Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19960128.htm

PSALMS: DIARIES OF GODLY OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Psalm Thirteen: Overcoming The WEAR Of Prolonged Mistreatment By Opponents
(Psalm 13:1-6)
  1. Introduction
    1. God's timetable differs from man's. The prophetic record is clear about that, for the prophets foresaw Messiah's suffering and ruling as a unit, not suffering followed millennia later by His exaltation!
    2. Similarly, when the godly are oppressed by foes who mistreat them, often God does not immediately release them from the persecution, but lets it ride for an extended time with great wear to the godly.
    3. Psalm thirteen faces this challenge as expressed by David with appropriate answers and advice:
  2. Overcoming The WEAR Of Prolonged Mistreatment By Opponents, Psalm 13:1-6.
    1. David authored this psalm probably during the end of Saul's reign when he was feeling the wear of constantly fleeing from Saul's pursuit for his life, Leupold, Exposition of the Psalms, p. 134. (1 Sam. 27)
    2. In this regard, David used Psalm 13:1-4 to express his frustration and mental fatigue over this challenge:
      1. In four questions, David asked God "How LONG" his trial would continue, Ps. 13:1a,1b,2a,2b.
        1. Question one dealt with his feeling forgotten by the Lord, Ps. 13:1a.
        2. Question two asked why God was hiding His face from David, an allusion to the absence of divine blessing given through the priest's blessing spoken to temple worshippers, Ps. 13:1b; Num. 6:23-26.
        3. Question three asked how David himself could hold up mentally to the pressure of always having to rethink his situation for a solution with only depressingly be at a loss for an answer, Ps. 13:2a.
        4. Question four asked how long David's persecutor would be exalted over him, Ps. 13:2b.
      2. David had some deep concerns for asking these questions as he elaborated in Ps. 13:3-4:
        1. He was worried that he would eventually get so worn out that he would die, Ps. 13:3. The Hebrew expression for "those that trouble me" in Ps. 13:4b better reads, "my harassing adversary" to picture the wear on David that this persecution through TIME had produced!
        2. He was bothered that his enemy would think he had defeated David and would thus rejoice, making the wickedness of the enemy that much worse since he would then be uninhibited, Ps. 13:4.
    3. The SOLUTION to David's plight was found in his focus on God's INFINITELY LOYAL love which OUTLASTED the harassing persecution of David's opponent, Ps. 13:5-6:
      1. The Hebrew personal pronoun "I" in verse 5's opening phrase is uncommonly written separate from the verb, and it is before its verb in the emphatic position, meaning we translate the phrase: "But (as for ME) I trust in Your loyal love" Thus, David's solution is a personal commitment of faith in God.
      2. The object of David's faith was God's chesed, or "loyal love", Ps. 13:5a (Theol. Wordbook of the O.T., v. I, p. 305-307. The very concept of loyalty conveys a commitment in TIME so that God's loyalty of loving commitment to David OUTLASTS and OVERCOMES the efforts of David's persecutor.
      3. As a result of this faith, David could afford to rejoice in God's salvation from his afflicted state as he knew that God will achieve His resolution to the matter to David's welfare no matter what his enemy did to him, nor how it wore on David! (Ps. 13:5b)
      4. In anticipation of God's blessing of rescuing David this way, David, in faith, decided to sing to the Lord for dealing bountifully with him, Ps. 13:6.
Lesson: (1) Succumbing to a persecutor arises from relying on one's OWN strength to offset the PERSECUTOR'S strength that risks the victim's LOSING and going to a premature grave if his PERSECUTOR is stronger than he is! (2) Victory arises by the victim's not relying on his own strength, but TRUSTING God's INFINITELY LOYAL COMMITMENT to his destiny so that GOD is pitted against the PERSECUTOR! In THAT case, though still under persecution, the victim can ANTICIPATE relief and victory EVEN THOUG H IT HASN'T YET OCCURRED.

Application: We need to leave the battle of being persecuted for GOD to fight, for "the battle is not yours, but God's," cf. 2 Chronicles 20:15c. Thus, (1) commit the challenge to God, (2) dwell on His loyal love as expressed in Scripture regarding the situation and (3) rejoice though still under persecution in anticipation of divine deliverance.