Psalm 13:1-6 How long will you forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long will you hide your face from me?… This little Psalm begins in agitation and ends in calm. However true it is that sorrow is "but for a moment," it seems to last for an eternity. Sad hours are leaden footed and joyful ones winged. That "How long," reiterated, betrays how weary it was to the Psalmist. Very significant is the progress of thought in the four-fold questioning plaint, which turns flint to God, then to himself, then to the enemy. The root of his sorrow is that God seems to have forgotten him; therefore his soul is full of plans for relief, and the enemy seems to be lifted up above him. Left alone, without God's help, what can a man do but think and plan and scheme to weariness all night, and carry a heavy heart, as he sees by daylight how futile his plans are? The agitation of the first strophe is somewhat stilled in the second, in which the stream of prayer runs clear without such foam as the impatient questions of the first part. The storm has all rolled away in the third strophe, in which faith has triumphed over doubt and anticipates the fulfilment of its prayer. The sad minor of "How long?" if coming from faithful lips, passes into a .jubilant key which heralds the full gladness of the yet future songs of deliverance. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: {To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.} How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?WEB: How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? |
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