy mercy;" then the voice of joy, "I will rejoice in thy salvation;" and then the

voice of thanksgiving, "I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me."

Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. The sincere believer may

travel on through many a weary day under a cloud, but not always. The Sun of Righteousness

shall at length appear to him with healing in his beams. It is not to be denied, however, as already

remarked, that the hiding of God's face from his children is oftentimes a mystery. Much spiritual

darkness is no doubt caused by the mind's sympathizing with a morbid condition of the body : a

condition not always known to the sufferer, and often not even suspected. Nevertheless, the

morbid condition exists, and prevents the mind from rightly estimating the evidences of its con-

version. No sooner, however, is the believer's health restored, than he finds himself in a new

world of religious hope and feeling, and yet without a single new evidence of his being a child of

God. His repentance is not more sincere, his faith more entire, nor his purpose to serve God more

determined: his restoration to health alone has invested his evidences of conversion to God with

pleasurable emotions: he has of course more enjoyment in his religion, but not an iota more of

genuineness and safety in it than there was before.

We have in mind an illustration of this. Several years ago, at one of our large watering-places, I

made the acquaintance of an invalid, who, though suffering severely from physical disease, was

suffering still more from religious despondency. A more sincere, simple-hearted, intelligent

Christian, I thought I had never met. I did everything I could to remove his doubts, and show

him that he had nothing to fear; but without success. I at length said to him, "Major S., if you

were standing at the bed-side of a dying fellow-creature, who gave you the same evidence, in

his thoughts, feelings, and purposes, of being a child of God, that you have just given me of your

being such, would you not be perfectly satisfied in regard to his safety in the world to come"?"

"O, yes!" he promptly replied, "but Mr. C, I cannot bring these things home to my own heart." I

replied, "No, sir, because your mind sympathizes so painfully with the morbid condition of your

body — the moment you are relieved of your physical sufferings, you will be relieved also of your

mental." He replied, with a deep drawn sigh, "I hope it may be as you say, but I fear that it will

not." We soon after separated to go to other springs, to meet again two or three weeks afterward.

In the meantime he had been relieved of his physical malady. I saw the change the moment we

met, and taking him by the hand, said to him, "You are a well man." "O yes," he replied

with animation, " I am no longer the sufferer I have been." I here interposed, "But how are your

religious hopes'?" He replied, with a joyfulness of expression in his look that I can never forget,

"Not a cloud, not a cloud!" I then, looking him full in the face, significantly inquired, " Well,

Major, have you been favored with any new evidence of being a child of God?" To which he

replied, with a smile in which a full recollection of all our past conversations seemed to be

blended, " Not one, not one ! it has turned out as you said it would."

3. Maclaren, “The storm has all rolled away in the third strophe, in which faith has Triumphed

over doubt and anticipates the fulfillment of its prayer. It begins with an emphatic opposition of

the psalmist's personality to the foe : " But as for me " — however they may rage — " I have

trusted in Thy mercy." Because he has thus trusted, therefore he is sure that that mercy will work

for him salvation or deliverance from his present peril. Anything is possible rather than that the

appeal of faith to God's heart of love should not be answered. Whoever can say, 1 have trusted,

has the right to say, I shall rejoice. It was but a moment ago that this man had asked. How long

shall I have sorrow in my heart ? and now the sad heart is flooded with sudden gladness. Such is

the magic of faith, which can see a light in the thickest darkness, and hear the birds singing

amongst the branches even while the trees are bare and the air silent. How significant the

contrast of the two rejoicings set side by side : the adversaries* when the good man is " moved " ;

the good man's when God's salvation establishes him in his place ! The closing strain reaches

forward to deliverance not yet accomplished, and, by the prerogative of trust, calls things that

are not as though they were. "He has dealt bountifully with me " ; so says the psalmist who

had begun with "How long ? " No external change has taken place ; but his complaint and

prayer have helped him to tighten his grasp of God, and have transported him into the certain

future of deliverance and praise. He who can thus say, " I will sing," when the hoped-for mercy

has wrought salvation, is not far off singing even while it tarries. The sure anticipation of triumph

is triumph. The sad minor of " How long ? " if coming from faithful lips, passes into a jubilant

key, which heralds the full gladness of the yet future songs of deliverance.”

4. Spurgeon, “ What a change is here! Lo, the rain is over and gone, and the time of the singing of

birds is come. The mercy seat has so refreshed the poor weeper, that he clears his throat for a

song. If we have mourned with him, let us now dance with him. David's heart was more often out

of tune than his harp, He begins many of his psalms sighing, and ends them singing; and others

he begins in joy and ends in sorrow; "so that one would think," says Peter Moulin, "that those

Psalms had been composed by two men of a contrary humor." It is worthy to be observed that

the joy is all the greater because of the previous sorrow, as calm is all the more delightful in

recollection of the preceding tempest. "Sorrows remembered sweeten present joy." Here is his

avowal of his confidence: But I have trusted in thy mercy. For many a year it had been his wont

to make the Lord his castle and tower of defense, and he smiles from behind the same bulwark

still. He is sure of his faith, and his faith makes him sure; had he doubted the reality of his trust

in God, he would have blocked up one of the windows through which the sun of heaven delights

to shine. Faith is now in exercise, and consequently is readily discovered; there is never a doubt in

our heart about the existence of faith while it is in action: when the hare or partridge is quiet we

see it not, but let the same be in motion and we soon perceive it. All the powers of his enemies had

not driven the psalmist from his stronghold. As the shipwrecked mariner clings to the mast, so

did David cling to his faith; he neither could nor would give up his confidence in the Lord his

God. O that we may profit by his example and hold by our faith as by our very life! Now hearken

to the music which faith makes in his soul. The bells of the mind are all ringing. My heart shall

rejoice in thy salvation. There is joy and feasting within doors, for a glorious guest has come, and

the fatted calf is killed. Sweet is the music which sounds from the strings of the heart. But this is

not all; the voice joins itself in the blessed work, and the tongue keeps tune with the soul, while

the writer declares, I will sing unto the Lord.”

5. Faith rejoices in tribulation, and triumphs before the victory. The patient is glad when he

feels his physic to work, though it make him sick for the time; because he hopes it will

procure health. We rejoice in afflictions, not that they are joyous for the present, but

because they shall work for our good. As faith rejoices, so it triumphs in assurance of good

success; for it sees not according to outward appearance, but when all means fail, it keepeth

God in sight, and beholdeth him present for our succour. John Ball.

6. Wherefore I say again, "Live by faith;" again I say, always live by it, rejoice through faith in

the Lord. I dare boldly say it is thy fault and neglect of its exercise if thou suffer either thy own

melancholy humor or Satan to interrupt thy mirth and spiritual alacrity, and to detain thee in

dumps and pensiveness at any time. What if you are of a sad constitution? of a dark complexion?

Is not faith able to rectify nature? Is it not stronger than any hellebore? Doth not an experienced

divine and physician worthily prefer one dram of it before all the drugs in the apothecary's shop

for this effect? Hath it not sovereign virtue in it, to ex-cerebrate all cares, expectorate all fears

and griefs, evacuate the mind of all ill thoughts and passions, to exhilarate the whole man? But

what good doth it to any to have a cordial by him if he use it not? To wear a sword, soldier like,

by his side, and not to draw it forth in an assault? When a dump overtakes thee, if thou wouldst

say to thy soul in a word or two, "Soul, why art thou disquieted? know and consider in whom

thou believest," would it not presently return to its rest again? Would not the Master rebuke the

winds and storms, and calm thy troubled mind presently? Hath not every man something or

other he useth to put away dumps, to drive away the evil spirit, as David with his harp? Some

with merry company, some with a cup of sack, most with a pipe of tobacco, without which they

cannot ride or go. If they miss it a day together they are troubled with rheums, dulness of spirits.

They that live in fens and ill airs dare not stir out without a morning draught of some strong

liquor. Poor, silly, smoky helps, in comparison with the least taste or draught of faith. Samuel

Ward, 1577-1653.

7. Ashton, “This Psalm, as well as many others, has a mournful beginning and a triumphant

ending. Oftentimes, when our souls are dark and sorrowful, light, under the influence of prayer,

breaks in upon them ; the clouds disperse, and all is sunshine. As the dew descends at night upon

the parched soil, so do heavenly comforts come down upon us, giving us "the oil of joy for

mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."

8. Henry, “His prayers are soon turned into praises (Psalms 13:5,6): But my heart shall rejoice

and I will sing to the Lord. What a surprising change is here in a few lines! In the beginning of the

psalm we have him drooping, trembling, and ready to sink into melancholy and despair; but, in

the close of it, rejoicing in God, and elevated and enlarged in his praises. See the power of faith,

the power of prayer, and how good it is to draw near to God. If we bring our cares and griefs to

the throne of grace, and leave them there, we may go away like Hannah, and our countenance

will be no more sad, 1 Samuel 1:18 . And here observe the method of his comfort. 1. God's mercy is

the support of his faith. "My case is bad enough, and I am ready to think it deplorable, till I

consider the infinite goodness of God; but, finding I have that to trust to, I am comforted, though

I have no merit of my own. In former distresses I have trusted in the mercy of God, and I never

found that it failed me; his mercy has in due time relieved me and my confidence in it has in the

mean time supported me. Even in the depth of this distress, when God hid his face from me,

when without were fighting and within were fears, yet I trusted in the mercy of God and that was

as an anchor in a storm, by the help of which, though I was tossed, I was not overset." And still I

do trust in thy mercy; so some read it. "I refer myself to that, with an assurance that it will do well

for me at last." This he pleads with God, knowing what pleasure he takes in those that hope in his

mercy, Psalms 147:11. 2. His faith in God's mercy filled his heart with joy in his salvation; for joy

and peace come by believing, Romans 15:13. Believing, you rejoice, 1 Peter 1:8 . Having put his

trust in the mercy of God, he is fully assured of salvation, and that his heart, which was now daily

grieving, should rejoice in that salvation. Though weeping endure long, joy will return. 3. His joy

in God's salvation would fill his mouth with songs of praise (Psalms 13:6): "I will sing unto the

Lord, sing in remembrance of what he has done formerly; though I should never recover the

peace I have had, I will die blessing God that ever I had it. He has dealt bountifully with me

formerly, and he shall have the glory of that, however he is pleased to deal with me now. I will

sing in hope of what he will do for me at last, being confident that all will end well, will end

everlastingly well." But he speaks of it as a thing past (He has dealt bountifully with me), because

by faith he had received the earnest of the salvation and he was as confident of it as if it had been

done already.”

9. Steven Cole, “When God seems distant, join David in deliberately trusting in God’s unfailing

love, however the winds of circumstance are blowing. As David wrote in Psalm 103:11: “As high

as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving kindness toward those who fear Him.”

You can count on it, even when your circumstances seem contrary. He is only taking you through

the difficulty to develop maturity and godly character. “But it’s been months! Years!” Yes, that’s

the way He works. He builds things to last, and that takes time. But the finished product is so

much better in quality than quick imitations that don’t develop trust in the living God. If you are

distant from God because of known sin, the answer is the same: Call out to Him and put your

trust in His unfailing love as supremely demonstrated in the cross of Jesus Christ (John 3:16).

He died as your substitute, taking the penalty you deserved. If you will flee to Him for refuge, He

will never turn you away.

10. Rev. Ryan Braam, “This statement of the Lord’s goodness is rooted in David’s long lasting

relationship with God. Throughout the years God has provided for David more than he could

ever imagine. For this reason, he knows that God will not let him down. Although the situation

looks grim and David’s own words convey his sense of hopelessness, David knows the true

character of God. If his history with God is any indication of who God is, He knows that God will

pull through for him in the end. David’s faith in God’s character, is similar to our faith in the

changing of the seasons. In many winters, as the winter draws to a close, the cold snowy days

seem to drag on and on almost endlessly. Sometimes we find ourselves in March or even April

and there is still no evidence that spring is coming. At that point in time, for all that we can tell, it

is going to be a perpetual winter wonderland. Yet, based on previous experience we know that

spring is coming. The change of seasons is an inevitable part of the creation order. Each year,

winter gives way to spring. There are no exceptions to that rule.

David is looking at his past experience. Even though as far as he can see, he will be destroyed, he

knows from his past experience that God will not allow that destruction to happen. His long

standing relationship with God shapes his understanding of his present afflictions. Therefore,

David is able to say that he can trust in God’s unfailing love. He can truly rejoice in God’s

salvation, because when he reflects on his life he knows that the Lord has been good to him. His

long standing relationship with God shapes his current experience of pain. His long standing

relationship with God gives him a hope that is deeper than his doubts.

10B. Braam continues, “David has laid his case at the Lord’s feet, and he knows that it is the

Lord alone who can bring about change. He knows that God is sovereign and that God has heard

his cries. His lament and protest are an act of faith. We see this reaffirmed in the life of Jesus

Christ. Hebrews 5:7 recalls that During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and

petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard

because of his reverent submission. Jesus did not simply accept the way things were. He prayed

for change. He petitioned for God to intervene, and he reverently submitted himself to God’s

authority.

Everybody struggles with God’s plan from time to time. These struggles can cause us to doubt,

but deeper than our doubts is our trust that God will remain faithful. Deeper than our doubts is

our knowledge that God is sovereign. Deeper than our doubts is our hope that God will act on our

behalf. When hard times and hard questions come, we have the freedom to go to God and let Him

know our struggles! We have the freedom to enter into a deep relationship with Him and let Him

know our doubts. We can let Him know that we are angry or terrified. Lament is a beautiful act

of devotion that acknowledges that God is in control, and that we can trust in His unfailing love.

We can ask the hard questions. We can let God know that we are angry. We can tell him about

our doubts because deeper than our doubts is our trust in God. Deeper than our doubts is our

comfort that no one understands our pain better than God. Deeper than our doubts is our faith in

a sovereign God: that God and God alone has the power to act on our behalf, and God is the only

one who can pull us to safety. Deeper than our doubts is our relationship with the one True living

God.”

11. Hall

But I will ever trust Thee, Lord ;

My joy is in Thy saving Word :

Thy bounteous mercies I will bless,

And sing of all Thy tenderness.

6 I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.

1. We love a happy ending, and this is what we get in this Psalm that starts off from the bottom of

the pit, but ends in the highest sun drenched clouds with joyous praise and thanksgiving. It

matters not how dark the clouds when you know the sun is shining behind them, and will

eventually blanket the world with its warmth and light. Darkness and despair is temporary, but

joy and song are eternal. That is why we can endure the times of hell on earth, for our hope is in

heaven where we will sing forever, and this gives us reason to be singing in time as well. The dark

of night will pass away, and the sun will shine in endless day. Winter fades and cold departs, and

the joy of Spring fills our hearts. The bad is real and make us feel down, but the good is also real

and it is a far better deal, for it leads us to an endless crown. It is worth whatever we have to

endure to patiently wait for God's final cure. The down times are truly a pain, but the up times

are forever, and with our Lord we will reign. So never give up and surrender the fight, for by

trusting in God it will all turn out right. Yield not to the dark side, no not ever, but look forward

to singing forever and ever. The day is coming when you will see, my God has been so good to me.

1B. Calvin sees this singing as future based on hope of all working out. He wrote, “ I will sing

unto the Lord I translate this into the future tense. David, it is true, had not yet obtained what he

earnestly desired, but being fully convinced that God was already at hand to grant him

deliverance, he pledges himself to give thanks to him for it. And surely it becomes us to engage in

prayer in such a frame of mind as at the same time to be ready to sing the praises of God; a thing

which is impossible, unless we are fully persuaded that our prayers will not be ineffectual. We

may not be wholly free from sorrow, but it is nevertheless necessary that this cheerfulness of faith

rise above it, and put into our mouth a song on account of the joy which is reserved for us in the

future although not as yet experienced by us.” The NIV, however, has David looking to the past

goodness of God as the basis for his song. I see no reason to reject either interpretation, for both

make sense, and are realities that David can focus on with his new mood of joy in God.

2. F B Meyer, “Here is the man who had sorrow in his heart all the day breaking into song! We do

not find that his troubles were any less. The enemy was still exalted over him, and boasted of

having prevailed; it seemed indeed as though he must soon sleep the sleep of death. But he never

let go his trust. Whatever were his outward discomforts and trials, he clung to his God and

waited patiently for: Him; with the result that out of his stormy griefs he built a Bethel; and in

the midst of his anguish broke out into song. When we are sitting under the shadow of severe

trial, God can wrap us about with the garment of praise, and fill our mouths with singing.

Although the fig-tree does not blossom, and there is no fruit in the vines, yet the soul may rejoice

in the Lord, and joy in the God of salvation. You cannot starve a man who is feeding on God's

promises; and you cannot make that man or woman wretched who has a clean conscience, the

smile of God, and the love of Jesus in the soul.

3. Spurgeon, “So shall it be with us if we wait awhile. The complaint which in our haste we utter

shall be joyfully retracted, and we shall witness that the Lord hath dealt bountifully with us.” He

quotes John Willison who wrote, “Faith keeps the soul from sinking under heavy trials, by

bringing in former experiences of the power, mercy, and faithfulness of God to the afflicted soul.

Hereby was the psalmist supported in distress. Oh, saith faith, remember what God hath done

both for thy outward and inward man: he hath not only delivered thy body when in trouble, but

he hath done great things for thy soul; he hath brought thee out of a state of black nature,

entered into a covenant relation with thee, made his goodness pass before thee; he hath helped

thee to pray, and many times hath heard thy prayers and thy tears. Hath he not formerly

brought thee out of the horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and put a new song in thy mouth,

and made thee to resolve never to give way to such unbelieving thoughts and fears again? and

how unbecoming is it for thee now to sink in trouble?”

4. This singing so soon after such despair makes me think of Paul and Silas when they were

arrested, flogged severely, and put in stocks in prison. At midnight they began to sing the praised

of God. It was so inconsistent with the negative setting and their innocent suffering, but God gave

them a song in the midst of this painful experience. Such has been the case with many who have

suffered for Christ by being put in prison for their faith. Spurgeon records one such case of John

Philpot. The authority who put him in prison asked him how he and others with him could be

singing in their miserable situation. This was his response: "My lord, the mirth which we make

is but in singing certain Psalms, as we are commanded by Paul, to rejoice in the Lord, singing

together hymns and Psalms, for we are in a dark, comfortless place, and therefore, we thus solace

ourselves. I trust, therefore, your lordship will not be angry, seeing the apostle saith, If any be of

an upright heart, let him sing Psalms; and we, to declare that we are of an upright mind to God,

though we are in misery, yet refresh ourselves with such singing."

After some other discourse, saith he, "I was carried back to my lord's coal house, where I, with

my six fellow prisoners, do rouze together in the straw, as cheerfully (I thank God) as others do in

their beds of down." And in a letter to a friend, he thus writes: "Commend me to Mr. Elsing and

his wife, and thank them for providing me some ease in my prison; and tell them though my

lord's coal house be very black, yet it is more to be desired of the faithful than the Queen's palace.

The world wonders how we can be so merry under such extreme miseries; but our God is

omnipotent, who turns misery into felicity. Believe me, there is no such joy in the world, as the

people of God have under the cross of Christ: I speak by experience, and therefore believe me,

and fear nothing that the world can do unto you, for when they imprison our bodies, they set our

souls at liberty to converse with God; when they cast us down, they lift us up; when they kill us,

then do they send us to everlasting life. What greater glory can there be than to be made

conformable to our Head, Christ? And this is done by affliction. O good God, what am I, upon

whom thou shouldest bestow so great a mercy? This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us

rejoice and be glad in it. This is the way, though it be narrow, which is full of the peace of God,

and leadeth to eternal bliss. Oh, how my heart leaps for joy that I am so near the apprehension

thereof! God forgive me my unthankfulness, and unworthiness of so great glory. I have so much

joy, that though I be in a place of darkness and mourning, yet I cannot lament; but both night

and day am so full of joy as I never was so merry before; the Lord's name be praised for ever.

Our enemies do fret, fume, and gnash their teeth at it. O pray instantly that this joy may never be

taken from us; for it passeth all the delights in this world. This is the peace of God that passeth all

understanding. This peace, the more his chosen be afflicted, the more they feel it, and therefore

cannot faint neither for fire nor water." Samuel Clarke's "Mirror," 1671.

5. John Bunyan came to have such joy and gratitude in prison that he was actually thankful for

his suffering. He wrote, “I never knew what it was for God to stand by me at all turns, and at

every offer of Satan to afflict me, etc., as I have found him since I came in hither; for look how

fears have presented themselves, so have supports and encouragements; yea, when I have started,

even as it were at nothing else but my shadow, yet God, as being very tender to me, hath not

suffered me to be molested, but would with one Scripture or another, strengthen me against all;

insomuch that I have often said, Were it lawful, I could pray for greater trouble, for the greater

comfort's sake. Ecclesiastes 7:14 2 Corinthians 1:5 . John Bunyan, 1628- 1688.

6. Spurgeon, “What are the connecting links between the man complaining and the man singing?

How did this complaining man get up to concert pitch and begin to sing before he had gone more

than a little way further on the road?” The steps are clear, for he began to climb the right stairs

when he started praying, and then trusting, the then rejoicing, and finally singing. It was a

stairway of positive steps that brought him from the pit to the pinnacle of praise. Every positive

thought and move you make will bring you nearer to victory over the depression that bad times

can throw over you. Every good thing in your past, and every good hope for your future can be

stepping stones to singing God's praises. This means that thankfulness is one of the keys to

overcoming times of doubt and despair.

7. Spurgeon goes on, “This poor man who thought that he was forgotten, now looks at the food

which God has put upon his table and he finds that he has Benjamin’s portion—much more than

was given to the rest of his brothers—and his verdict is totally changed, now, as to the dealings of

the Lord with him. He, says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you

anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the

days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” And now that his judgment has

been set right, now that heart, tongue, judgement—all are right—his resolve is right, for he says,

“I will sing unto the Lord.” “Not only am I singing now, but I will make up my mind to this, I

have been sighing long enough, I will now sing. I have been groaning and complaining, now I will

sing! I will sing unto the Lord.” I like this resolve, for it relates not only to present joy, but it is a

resolution to project that joy throughout the whole of his life.”

8. The Message version of this Psalm.

1-2 Long enough, God— you've ignored me long enough.

I've looked at the back of your head

long enough. Long enough

I've carried this ton of trouble,

lived with a stomach full of pain.

Long enough my arrogant enemies

have looked down their noses at me.

3-4 Take a good look at me, God, my God;

I want to look life in the eye,

So no enemy can get the best of me

or laugh when I fall on my face.

5-6 I've thrown myself headlong into your arms—

I'm celebrating your rescue.

I'm singing at the top of my lungs,

I'm so full of answered prayers.

OTHER POETIC VERSIONS

A.by the Marquis of Lorne (1877)

1 How long, Jehovah, wilt Tbou then

For aye forget me among men ?

How long thus hidden still from me

Wilt Thou yet cause Thy face to be?

2 Still must I counsel with my soul.

While daily sorrows o'er me roll ;

How long against me, in my woe.

Shall he yet lift himself — my foe?

3 Consider Thou, and hear me, Lord,

Light to mine eyes, my God, accord ;

Lest I should sleep the sleep of death;

Lest foes deride with impious breath:

4 "Behold, against his vaunted might,

Have we prevail'd in all men's sight."

Hear, lest, when I am mov'd, all they

Who vex me see their triumph's day.

5 But, as for me, my only trust

I place in Thee, the True and Just;

Mine heart in Thy salvation sure

Hath found a joy that shall endure.

6 O let me to Jehovah sing,

To Him my praise I fain would bring.

Because so bountifully He,

My God, hath ever dealt with me.

B. The Psalter (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The United Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1912)

How long wilt Thou forget me,

O Lord, Thou God of grace?

How long shall fears beset me

While darkness hides Thy face?

How long shall griefs distress me

And turn my day to night?

How long shall foes oppress me

And triumph in their might?

O Lord my God, behold me

And hear mine earnest cries;

Lest sleep of death enfold me,

Enlighten Thou mine eyes;

Lest now my foe insulting

Should boast of his success,

And enemies exulting

Rejoice in my distress.

But I with expectation

Have on Thy grace relied;

My heart in Thy salvation

Shall still with joy confide;

And I with voice of singing

Will praise the Lord above,

Who, richest bounties bringing,

Has dealt with me in love.

C. Words: From the Scottish Psalter.

How long wilt Thou forget me, Lord?

Shall it for ever be?

O how long shall it be that Thou

Wilt hide Thy face from me?

How long take counsel in my soul,

Still sad in heart, shall I?

How long exalted over me

Shall be mine enemy?

O Lord my God, consider well,

And answer to me make:

Mine eyes enlighten, lest the sleep

Of death me overtake:

Lest that mine enemy should say,

Against him I prevailed;

And those that trouble me rejoice,

When I am moved and failed.

But I have all my confidence

Thy mercy set upon;

My heart within me shall rejoice

In Thy salvation.

I will unto the Lord my God

Sing praises cheerfully,

Because He hath His bounty shown

To me abundantly.

D. Words: Isaac Watts, The Psalms of David, 1719.

How long wilt Thou conceal Thy face?

My God, how long delay?

When shall I feel those heav’nly rays

That chase my fears away?

How long shall my poor laboring soul

Wrestle and toil in vain?

Thy word can all my foes control

And ease my raging pain.

See how the prince of darkness tries

All his malicious arts;

He spreads a mist around my eyes,

And throws his fiery darts.

Be Thou my sun, and Thou my shield,

My soul in safety keep;

Make haste, before mine eyes are sealed

In death’s eternal sleep.

How would the tempter boast aloud

If I become his prey!

Behold, the sons of hell grow proud

At Thy so long delay.

But they shall fly at Thy rebuke,

And Satan hide his head;

He knows the terrors of Thy look,

And hears Thy voice with dread.

Thou wilt display Thy sovereign grace,

Where all my hopes have hung,

I shall employ my lips in praise

And victory shall be sung.