Psalm Chapter 13

Psalm 13: The Fourfold How Long

Four times in two verses the question hammers: how long? How long wilt thou forget me — for ever? How long wilt thou hide thy face? How long shall I take counsel in my own soul? How long shall mine enemy be exalted? It is the rhythm of a man pacing a room at three in the morning, and there is no pretense of composure in it. This is prayer stripped to the studs. And yet — and this is the miracle of the psalm — by the sixth and final verse, the same voice that cried "how long" is singing. "I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me." Nothing in the psalm tells us what changed. No angel appeared, no army retreated, no diagnosis reversed. The only thing that moved was the man himself, from complaint to trust, from trust to joy. It is one of the shortest psalms in the Psalter, and one of the most astonishing, because it covers the entire distance from despair to delight in six verses and does not cheat a single step of the journey.

00:00 How Long, O Lord? Forever?
00:12 Sorrow in My Heart Daily
00:22 Lighten Mine Eyes
00:32 Lest Mine Enemy Say, I Have Prevailed
00:40 I Have Trusted in Thy Mercy
00:48 I Will Sing unto the Lord