Psalm 013 - A Prayer for Help in Trouble

How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him, ”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the LORD’s praise,
for he has been good to me.

Before you say you don’t have any enemies, so singing this psalm is not relevant to you, think again. Our enemies are not always people who make our lives miserable but situations we face as we journey through life. Ill health. Rocky relationships. Financial burdens. Job uncertainties. Wayward children. Errant spouses. You name it!

Sometimes these are easily overcome. At other times they are not. They threaten to overpower and defeat us. What are we to do? Remember the beautiful promises of God. He said: I will go before you and will level the mountains (Isaiah 45:2).

God is not saying he will cut a tunnel in the mountain so we can pass through it. He is not saying that he will prepare a path over it. He is saying he will level the mountains, razing them so that you will have free and clear passage over level ground. What an amazing promise! But how are we to appropriate it? The same way we appropriate all God’s promises. By believing in them. This is all that faith is. 

And what about when our enemies are people? Well, again, remember the promise of God. He said: “No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you” (Isaiah 54:17). Again, this is a promise that holds true if *we* hold true—in faith—not retaliating against our enemies, but showing them as much love as we possibly can.

So, let us remain rooted in faith and sing with David: I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.

God be with you.