Reflecting on Suffering and Distress in the Psalms
How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
~Psalm 13:1 (CSB)
I let my teabag steep too long. The tea is bitter now as I sip its warmth, but I swallow it down. It is not what I intended when I prepared this cup a few minutes ago. It is not what I expected. I found it ironic that I was tasting this bitterness as I was preparing to write on things that cause pain and bring resentment.
How often do we cry out, this isn't what I wanted? God, why is this happening? I could list out any number of disappointments, trials, distresses, and agonies that accompany us through life. For now, though, I'll just say we all have something that causes us pain, whether physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. We all have something. These pains can bind us in chains so tight we cannot move and feel like we are suffocating. Our trials can bring on bitterness and resentment so strong that we become a mere shadow of who we once were. Our distress can cause us to rail at God, at others, and at ourselves.
The Psalms are filled with people crying out to God in the midst of pain and suffering. Some of it they brought on themselves through sin, rebellion, and disobedience. Still, some suffering comes from the sin, rebellion, and disobedience of others, and some pain comes from the fact that we live in a broken world. Regardless of the source, pain and suffering exist in our world and will impact us all. Our one response, regardless of what caused our pain and suffering in the first place, is found in the Psalms.
How long, LORD? (Psalm 13:1a)
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? (Psalm 22:1a)
LORD, I appeal to you. (Psalm 25:1)
LORD, I seek refuge in you…(Psalm 31:1a)
Be gracious to me, God…(Psalm 56:1a)
I am at rest in God alone…(Psalm 62:1a)
LORD, God of my salvation, I cry out before you day and night. (Psalm 88:1)
Do you see it, the common pattern? Each time the psalmists cried out to God. It didn’t matter if they brought the pain on themselves through sinful or foolish choices. It didn’t matter if their pain was caused by someone else. They cried out to God.
Take a good hard look at your own life. Do you cry out to God in the midst of your pain and distress? Do you keep crying out to God long after you expected an answer that has yet to come? I will be completely honest; I do not.
In my preparation for the series "Reflecting on the Psalms," I read through the book of Psalms, and one-third of the way through it, I had a realization. Perhaps, if I had cried out and kept crying out, like the psalmists, I would not be dealing with the things I am today. I often stay silent, stuff the emotions, and pick myself up by the bootstraps. The result? Nothing good. This environment is perfectly designed to grow resentment, anger, frustration, depression, anxiety, and hopelessness. It is not a place of abundant living, peace beyond understanding, or the hope of God. It is not a place of healing or wholeness.
However, in the middle of this mess, I turn to Psalm 13 (you may read the Psalm in its entirety below). Calling it a favorite is a bit of a misnomer, but it perfectly explains what goes on in my heart and mind during my darkest times. I have read and meditated on this Psalm countless times, but as I was preparing to write this post, I noticed something for the first time. The psalmist asks the question, "How long?" four times in the first stanza. In the second stanza, the writer pleads with God to answer him; otherwise, his enemies will triumph over him. It is the third stanza that I would like to draw your attention to, though. It starts with the word "but." "But" is a conjunction; it is used to connect ideas. Specifically, the word "but" relates ideas by indicating that they oppose one another.
“But I have trusted in your faithful love; my heart will rejoice in your deliverance.”
We start Psalm 13 with a refrain: How long will you forget me, God? How long will I endure this agony in my mind every day? How long will my enemy triumph over me? (my paraphrase, Psalm 13:1-2). We end Psalm 13 with a declaration of trust and proclamation of praise. “But I have trusted in your faithful love…I will sing to the LORD” (Psalm 13:5a,6a).
Do you start by crying out to God, but then remind yourself of His faithfulness at the end? Do I?
Let me end with a brief comment on the word “suffering.” “Suffer” shares a root with the word “fertile.” “Fer” means “to bear.” To be fertile is to bear fruit, to be abundant. To suffer is to undergo something, or, put another way, to under-bear fruit. I never think of suffering as a fruitful, abundant time; in fact, I tend to see suffering as a fruitless drought. Gospel-writer John reminds us of Jesus’ words, “Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me” (John 15:4). Remain in Jesus by continuing to talk to Him. Cry out to God and cling to Him during every trial, every pain, every distress, every bit of suffering you endure. He takes our deserts, our times of suffering and under-bearing and turns them into fruit and more blessing than we could ever imagine.
So ask yourself, are you crying out to God in your pain? Are you praising His faithfulness? Are you singing "to the LORD because he has treated [you] generously" (Psalm 13:6)? Are you clinging to the only One who can take your pain and bring blessing out of it?
Psalm 13 (CSB)
How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long will I store up anxious concerns within me,
agony in my mind every day?
How long will my enemy dominate me?
Consider me and answer, Lord my God.
Restore brightness to my eyes;
otherwise, I will sleep in death.
My enemy will say, “I have triumphed over him,”
and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
But I have trusted in your faithful love;
my heart will rejoice in your deliverance.
I will sing to the Lord
because he has treated me generously.(bolded emphasis mine)
Further Reading
If you would like to read more Psalms that discuss suffering and distress, I suggest the following.
Psalm 13- A Plea for Deliverance
Psalm 22- From Suffering to Praise
Psalm 25- Dependence on the Lord
Psalm 31- A Plea for Protection
Psalm 56- A Call for God’s Protection
Psalm 62- Trust in God Alone
Psalm 88- A Cry of Desperation
Psalm 142- A Cry of Distress
Psalm 143- A Cry for Help
