Psalm 13

To the chief musician,

A Psalm of David.

1 How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever?

How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

2 How long shall I take counsel in my own 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.

JW: David complains to God - ver. 1, 2; prays for help - ver. 3, 4; rejoices in hope - ver. 5, 6.

[On verse 2:] 'How long' - shall I be in such perplexities, not knowing what course to take.

[On verse 3:] 'Lighten' - revive and comfort, and deliver me from the darkness of death, which is ready to come upon me.

[On verse 6:] 'I will sing' - It is a common thing for David and other prophets to speak of future deliverances as if they were already come, that so they may signify both the infallible certainty of the thing, and their firm assurance thereof.

I really like the way Wesley puts that: "David...speak(s) of future deliverances as if they were already come." Doesn't that express a great truth about this age in which we live. The age of the resurrection. Drew Causey had a great post yesterday, which you can see here, where he pointed out the power for today that 'Christ is risen!' That conveys some added significance for today than just 'Christ was raised!' Those statements aren't opposed because the former is a statement of the continuation of the latter. That Christ is risen (and ascended) is more than just a promise for our future deliverance, it gives us hope even for today, an ability to somehow participate in a foretaste of what is to come.

In that sense we can speak of our future deliverance as if it has already come because in some sense it has! And the guarantee of that, or the down-payment of sorts, is that Christ resides in us by the Holy Spirit. We have this 'good infection' that is a foretaste of the resurrected life. We still will die. There are times when we sense that God has forgotten us and that our enemies are exalted above us. But we can rejoice today, even today, in God's salvation and sing of the favor that God has poured upon us, his people. Let us live in the power of the resurrection, even as we await its final consummation!