Restore the Sparkle: Psalm 13

¹ O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?
    How long will you look the other way?
² How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,
    with sorrow in my heart every day?
    How long will my enemy have the upper hand?

³ Turn and answer me, O Lord my God!
    Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.
⁴ Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!”
    Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall.

⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love.
    I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
⁶ I will sing to the Lord
    because he is good to me.

Psalm 13, NLT

Life can really get complicated– really, really fast. David finds that there are no easy answers. If we look objectively at his life, we can see the frayed ends where confusion rules. It was never meant to turn out this way. But truly, isn’t that how life works sometimes?

The Short and Sweet of this Psalm

V. 1, David believes that he has been forgotten. Note a  phrase is repeated four times, “How long?”  It does seem that impatience is a significant issue for him. Often when it gets this bad, we find ourselves turning to surrogates to fill the gap.

“Never was a faithful prayer lost. Some prayers have a longer voyage than others, but then they return with their richer lading at last, so that the praying soul is a gainer by waiting for an answer.”   William Gurnall

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V. 2, “Struggle…anguish…sorrow, everyday.” These all are “pain words.” And  somehow David is alert enough to recognize the work of the evil one. We were never meant to serve sin or encourage Satan.

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V. 3, “ Turn and answer me, O Lord my God! Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.” David knew that life could be quite exceptional. And there is much more than breathing to life. He speaks of being restored. He waits for newness of God’s sparkling presence. (Do our eyes “sparkle?”)

“Wherever you are – be all there.”   Jim Elliot

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V. 4, Also, he is quite aware that his life is being threatened. The word, “gloat” is interesting word. It has the idea of boasting, or relishing someone else’s failure. (I hate it when my opponent decides to gloat.)

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V. 5, “ But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me.” The Lord has covered David with His hand. His life has been saved by a love that never falters or weakens.

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V. 6 is really beautiful. Singing and praising the Lord in awareness of  His nearness. It really is what we were made to do. David certainly comes through some really hard issues.

“It is in the process of being worshipped that God communicates His presence to men.”   C.S. Lewis