PSALM 13 – “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: LEARNING PATIENCE. In trying times when patience is running thin, I can hear myself calling out to the author of today’s Psalm, David, “You go, David. Me too. I easily grow impatient when God says, ‘Wait My child.’”
Perhaps you may identify with David and me during those seasons God works the deep and necessary work of patience in us by being silent in acknowledging our prayers. Instead of responding in glad and joyful submission, we grumble, complain, and put forth impatience-revealing words to the Lord, “How long, O Lord? just like David did in today’s scripture.
If we hope to obey the command of the Apostle Peter, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus” (2 Peter 3:18), there is a virtue we must be developing in the Christian life and God will teach us. It is patience; the very thing lacking in the opening of today’s Psalm. Without this virtue, we will remain spiritual infants though we may be Christians for a long time.
A chief way the Lord teaches us patience is in His “school of waiting.” It is in those seasons when God seems silent and our prayers get no further than the ceiling, that we find ourselves enrolled in His “school of waiting” to develop the fruit of patience. And it is hard. Very hard. Go back and read the opening of today’s scripture again. Feel the intensity of David’s pain in his prayer. He is impatient. He doesn’t understand what God is doing. He feels defeated by his enemies, and the level of sorrow gripping him is overwhelming. Yet, notice what he does toward the end of the Psalm. A drastic shift occurs, and it begins with the words “But I” and in this contrast, we learn what to cling to when God has us in His “waiting room” to learn patience. The Psalmist proclaims, “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.”
The anchor of our souls in all things in life is the steadfast love of God. Whether in a season of trial or in God’s school of waiting, we cling to His steadfast love. It is easy to doubt God’s love if we allow our hearts to grow impatient. We will begin to question His goodness, His always wise purposes, and His willingness to be our help in times of trouble. Remember, God is love and He is always love, even when we are tempted to cry out “How long, O Lord?” when He is teaching us patience.
PRAYER: “Father, forgive me when I find myself impatiently complaining when You call me to patiently wait.”
QUOTE: “We get an immediate assessment of our spiritual condition when God says, ‘Wait on me.’”