Praying Psalm 13

      “BUT I trust.”     

What is the title of Psalm 13?

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

Read Psalm 13:1-2

¹  How long, YHWH? 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?

 What is the psalmist asking God?

How long?
(1)   forget and hide – YHWH is far, not doing anything…
(2)   take counsel in my OWN nephesh/body/soul AND heart/mind. (This is NOT a good thing...)
(3)   Enemy exalted.

Read Psalm 13:3-4
³ Consider and answer me, O YHWH 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.

 What does David want YHWH to do?

Answer – act, do something
OR ELSE (lest): (1) I sleep/die (2) enemy wins (3) enemy rejoices

Read 13:5-6

⁵ But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
⁶ I will sing to  YHWH, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

 What is the big BUT…?

Trust in *Chesed!*(Steadfast love)
Result is: heart/mind shouts about salvation – sing because HE has DONE it.

Did David’s situation in life change?

No – David’s words CONFESSED YHWH  in the MIDST of struggle/pain/death.
(He did not pray for change & THEN praise God.)

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR ME?

What is the purpose of this Psalm/prayer?

Lament – How long – WHEN will it get better? Be made right?

This Encourages others to trust YHWH in their pain/suffering

How does Christ fulfill this psalm?

He endures this pain until the end – trusting in YHWH’s salvation perfectly.

¹² And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” ¹³ And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” ¹⁴ And Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” ¹⁵ So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged^[a] Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.¹⁶ And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters),^[b] and they called together the whole battalion.^{[c] 17} And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. ¹⁸ And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹ And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. ²⁰ And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.²¹ And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. ²² And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). ²³ And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. ²⁴ And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. ²⁵ And it was the third hour^[d] when they crucified him. ²⁶ And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” ²⁷ And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.^{[e] 29} And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, ³⁰ save yourself, and come down from the cross!” ³¹ So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. ³² Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.³³ And when the sixth hour^[f] had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.^{[g] 34} And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mark 15:12-34

Cross ref

1. 1 Corinthians 1:22 : See Matt. 12:38
2. 1 Corinthians 1:23 : Gal. 5:11; See 1 Pet. 2:8
3. 1 Corinthians 1:24 : [1Cor 1:18]
4. 1 Corinthians 1:24 : 1Cor 1:30; Col. 2:3; [Luke 11:49]

How can we pray this?

Trust only in YHWH’s chesed – CHRIST, abounding love in the midst of our pain

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”²⁰ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach^[b] to save those who believe. ²² For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,^[c] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so that no human being^[d] might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰ And because of him^[e] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

2 And I, when I came to you, brothers,^[a] did not come proclaiming to you the testimony^[b] of God with lofty speech or wisdom. ² For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, ⁴ and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men^[c] but in the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5

WE PRAY:

Thy kingdom come.

What does this mean? The kingdom of God comes indeed without our prayer, of itself; but we pray in this petition that it may come unto us also.

How is this done? When our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead a godly life here in time and yonder in eternity.