Honesty and hope

 This week's study is on Psalm 13:

How long, Lord, will you continue to ignore me?
How long will you pay no attention to me?
How long must I worry,
and suffer in broad daylight?
How long will my enemy gloat over me?
Look at me! Answer me, O Lord my God!
Revive me, or else I will die.
Then my enemy will say, “I have defeated him.”
Then my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
But I trust in your faithfulness.
May I rejoice because of your deliverance.
I will sing praises to the Lord
when he vindicates me.

This is a Psalm from King David. He seems impatient and desperate. He's calling God out, accusing Him of ignoring him, demanding that He answer him and acknowledge his suffering.

We don't really think of King David as being like that. He's known as a man with strong faith, a man after God's own heart. And here he is, freaking out, almost panicking. He's like "Look, I'm going to die if you don't intervene!"

But after letting loose with what he thinks, David reconfirms his faith. He trusts that God will be faithful, that he will arrive before it is too late. He visualizes a better outcome.

This is a good model for our prayers. When it seems like God isn't listening, or when we are overwhelmed, we should be honest the way King David was honest. But we should also default to having faith. No matter what our emotions are saying, we should believe that God will come through for us.

King David's hope leads him to make plans to worship God when things work out. We should be the same way. When we encounter difficult times, we should trust in God's faithfulness and look to him to see what he will do.