I mentioned in yesterday’s devotion about Psalm 13, so I thought I would follow up that devotion with a deeper look into this psalm.
First, please read Psalm 13 in its entirety. Yeah…all 6 verses. 🙂
The chapter is written by King David. Here we go:
If God truly forgot David, as he says in verse 1, then how was David able to say he trusted in God’s faithfulness? (v.5a)
In verse 1b David says that God hid His face from him, but in verse 6b he says that God has looked after him.
In verse 2a David wrestled with this thoughts and grief, yet in verse 6a he had a song in his heart.
In verse 2b David said his enemy was triumphing over him but in verse 5b he says his heart rejoices in God’s salvation.
There appears to be a discrepancy, or at best, David is bi-polar.
Here is how I see it: David’s feelings and reality were in conflict. He felt God had hidden, but he believed God was somehow good to him. He felt the pains of inner sorrow, but he believed he had every right to sing. Same with the other two.
Sometimes our feelings are too strong in how we decide. We are often anchored to our feelings. We need to believe. We need to not rely so much on our feelings and more on what we KNOW about God’s mercy, providence, love and grace.
Less feelings. More trust.
“Father, that is a constant struggle for many of us. May I live a life of faith not feelings.”
{My thanks to Randall Arthur’s book Wisdom Hunter for the insights into this passage. It is a fiction book I highly recommend. I cannot even tell you how many times I have read it and how many copies I have given away}.Â
Powerful, Bill! I never looked at Psalm 13 in this light. Thank you for opening my eyes.
You are more than welcome! I love sharing what I am learning.
My friend, you speak truth here. How often are our decisions, actions, reactions, motivations are driven by the flawed reality of our feelings. I am not denying the feelings are real. I am saying, as I believe you are, that feelings can taint our viewpoint. Good thoughts this morning.
Thanks Ryan. I do believe feelings can be deceptive.
As David illustrates so well here, we will have strong, and sometimes misleading, feelings, but we can’t let that change our perceptions of who God is and his faithfulness. Loved this perspective, Bill!
Strong and sometimes misleading. Great way to put it Martha. Thanks for the comment.