Daily Devotional Monday 4th October 2021
by William Moody
Psalms 13–14
How Long, O Lord?
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
13:1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 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?
3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.
The Fool Says, There Is No God
To the choirmaster. Of David.
14:1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is none who does good.
2 The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,1
who seek after God.
3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the LORD?
5 There they are in great terror,
for God is with the generation of the righteous.
6 You would shame the plans of the poor,
but2 the LORD is his refuge.
7 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.(ESV)
In Psalm 13 it appears that for quite a period of time David has been going through difficult days. He has been praying but as yet there appears to be little light at the end of the tunnel (v1-2). His pain is due to the attacks of his enemy who seems to be winning.
David knows that any hope he can have is to be found not in his own strength but in the Lord’s. Maybe one of the reasons the Lord has let this difficult time to continue was to cause David to realise this.
He prays Iv3-4) acknowledging that without the Lord’s intervention his situation is lost. It is only the Lord who can revive him. Is it our main problem that often we don’t realise this in our own lives as we are too self-reliant?
As David prays, faith and joy take over (v5-6). As he knows that the Lord is faithful then His bountiful provision is assured. We too can have such hope in difficult days when we know the Lord personally and deeply as David did. Notice how this Psalm has changed in tone from the beginning to the end.
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