Episode Details

Psalm 13: The Longest Question

Four times in two verses David asks the same question — how long? — and the repetition is not poetic ornamentation. It is the sound of a man who has been waiting so long that the waiting itself has become a kind of suffering. How long wilt thou forget me? Forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face? The questions pile up like stones on a chest. And yet this is not the prayer of a man who has stopped believing; it is the prayer of a man who believes so fiercely that the silence is unbearable. A true atheist would not bother asking how long. Only love asks that question. And then comes the turn — one of the most breathtaking pivots in all of Scripture. Without any indication that circumstances have changed, without any divine voice breaking through, David simply declares: I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice. I will sing. The darkness has not lifted, but David has decided to sing in it. Not because he feels like singing, but because he knows Whom he is singing to.

00:00 How Long, O Lord? Forever?
00:12 Sorrow in My Heart Daily
00:22 Lighten Mine Eyes
00:30 Lest Mine Enemy Say, I Have Prevailed
00:38 But I Have Trusted in Thy Mercy
00:46 I Will Sing Unto the Lord