WORSHIP REFLECTIONS are weekly devotionals based on worship songs/hymns. Our hope is that this content encourages your love and adoration of Christ Jesus as you grow in closer communion with Him through personal worship.
Justin Francis, Worship Pastor, Granada Heights Friends Church, presents this worship song devotional based on the song "Psalm 13".
Our church has been going through a series on prayer and recently we talked about the very real moments of when we’re not hearing from God, when he seems silent, and yet our souls are troubled and weary. I couldn’t help but turn to the Psalms of Lament. Something so important for worshippers both individual and corporate is the expression of lament to God. The journey of suffering has an abundance of grieving and crying out to God and this is modeled for us in the Psalms in a beautiful and helpful way. Honest conversation with God is one of the most important aspects of intimate and real worship.
Have you faced seasons of suffering or when God has seemed silent in the midst of injustice or tragedy? I’ve found myself asking: God what do I do when I don’t hear from you?
There seems to be a couple of dangers:
One is that we start to turn to God with a heart that is bitter. Now, it’s a good thing to turn to God in prayer. But the bitterness is evidence that at some point we stopped trusting God’s wisdom, his power, and goodness. Instead, we’re believing that we know what’s best for ourselves better than God.
The other danger is that we turn away from God because of a heart that’s discouraged. We’re essentially saying that we don’t trust that the nearness of God is our all-satisfying good. And so we give up praying….
I love this Psalm of Lament because David struggles with not hearing from God, but he avoids these 2 dangers and yet is honest with God about it. This led me to finding a wonderful setting of Psalm 13 by Alisa Turner.
Psalm 13: 1-2
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
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?
The song lyrics simplify this plea: but with a beautiful weaving 6/8 melody that ends on a descending line – a touch of melancholy in the writing
I will confess somedays I feel forgotten
Seems like You're hiding Your face from me
I will admit that I wrestle with my thoughts
Struggle with all of the sorrow deep
How long will You leave me here without answers
Crushed by the words of my enemies
Then he asks God to light up his eyes – which I think means to strengthen his faith so he once again sees and feels God’s beauty, majesty, love, and wisdom –
Psalm 13: 3-4
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
He ends by affirming that he is trusting God’s steadfast love. He knows that as a result his heart will rejoice in God’s salvation, and he will end up singing over God’s bounty to him.
Psalm 13: 5-6
But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
I love the way the song puts this hopeful and renewed committed to trust God’s love as the melody takes a vertical leap of an octave up – symbolizing a looking up to God in trust despite the silence.
But I will trust Your unfailing love
I will rest knowing You're enough
I will give praise for through all my days
You have been good to me
So cry out to God and remember his unfailing love, as we do the problems grow smaller, despair loses its grip, enemies are defeated and we learn to walk with a greater perspective of His incredible goodness, wisdom, and power. May God give you His grace for the journey.