Psalm 13 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study
Psalm 13 Short Summary:
In Psalm 13, David writes about his distress after a long oppression from his enemies. He is tempted to believe God has abandoned him because God’s deliverance has been so long in coming. But David did not buy into the lie that God had forgotten him. He concludes the Psalm by expressing his confidence that God will once again provide him salvation from his trouble. He concludes by saying, “I will sing to the Lord, because He has looked after me” (13:6, NASB).
Psalm 13 Summary
AUTHOR:
King David is the author of Psalm 13.
NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCES:
No known New Testament References.
THEMES:
The temptation to believe that God has abandoned us when trials persist.
Remembering God’s past faithfulness to reinforce our faith that He will care for us in the future.
OUTLINE:
HOW LONG, O LORD? WILL YOU FORGET ME FOREVER? (13:1-2):
David was weighed down by some kind of burden, a burden his enemies had laid on him (13:2,4).
He felt alone, like God was hiding from him. He felt like he was left to his own resources, but the problem was too big for him to fix on his own.
He wrote, “How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day” (13:2)?
David felt like there was no one advising him but himself.
His heart was full of sorrow.
DAVID TRUSTS IN THE LORD’S SALVATION (13:3-6):
David’s solitude and hopelessness stimulated a prayerful spirit in him. He called out to God to consider his pleas and help him.
He asked God to give him life and to light up his eyes again.
David wrote, “I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation” (13:5).
He didn’t know exactly how or when God was going to help him, but he had faith the Lord had not forgotten him, even though he was being tempted to believe otherwise.
David concludes the Psalm by recalling how good God had been to him in the past. No doubt he used those memories to reinforce his faith that God would help him in the present distress.
APPLICATION:
There are at least two responses we can have to the perception that God is distancing Himself from us during trials.
(1) We can get angry at Him for not helping us, and we can resolve to do things by our own strength, perhaps declaring that He doesn’t exist.
(2) We can assume God is teaching us something by delaying our relief. Perhaps He is teaching us the folly of relying on our own strength, a lesson that is hard to learn when life is easy and trials are quickly resolved.
When David was trapped in his trial, He concluded that God’s salvation was his only way out, he didn’t conclude that he was going to go it alone and abandon God.
He learned his own weakness under the weight of his burden.
This needs to be our response when life is difficult and when we can’t escape our trials.
We should recognize our weakness and recognize our need for the strength of God.
It should also be noted that if God instantly pulled us out of every trial, we would have very few opportunities to mature and to grow into the image of Jesus.
God’s goal is not simply to give us the easiest and most comfortable life on earth.
God’s goal is to mature us as His children, the way a father tries to help his children mature.
Heb 12:6-11 - For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
