PSALM 13:1-6 – To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. “

THEME OF THE DAY:  WHERE THE BATTLE RAGES.  In today’s Psalm, David does three things for us.  First, he shows us our human weakness with its tendency to rely upon our feelings and circumstances. Look at his clear emotional cries of impatience with God.  Then, we witness the drastic shift in attitude and actions from David. He goes from complaining to praising quickly and reveals how quickly our moods shift.  Finally, though not explicitly stated, it is certainly implied.  There is the illumination where the spiritual battle in the believer’s life rages; in the mischaracterization, even cruel accusations, of God.  We should assume these are the works of the devil. It is the last one we want to explore.

In the Garden of Eden, the first tactic of the serpent, the devil, leveled on Eve was to question the Person and Word of God – Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”(Genesis 3:1-2).  And this is what is brewing in Psalm 13 in the first two verses.  David’s impatience tempts Him to see God as He isn’t.

First, David accuses God of forgetting him – How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever?  This is not only untrue but impossible.  God cannot forget anything or anyone.  Oh, He chooses not to remember our sins (Hebrews 10:17), but that is not the same as forgetting.  And the battle rages in our hearts in suffering and pain when God seems to be not answering our prayers and the devil whispers “God has forgotten you.”

Next, we find David crying out that God is hiding His face from him – How long, O LORD? Will You hide Your face from me?  Now, there is partial truth in this statement.  The Lord tells us “If we regard sin in our hearts, God will not hear us” (Psalm 66:18). The partial truth is God will not grant us fellowship with Him if we are in sin, but the error or accusation from the devil is God hiding or being reluctant to fellowship with us.  He is the opposite.  In our sin, He calls us to return for He is willing to restore, not hide.

A third area of spiritual battle fueled by the devil is implied in these words of David – How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? This devilish lie is that God is not a God of comfort and help. How bold, not only of the devil, but of David, to allow pain and impatience attack the very heart of God who has declared Himself the God, not of some comfort but all comfort – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3).

So, in the intensity of the spiritual battles we face, let’s be mindful that behind them all is a devil who wants us to listen to his lies about God, not the truth God has declared of Himself.  Always remember, lies are defeated by truth.  May the Lord help us do battle today with His truth.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to remember what You say about Yourself and not the lies of the devil about you.”
QUOTE: “The devil seeks to get God’s people to listen to his lies about God and then rely on our feelings from them.”

Because of Him,
Pastor Jim