Psalm 13: Pray and Give Thanks

How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and hear me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes,
Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Lest my enemy say,
“I have prevailed against him”’
Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
But I have trusted in Your mercy;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
Because he has dealt bountifully with me.

The psalmist here teaches us how to respond to trouble. So much of the time, our response is to worry, be anxious, fret, grow angry and depressed, give way to despair and frustration, wallow in self-pity and discontentment. An opposite problem, of course, is to fake our way through the trouble, denying its existence or the intensity of its effect on us. Or we may look for solutions that are hopelessly doomed to failure because they are not according to God’s Word. What is God’s solution?

Pray and give thanks.

Worry denies the power of God; prayer is an acknowledgement of it. Discontentment refuses to embrace the purpose of God; thanksgiving rejoices in it. Whatever the situation you find yourself in, present your case to God—honestly and openly, just as the psalmist does here—and accompany your petition with joyful thanks and praise. Giving thanks for the past and present blessings builds up your faith that enables you to trust God for the future.

“Wonderful God and Savior, we cry out to You and ask You to hear us for Christ’s sake. Deliver us from our troubles, from our enemies, from our sins. Enlighten our eyes, dear God, and show us Your power and greatness and purpose. We give thanks to You this day for all the salvation and mercy and bounty You have poured out on us through Jesus Christ, and we pray You would teach us to come to You with our thanksgivings and praise—may they continually be on our lips. We trust ourselves to You, O God, for You alone are our hope, You alone have the power to help, You alone are the source of all our blessing, our good, our contentment, our joy. Through our Lord Jesus Christ we pray and give thanks. Amen.”