You Are My Rescue Story

Psalms 13

1 How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;

4 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

6 I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

I have been suffering some serious health issues over the past year or so. It has even, at times, kept me from writing this article every week. Not because I was feeling sorry for myself, although at times I have been, but because I was just too sick to do anything. Then 3 weeks ago, on top of it all, I suffered a mild stroke which left me unable to type with both hands. I have to admit I found myself quoting a verse from Psalms 13, “How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?”

Friends, I don’t know why the Lord put this word on my heart this morning but I suspect that there are several others that are asking the same questions I have been asking. How long will I have to tolerate this? How long will God let this happen in my life? How long before I get my breakthrough?

When David wrote these words, he sat in solitude in a cave. Saul was seeking his life. This is a man after God’s own heart was going through a time of suffering in his life that seemed like it would never end. Samuel had already anointed him King, but David was feeling that God had forgotten him. He was feeling that God had abandoned him.

I do not need to be reminded, nor do I need to remind you, that we are not promised an end to trouble? Sometimes we think that we have it all figured out. We’ll grow up, get married, have children, get a house, and live healthy and happily ever after. Then, it seems to us, life shows up. Sickness comes along and takes you for a ride, finances disappear, relationships disappoint, or your children turn their back on God. You are hurt, frustrated, discouraged, you feel alone, you’re angry, and you are starting to get bitter.

You have rebuked it, claimed it, cast it out, laid hands on it, you’ve done everything you know how to do, and still there is no breakthrough in sight. You’re at the breaking point and finally you say, “How long, O Lord, wilt thou forget me? Forever?”

We all have troubles in life, struggles, trials, especially those who truly serve God. It’s going to rain sometime in your life. “How Long?” David asks this question four times in this Psalm. Asking the same question four times shows the level of his frustration, and his intense desire for relief and deliverance.

David was a mighty man of God, a warrior, and a man after God’s own heart. But he was subject to the same despair that we feel when things were going awry in his life. Look how many times David lamented to the Lord for relief:

“My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long?” – Psalm 6:3

“O Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue my life from their ravages, my precious life from these lions.” – Psalm 35:17

“We are given no miraculous signs; no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be. 10 How long will the enemy mock you, O God? Will the foe revile your name forever? 11 Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!” – Psalm 74:9-11

“O LORD God Almighty, how long will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people?” – Psalm 80:4

"How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Selah” – Psalm 82:2

“How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?” – Psalm 89:4

“How long will the wicked, O LORD, how long will the wicked be jubilant?” – Psalm 94:3

“How long must your servant wait? When will you punish my persecutors?” – Psalm 119:84

Will You forget me forever? David had been promised a kingdom. He must have been asking, “Hey God, what happened? You brought me this far, have you now abandoned me?”

If we were looking at this for the first time we might say, "Come on David, Can God forget?" The truth is we’ve all said the same thing at some point in our life. People say this. Churches say this. Pastors say this, etc.

David asked how long God’s face would be hidden from him. This is a picture of hopelessness. He is accusing God of deliberately turning away. As if God were playing some cruel joke on him. He was accusing God of not caring about his suffering. The phrase, ‘hide your face from me’, denotes divine displeasure or even punishment.

He was doing the same thing that we do; David was wrestling with his thoughts. I can’t win. I can’t even help myself. There are questions in these times that we all ask: Does God Forget? Is He concerned? Does He know? Is God fair? Where is the justice? Why do the unsaved seem happy? 

What were some of the thoughts going through David’s head? What are the thoughts going through your heads? Why God? Your Word promises us security. How can we be secure when we are surrounded by such uncertainty?

David moves from Complaint to Intercession. His Complaints turn to prayer: Psalm 13:3, “Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;”

God wants our attention. Sometimes God strips us from our physical comfort so He can get our spiritual attention. David’s prayer was for understanding, for God’s enlightenment. This takes our eyes off ourselves to see what God sees. Only God can save. If He does not intervene, David will die. He wants to see God’s ways. God’s ways are higher. "Let me see your way."

David moves from Intercession to trust. Psalm 13:5, “But I trust in your unfailing love;”

"But" – even though; David remembers that he trusted before and found God faithful, he is going to trust again. Trust is not easy, it requires faith. We must remember, God rescued before, God never changes, He will not leave you in the pit, count your blessings, praise Him from the pit, and God will rescue again. The fruit of prayer, the natural result of praise, is confidence in God.

The Writer of Lamentations writes:

“Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.” – Lamentations 3:21-25

The Christian life is about trusting an unseen God to do the impossible. David moves from trust to praise. "My heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me."

David is thankful for salvation, even if nothing else. Notice that his situation did not change a bit, but he remembered, God has been good to me.

One thing that touches me more than anything, and the Lord knows this, is music. I have committed to God that I will not listen to the world’s music. I only listen to Christian music. God uses music to minister to me, sometimes in ways that nothing else can. This week while I was alone, feeling poorly and lamenting that God had not yet changed my current circumstances despite my many prayers a song came on the radio, “Rescue Story.”

There I was empty-handed

Crying out from the pit of my despair

There You were in the shadows

Holding out Your hand You met me there

And now where would I be without You?

Where would I be Jesus?

You were the voice in the desert

Calling me out in the dead of night

Fighting my battles for me

You are my rescue story

Lifted me up from the ashes

Carried my soul from death to life

Bringing me from glory to glory

You are my rescue story

You are, You are

You are my rescue story

You are, You are

You were writing the pages

Before I had a name

Before I needed grace, oh

Singing songs of redemption

'Cause every time I ran away

You were louder than my shame

And now where would I be without You?

Where would I be, Jesus?

As I listened to the words that I had heard before, but that never really captured my attention until that moment, tears began to roll down my face. I began to realize that everything God has already done for me was enough.

I am saved, baptized in the name of Jesus, and filled with the Holy Ghost. If God never moves on my behalf again, though I have faith that He will, He rescued me from the pit of Hell and saved me! And that’s enough, it’s more than enough, and more than I deserved!