Episode 52: Psalm 13
Transcription
Today’s verse is actually a chapter: it’s Psalm 13
How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for He has been good to me.
Let’s pray together.
My prayer today, LORD, is for those who feel forgotten, lost, abandoned, hopeless, grieving, destroyed. We all feel that way, too often our thoughts bend toward the lonely and bitter. We forget our Savior’s triumph, and we wallow in the brokenness of the world and our own lives. And this is our reality, Jesus, this is the world we are brought into and the world we must dwell in. Though our sin broke it, it can be easy to blame You for our circumstances.
I know I feel this. I struggle and strive and try so hard, but I feel defeated nonetheless. My own wisdom and my own plan fail me every time. I sit alone in the dark, I am lost in self-pity, I am friendless in the crowd. Everyone has their own pain. How can mine make a dent in the fathomless void somehow filled with a surging tide of agony? Whatever help I received from You in the past doesn’t comfort me now. Because where are you? Why aren’t You here? Why aren’t You fixing this? Why must this battle continue day after day, hour after hour? I have not the strength to continue.
I am angry and sad. My head knows this isn’t Your fault and that You only want good for me. Still, that doesn’t help me when I feel thrown away, used up, and trapped in a mire of loss. There is nothing good about this, nothing to be learned, nothing to help me forward. Why would You leave one of Your children stuck like this? Answer me, won’t You? If I could just have one glimmer of an answer, it wouldn’t be quite so hard to breathe, the load would lessen just the lightest bit, I could uncurl from my fetal position.
Tears are mine. Destitution is mine. Hurt is mine. Waiting is mine. Loss is mine. It feels like an endless nothing is mine, thrust upon me by the One who should rescue me instead. Are You trying to get me to be upset with You? Do You want all my previous faith to be null and void—cast aside as worthless?
In this deepest gloom, shine Your light. In my lowest moment, show me how You already stooped lower than I can possibly conceive. Remind me of Your faithfulness, Your goodness, Your love. Flood me with the waters of Your mercy. Overwhelm me with the surety of Your grace. I want to remember what it is to trust my first love, to be nestled within the protection of Your lovingmercy. When I despair, I want my hope to be the armor against the attack. Because it comes from You, You alone.
Be a tangible God for me. Please be in my circumstances. Please shield me from the enemy of my soul. Please comfort me in the lonely pit of sorrow I have delved for myself. Let Your arms be bastions of strength in my need. Bring to my mind all the times You have been there for me, let them comfort me as I would not be comforted before.
Jesus, instead of focusing on myself, help me to focus on You. Let Your unfailing Presence be my greatest joy. Help me to live with a consecrated mind, full of Holy Spirit, ready to shine outward. You are good forever. My present circumstances do not reflect my future or my position in Your family. I want to act as I truly am, Your child, Your friend, Your subject, Your bride, Your servant—Yours, Yours, Yours.
When I am lonely, help me to be a friend. When I am in pain, help me to ease someone else’s. When I am destitute, help me to be generous. When I am worried, show me calmness. When I am afraid, help me to be bold. When I am grieving, help me to create. When I am angry, help me to praise. When I doubt, build trust in me. When I despair, renew hope in me. When I run, pursue me.
Whatever you are going through today, friend, let this be your prayer. Praise Jesus, love Him, let His identity flow through you, instead of the one we create for ourselves. Rejoice in the fact that He has saved you. He will always be good to you. May we have the eyes to see it and the hearts that are open for it.
I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
