A companion psalm
A companion psalm
how long
How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD?
for ever?
how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?
how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and hear me, O LORD my God:
lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him;
and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
But I have trusted in thy mercy;
my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.
Six verses. Four "how long" questions in the first two. This is the rawest, most compressed expression of mid-refining grief in the Psalter. The psalmist is not questioning God's existence. He is questioning God's attention. "Wilt thou forget me for ever?" is not the prayer of a doubter. It is the prayer of someone who knows God is there and cannot understand why He seems to be looking away. And the turn in verse 5 - "But I have trusted" - is not a resolution. It is a decision made in the dark, without evidence, against the weight of the feeling. The person mid-refining needs to know that this prayer is in the Bible. God put it there. It is not blasphemy to ask how long.