Text: Psalm 13:1-6
“But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.” —Psalm 13:5
After his football team lost its first seven games, Tulane coach Mack Brown bemoaned: “I called up Dial-A-Prayer and they hung up on me.”
Maybe there has been a time when you’ve experienced a losing streak and it felt as if God was distant. David appeared to feel this way when he wrote Psalm 13. In verses 1-2 his words echo a spirit of anguish, defeat, and rejection:
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?
It seemed as if God had forgotten David. Even worse, his enemies were winning. Rejection hurts bad enough when God is silent, but the injury is even more agonizing when our adversaries are triumphing over us. What can we do when we find ourselves in a season like that of David’s ancient bitter trial?
Firstly, we can examine ourselves. It’s important to remember that any unconfessed sin puts a barrier between God and us. Psalm 66:18 says “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” Sometimes we need more than a surface scan to detect a hidden transgression, we need a deep examination of the heart. It requires looking deeper than those blatant sins of commission to what may be subtle sins of omission—not just what I have done, but what I haven’t done. James 4:17 speaks to this: “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin.”
Ask yourself: Have my motives been pure lately? Is there an idol in my life (anything or anyone taking the place of full affection and total allegiance to God)? As the Holy Spirit brings things to mind, quickly ask for His forgiveness. And remember, there’s no shame in repentance. This act of faith pleases God and restores our fellowship with Him.
However, sometimes God may be silent even in times of obedience. It’s in these times that we must accept His sovereignty. It might bruise our ego a bit to hear it, but the Almighty has no obligation to answer you or me. As A.W. Tozer says in The Knowledge of the Holy, “God is said to be absolutely free because no one and no thing can hinder Him or compel Him or stop Him. He is able to do as He pleases always, everywhere, forever.” Silence can be a humble reminder that God doesn’t hear us because we have a right to be heard; if He hears us it is because He has graced us with a condescendence of His own mercy—and always in merit with the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Accepting God’s sovereignty ushers in a peace that transcends all human understanding (Philippians 4:7). It comes not only from believing in God’s goodness, but trusting in His character and faithfulness. Never is that trust tested like in a season of silence. That’s why some of the most intimate times we will ever have with God are in moments of silence. This is when trust speaks the loudest. When Jesus failed to show up before Lazarus died, Mary and Martha could’ve interpreted Jesus’ silence as neglect. But in that time of grief, the sisters were drawn into a deeper intimacy with God, culminating with a revelation of His resurrection power.
“When you cannot hear God,” says Oswald Chambers, “you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible—with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation.” In love, silence can be a sign of intimacy. It is possible for my wife and me to sit together in a room and not utter a word. Because when you are sufficiently happy with a person—a token of true intimacy—you can abide even in the quiet.
Of course intimacy doesn’t imply that we should neglect communication. Just because God seems silent doesn’t mean you should doubt Him or stop praying. His silence isn’t a cause to turn our backs on Him. Instead, it’s an invitation to press forward and to seek Him even more diligently.
This is where we see David pressing on. Initially we heard him crying out in anguish. Then we hear a softer petition for mercy (vv3-4). Finally, we see him resting in the joy of God’s sovereignty (vv5-6):
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.
Franz Delitzsch observed: “This song as it were casts up constantly lessening waves, until it becomes still as the sea when smooth as a mirror, and the only motion discernible at last is that of the joyous ripple of calm repose.” In a sentence, the psalm is saying:
When God seems silent, we can abide more intimately by trusting in His unfailing love.
PRAYER
God, help me to remember that even the silence still speaks of your faithfulness. Help me to abide more intimately in those times when I can’t hear you—trusting in your unfailing love, rejoicing in your salvation, and singing of your praise. For you have been GOOD to me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Questions for Reflection and/or Family Discussion:
- In what ways have your friends or family helped you through a time of discouragement or defeat?
- What questions went through David’s mind as he waited for the Lord’s answer to his prayer? (vv1-2)
- What is a difficult season of silence you have had to go through? What did that produce in you?
- What expression of confidence concludes this Psalm?
- What past acts of God’s goodness to you can you write down as reminders to trust Him in times of silence?
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