If you visit Ridley Creek State Park to do some hiking, it’s natural to follow the well-trodden pathways through the woods and over the hills.  But sometimes it’s good to go off the beaten trail.

Same with reading Scripture.  Our trek through the Bible tends to follow a familiar route along well-known, much-loved verses.  Like Psalm 23 and Romans 8 and John 3 and Isaiah 53.  Such texts are glorious landmarks—no wonder the popular paths take us there.  But sometimes you need to go off the beaten trail.

Our Prayer Gathering group left familiar paths last Wednesday when we diverted into Psalm 13, a short but urgent prayer of the deserted soul.  David cries out, “How long, O Lord?  Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me?” What—God forgets David!?  No—and we know he doesn’t from verses that follow.  But in a time of wrenching pain and heaving sobs, we may feel utterly abandoned.

But isn’t it impolite to talk to God this way?  No—it’s just being honest.  Every genuine believer is stricken with pain at times, or even despair.  We don’t deny that God is “out there” (that’s why our lament is addressed to him), but we’re baffled at God’s methods or his timing or his silence.  Waiting is hard.  Waiting while suffering is a very heavy burden.  “How long, O Lord?”

Yet Psalm 13 goes on:  “Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death” (v 3).  In other words, “Help me or I’ll die!” Again, honest prayer.  Whatever’s going on in your distraught heart, speak it truthfully to the Father.

But there’s more:  “I have trusted in your steadfast love…” (v 5); God has “dealt bountifully with me” (v 6).  So David stops to remember God’s love in the past, and this fuels his hope for the future:  “My heart shall rejoice in your salvation” (v 5).  Friend, turmoil is not the end of the story.  But while we’re there, God is present (above-below-beside us), and the future is bright!