NOTES for Psa 13

There are difficult times when it begins to seem that the Lord has turned away. Then everything around us sinks into darkness, and in such a state of soul the psalmist’s questions—“How long?”—may seem rhetorical, addressed to emptiness. Yet the psalm’s author is not casting words to the wind: his questions spring directly from a trust in the Lord that remains unshaken.

Despite all the calamities he endures, hope in God is alive in the psalmist’s soul. It is precisely trust in His mercy that guarantees he cannot be defeated. Not only help in the face of enemies but life itself comes from God, as shown by the plea that the light proceeding from Him drive away the sleep of death. This plea should hardly be understood as referring only to physical death: the sleep of a soul enveloped in sinfulness can also be called deadly. Nor are the enemies only armed adversaries; they are also our own sins.

Enemies may press their attack for a long time and with success, and they may overcome anyone who has fallen away from God. But no one can defeat God Himself, who invisibly fights for what is right.