Waiting Day 7 Look, Listen and Wait: Digging Deeper

Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
The Questions
Psalm 13
1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long will I store up anxious concerns within me,
agony in my mind every day?
How long will my enemy dominate me?
3 Consider me and answer, Lord my God.
Restore brightness to my eyes;
otherwise, I will sleep in death.
4 My enemy will say, “I have triumphed over him,”
and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I have trusted in your faithful love;
my heart will rejoice in your deliverance.
6 I will sing to the Lord
because he has treated me generously.
Original Intent
1) Why would God hide His face from David? (verse 1)
Psalm 13 is a lament of David, probably written while running away or hiding from Saul, the jealous King who sought to kill God’s chosen leader. (1 Samuel 21) David felt like God was far from him, hiding His face from him, since God wasn’t providing the deliverance and victory he had asked and waited for. Author David Guzik suggests, “No doubt, David had faced worse circumstances but had faced them more bravely when he had sensed the presence of God with him. Yet now, feeling distant from God, it did not take much to send David into despair.” Instead of delivering David from his troubles, God allowed David to wait, seek, and trust in His provision. According to author David C Egner, “When God withholds His hand, He wants us to look to His heart. In other words, He wants us to learn more about His goodness and His love, and to trust Him to do what is best.” Sometimes, God lets us wait so we can exercise our faith in Him. He wants us to trust in His promises and His Word even when our circumstances seem in opposition to God’s promises. The Lord longs to show us mercy and compassion, and promises we will be happy (blessed) when we wait on Him. (Isaiah 30:18) We can be like David and turn our lament into praise (Psalm 13:6) when we choose to patiently wait on God and remind ourselves of His faithfulness in every situation. (Psalm 119:90) At times, it may feel like God’s face is hidden, but He is always near to us (Psalm 145:18) even when He asks us to wait.
2) Why does David ask God to restore brightness to his eyes? (verse 3)
When David asks God to “Restore brightness to my eyes; otherwise, I will sleep in death” (verse 3), he could be asking God for several things. Author Albert Barnes suggests David alludes to “his exhaustion, arising from trouble and despair, as if he were about to die.” David was physically weary from being on the run from King Saul who was trying to kill him. (1 Samuel 19) The brightness had gone out of his eyes due to him searching tirelessly for God to interrupt his circumstances. He was watching for physical deliverance from the Lord while also watching out for his enemy, and his eyes were dimmed and weary as a result. He wanted his eyes to be revived by seeing God deliver him. David Guzik asserts that David also requested spiritual enlightenment because “David had the wisdom to know that though he felt powerful feelings, he wasn’t seeing reality. His vision was clouded and dark, so he cried out to God, “Enlighten my eyes.’” David knew that though his circumstances looked bad, he ultimately needed to see through the lens of God’s beloved, chosen and anointed King (1 Samuel 16) and not through the eyes of a hunted fugitive. He wanted God to restore brightness to his eyes and hope to his heart.
3) How had the Lord treated David generously? (verse 6)
In verse 6, David writes of the future when he will sing to the Lord because He has dealt generously with him. His current situation is nothing to sing about. He is being hunted down by an angry enemy! But David trusts in the faithful love of God and in His deliverance. He is so confident in God’s coming generosity and rescue from his dire straits that he willfully chooses to rejoice now. Because he has already trusted God’s faithful love, David is now free to rejoice! “But I have trusted in Your faithful love; my heart will rejoice in Your deliverance.” (verse 5) Author David C. McCasland notes, “In every struggle—mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual—our challenge is to move from the fear of being overwhelmed to the confidence that God has overcome.” David makes this movement from wondering where God is, to rejoicing in the deliverance he knows is coming. He goes so far as to call God generous for the deliverance He will provide. David believes God is faithful and trustworthy because He has delivered David generously in the past. David knows that though it feels like God is nowhere to be found, He is actually with David, preparing to act generously toward him. Psalm 84:11 tells us that God “is a sun and shield. The Lord grants favor and honor; he does not withhold the good from those who live with integrity.” David believes what he knows to be true about his generous, faithful God instead of the feelings invoked by his fearful situation. We can follow David’s example and trust that God will not withhold good from those who follow Him, regardless of our feelings or situation.
Everyday Application
1) Why would God hide His face from David? (verse 1)
A friend once asked how she could feel close to God again. The Scriptures seemed lifeless and every sermon seemed flat. Her devotional time was fruitless and her prayer time felt empty. She believed God was ignoring her. I encouraged her to keep seeking the Lord, but I wish I had known to direct her to David’s example in Psalm 13. David thought God was hiding His face from him, and he wondered how long God would forget him. (verse 1) According to author James Montgomery Boice, “The fact that we feel abandoned itself means that we really know God is there. To be abandoned you need somebody to be abandoned by. Because we are Christians and have been taught by God in the Scriptures, we know that God still loves us and will be faithful to us, regardless of our feelings.” David’s knowledge of God led him to recall God’s faithfulness. Soon, David’s lament about his circumstances became a plea for God to intervene. (Psalm 13:3) He stopped dwelling on the fear and despair he felt and focused on the God who saves. (Psalm 68:20) When David called out to God, he remembered His faithful God could be trusted. (verse 5) After all, God had already delivered David from a lion, a bear, and a giant. (1 Samuel 17:37) David knew that the God who saved him before could save him again. He was so confident in God’s faithfulness that his heart began to rejoice! (verse 5) His situation hadn’t changed, but his focus had. Instead of wondering why God had forgotten him, David remembered God was his refuge and his deliverer. He no longer saw God as the one hiding His face from him, but rather as the One who could be trusted in all things.
2) Why does David ask God to restore brightness to his eyes? (verse 3)
When asked how he is doing, one friend of mine always cheerfully answers, “I’m living the dream!” Another friend responds to my query with a lilting, “I am blessed and highly favored!” They remind me of the psalmist David, who writes passionately and honestly about his feelings in his songs to the Lord. While many of David’s psalms are praises to God, as seen in Psalm 8 and Psalm 145, David expresses his feelings of despair in Psalm 13:3 when he asks God to restore brightness to his eyes so he does not sleep in death. David is physically and emotionally exhausted from being chased by his enemy, and he lets God know that his eyes are failing and death seems near. He is frustrated that following God has led him to hiding out and fighting for his life. I have never been in such physical danger as David, but I have felt his frustration of doing all the right things only to see my situation get worse. It is hard to remember God’s goodness when our eyes are clouded by difficult circumstances. I want God to remove the obstacles for me, and sometimes He does. But many times, He simply tells me not to fear because He is God and He is with me to strengthen me, help me, and hold on to me. (Isaiah 41:10) If you feel like your eyes and your hope are dim today, call out to God to restore brightness to your eyes and hope to your heart. Even if He does not immediately change your situation, He will give you the strength to endure and peace to comfort you until you rejoice, like David did, in God’s deliverance. (verse 5)
3) How had the Lord treated David generously? (verse 6)
My mom used her sewing machine a lot when I was growing up to make clothes for my sister and I, to make clothes for our dolls, and to make gifts and crafts to sell and give away. So, it was a big deal when her sewing machine broke beyond repair. We didn’t have the money to get a new one, so we prayed for one. I colored a picture of a new machine and hung it above her sewing table as a reminder of what God was going to give her. I don’t remember how it happened (I think someone gifted us their old machine) but it wasn’t long before there was another sewing machine whirring away in the sewing room. I was happy, but not surprised. I was used to God providing when we prayed. I grew up believing God would provide all our needs (Philippians 4:19) and He did, though maybe not in the way I expected or in the time frame I had in mind. Like David, I knew God to be a generous God. (Psalm 13:6) Even in his fear and the chaos of his life on the run, David knew that when he called on God, God would come through. Author Marvin Williams states, “We all go through dark nights of the soul when we wonder if God has abandoned us. As with David, our aching can give way to joy when we approach God honestly, plead for help, and reaffirm our trust in a God whose love for us will never waver or change.” David had some close calls that made him question if God really had his back, but in every situation David was able to recall the goodness and faithfulness of God and the generous treatment he found at God’s hands.
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1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
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3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
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Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
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