When God is Silent

A Short Study of Psalm 13

by Robert Rathbone

The Psalms express a variety of human experience, from sheer adoration and worship of the LORD to rejoicing over the LORD delivering us from our problems, to crying out to the LORD in the midst of problems. In Psalms 13 David expresses a sentiment that we all can identify with: when it seems God is ignoring us and is oblivious to our situation. We pray for the LORD for help with a situation but heaven is silent and there is no change in our circumstances. David faces this same situation in this psalm and we can learn from how he deals with it.

David’s complaint

In these first two verses are four “How long?” expressions of David’s discouragement at God’s apparent apathy and the fact that there seems to be no end in sight to his predicament.

“How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever?” - David feels like the LORD has not heard any of his prayers and that he has apparently not warranted the attention of the LORD. He feels abandoned and that the LORD doesn’t care. He asks the LORD how long is He going to ignore him.

“how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?” - The “face” implies favor and attention. Someone who has hid their face from you has turned their back to you. David feels like he has fallen out of favor with the LORD and the LORD is no longer smiling upon him and showing him grace. It feels as though the LORD is busy doing other things and has no time for David.

“How long shall I take counsel [advice] in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?” - When we are in the midst of a problem, frequently that is all that we can think about, occupying every waking moment or keeping us awake at night. David is worrying about his problem, trying to think of a solution but finding none. The result is misery, for he has no solution and no apparent hope of one. His sorrow is the constant reminder that the LORD has not helped him and he asks the LORD how long is he going remain in this situation.

“how long shall mine enemy be exalted [lifted up] over me?” - David asks the LORD how long is his enemy going to be allowed to have the advantage or even the victory over him. The enemy could be a person, a group of people, or circumstances.  David wants to know how long the LORD is going to allow him to be at the mercy of his circumstances.

David’s request

³ Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death; ⁴ Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

David asks for encouragement while he waits for God's answer to his prayer.

“Consider [to look upon; pay attention to] and hear me, O LORD my God” - David asks for the LORD’s attention and for Him to hear his prayer. He says “O LORD my God” - meaning that the LORD is his God and that he has no other place to go for help. He’s not praying to Baal or any other god. Either the LORD helps David or he will get no help.

“lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death” - The eyes were considered the windows to the soul, reflecting your mood and energy level. If you had dark eyes you were either in a bad mood, discouraged, tired or sickly. David asks the LORD to “lighten” his eyes, that is, to encourage and strengthen him so that he wouldn’t fall into the pit of despair. Some have suggested David may have been considering suicide.

“Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him” - David’s plea is that the LORD will encourage and strengthen him so that also his enemy will not be able to say “I’ve beat him.” David doesn’t want his enemy to be able to say “Look at David! He trusted in God and God let him down!” Satan, the great enemy of our soul, would love to say he’s beaten us by causing us to become discouraged and give up on God.

“and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved [to be shaken or overthrown]” - Satan rejoices when Christians quit on the LORD and stop trusting Him. He wants to make shipwreck of our faith and overthrow it. Much like Peter, Satan wants to sift us like wheat. Satan wants to prove to God that our love is based on blessings and not on the LORD. See the first chapter of Job.

David’s confidence

⁵ But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. ⁶ I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

In vs. 5-6, David remembers that his trust in the LORD.

“But I have trusted in thy mercy” - Even though it seems like the LORD has forsaken him, David anchors his faith on the character of the LORD. He remembers how he has benefited from the mercy of the LORD in the past and trusts that he will again benefit from the mercy of the LORD. When we can’t see or understand what the LORD is doing, we know that we can trust Him. We can trust His love, mercy, and wisdom and know that He is doing what is best. Rather than placing his faith on the LORD’s blessings, he is anchoring it on the LORD Himself and His character.

“my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation” - The “salvation” David refers to could be either the deliverance from his circumstances that he trusts is yet to come, or it could be the ultimate salvation after death because of his faith in God. Or David could be saying “Either way, LORD, I will rejoice because my future is in your hands!” He trusts that the LORD knew what He was doing. We are His servants – the LORD is not a genie in a bottle that grants us all our wishes.

“I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me” - David will sing praises to the LORD because even if deliverance never comes, he knows that the LORD has already blessed him abundantly. He knows that he can’t complain if he never received another blessing from the LORD because he has already received much more than what he deserves. The LORD deserves praise for Who He is, not just for what He’s done, or what He’s done for us lately.

 If you study the life of Joseph in chapters 37-50 of Genesis you will find that Joseph spent 13 years as a slave and a prisoner before God made him the second most powerful man in Egypt.  No doubt during those 13 years Joseph prayed for deliverance so he could go back home and probably at times he wondered if God had abandoned him.  Yet if you examine each time his circumstances changed you will realize that each time God was moving him closer to where He wanted Joseph to be.  Frequently we don't know what God is doing and His silence makes it seem like He has turned His back on us, but we might be amazed at what God is doing behind the scenes.  Like David, we can trust that God has not forgotten us and that our trust in God's mercy and salvation is not unfounded.