Psalm 13, How Lonnnng?

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

Psalm 13: 1-2, How long, how long??

How long, O LORD? 

Will you forget me forever? 

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts 

and every day have sorrow in my heart? 

How long will my enemy triumph over me?

The repetition of "How long" emphasizes David's despair.  David has prayed and God is silent.  David has wrestled with his thoughts and endure sorrow.  Yet the enemy seem stronger every day.  Why is God silent?

A friend asks about what to do when God is silent and does not answer.  I have no real answer beyond this psalm, for this too is David's lament.  How long must I wait?  How long must I wrestle with my thoughts?

Psalm 13: 3-4, Give light

Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. 

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;

 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," 

and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

Why does David talk about death in verses 3 & 4?  What does God gain  by keeping David alive?  (As in other psalms, I find a hint of negotiation.)

David wants to have energetic, eager eyes, lit up by life, instead of the dark unfocused eyes of death. And it is not just death that David fears, but that his enemies will take pleasure in David's death!

Psalm 13: 5-6, My trust, my heart, my songs

But I trust in your unfailing love; 

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

I will sing to the LORD, 

for he has been good to me.

Then there is resolution.  David will trust, rejoice, sing.  Note the contrast between the "foes" rejoicing in verse 4 and David's rejoicing in verse 5.  The enemy rejoices at David's defeat (death?) but David rejoices that God has saved him from defeat.

Some see a covenantal emphasis in "unfailing love", that this phrase echoes a promise of God to stay with David, a promise described in 2 Samuel 7.

Summary.  This psalm, like 11, is a classic psalm of supplication.  It begins with a plea and a complaint.  David is free to express himself to God, without focusing on "respect" or religious phrases. After the desperate plea, there is a set of verses in which David elaborates on his prayer and his despair. And then there is resolution.  In some psalms, David appears to get some type of direct reassurance that God has responded.  Here David may have simply made a decision.  He recalls God's promises and rejoices in them, moving on in trust.