“O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?

How long will you look the other way?

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?

Turn and answer me, O Lord my God!

Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.

Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!”

Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall.

But I trust in your unfailing love.

I will rejoice because you have rescued me.

I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭13‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Above are the words of David from Psalm 13. “O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?” Can you relate to David’s words? I know that for me there have been times where I’ve asked God this very same question. Waiting on God is difficult. David repeats the phrase “How long?” four times in this short Psalm. It shows us that the Psalmist had much anguish in his heart. This Psalm also shows us that we can bring our sorrow and our anguish and our impatience to God. He never gets tired of hearing from His children. Bring your desperation to Him. He hears our prayers.

The word BUT jumps off the page in this Psalm. David comes to a place in verse 5 where he seems to remember God’s character and to trust in God and in his mercy. When we find ourselves in a season of waiting, a season of desperation, let us remember God’s mercy. That God sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to rescue us from eternal torment and instead be saved and reunited with our heavenly Father. As David rejoices at the end of Psalm 13, let us also rejoice in the Lord! Even in times of waiting, the Lord is worthy of our praise. In every season He is worthy of our praise! We can never stop praising Him!