Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Psalm 13, the first psalm
that we read in our text, the first two verses. Psalm 13 and
verse 1 and 2. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? 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? Psalm 13 verses 1 and 2. And you would have noticed in
this texts that there are four times that the psalmist David
asked this question, how long? Now, throughout the word of God,
there's some 53 times that this question is asked. Sometimes
it is the Lord asking his people when they are continuing in sin
and walking in wayward ways, he asked them how long Will you
continue in idolatry? How long will you walk in these
ways? Sometimes it is the word of the
Lord to the likes of Pharaoh, that how long will thou not let
my people go? And then the words of Pharaoh's
servants to Pharaoh, where they say to him about Moses, how long
shall this man be a snare unto us? There's many times that in
the word of God, this question is asked. And there's an implying
that often there is not an answer. There's not a knowing how long
Actually, something will take place, how long it will go on. But there's the indication that
this has gone on for a while, and it seems to be going on and
on. And the question then arises,
how long? It might be that we are walking
in a path, like with the psalmist here, and Our question is, how
long shall this continue? How long shall we walk in this
path? We do not know how long, but
the very asking of the Lord implies there is a set time, and the
Lord does know what that set time is. He is in control, and
there is a plan, there is a purpose, It is not just chance, there
is a time and a place for everything. But this question often arises
for the people of God. We think of poor Job in his affliction. Surprisingly, he doesn't ask
of the Lord how long, but four times he asks his friends, how
long? were they going to speak those
evil words against him, those words that instead of comforting
were a sorrow and distress to him. So in thinking of this word
and thinking of Psalm 74 where they there complained and said
that there is none among us to know how long at all, we think
just by way of introduction, those great length of times that
the Church of God is to know. And the first is the expectation
of the coming of the Messiah, the promised seed, the woman
that should bruise the serpent's head. Now we know that from the
promise that was first given in Genesis 3 verse 15, that there
is some 4,000 years that went by before our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ, came. And the Church of God, right
through that time, many times, they asked how long. They knew
there was going to be a coming. God would bring about that promise. He would visit His people. He
would save them. And we know from the Gospel according
to Matthew chapter 1, the beautiful order that God had. From Abraham
to David, 14 generations. From David to the carrying away
into Babylon, 14 generations. From the carrying away into Babylon
unto Christ, 14 generations. a perfect order, God ordering
it, but that was hidden from the Church of God. They didn't
know those times. It wasn't shown to them when
the Lord would come. Types, shadows, things that they
went through, but the time was not yet. But the time did come,
and the great blessing of the New Testament Church Today, as
we meet, as the Gospel is preached to us, and that we might be feeling
in our path how long, we are reminded of the Old Testament
Church, waiting and waiting, but the Lord did come. He did
appear to them. The Lord Jesus Christ did appear. He has fulfilled the Scriptures.
He has suffered, He has bled, He has died, He has risen again,
and He has ascended up into heaven. Salvation has been brought about
through the promised Lamb of God. And so all of that expectation
of the Old Testament church, we read in Hebrews 11, that they
all lived and they died by faith, having not received the promises,
but saw them afar off and embraced them. They saw the promises of
Christ. And Paul says that they without
us, that they should not be blessed, that we should be the ones that
have seen that promise realized. They look forward to Christ by
faith. We look back to Christ, what
he has done by faith. and it is the Word of God that
declares to us and tells us how salvation was accomplished through
our Lord Jesus Christ upon Calvary's tree, His blood shed, the way
of salvation, the way of escape from the wrath to come brought
about through the sufferings of the Lamb of God. It is vital
for us to realise what was fulfilled and what was done at that time.
The land slain from the foundation of the world, God's promises
fulfilled and all the promises of God, a yay and amen in Christ
Jesus. In bringing his beloved son into
the world, he has sealed every blessing for the Church of God. Satan is cast down, The accuser
of the brethren is cast down, who accused them night and day. Why are you in heaven? Why are
you saved? The blood has not been shed.
The payment has not been paid. It is only on promise that you
are there. It is only on promise that you
have been saved. But now when Christ died, the
payment is made. It's like if we were to go into
a shop And we said to the shopkeeper that we would like this and this,
and we take them home, and we say we'll pay you at a later
date. And people could say to us, you've
got those goods in your home, but you haven't paid for them.
It's all on promise. You're promised you'll pay for
it. And maybe it was food you had, and you ate the food, and
the food was gone. But it hadn't been paid for.
But it was all promised that it would be. But as soon as that
debt was paid, as soon as it was paid, then no one could accuse
you anymore. The debt was paid. And so with
our Lord Jesus Christ. And again, in these Gospel days,
we proclaim mercy, forgiveness and pardon through our Lord Jesus
Christ on a debt already paid, a work already finished, an empty
tomb, The Risen Saviour. So the Church of God saying,
how long? We may know that God keeps His
promises, and though He may long delay, though the time be long,
yet He will come and He will fulfil in every particular, in
every way. And so the Old Testament Church
was then looking for Christ's first coming. But when Christ
ascended up into heaven, then the angels came and spoke to
the disciples, and they said that, Why stand ye gazing up
into heaven? He that ascended up into heaven
shall come in like manner. And we are told that he shall
come in the clouds with power and great glory. And at a time
and an hour when we look not for the No man knoweth that day,
nor the hour, no, not the angels in heaven, not the Son, that
is a mystery to us, but the Father only. But that He will come is
certain, but the time of His coming is not yet known. But
the New Testament Church, then, is to wait for His Son from heaven. The Thessalonian Church They
were blessed with the Word, not in word only, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power. And they became followers of
the Lord and of us. And they were called to wait
for His Son from heaven. Well, some of them took it very
literally. They stopped working. They were
busybodies. They thought the Lord would come
any time. And the apostle had to explain
to them that they had to continue working, occupying till he came,
and that he would come. And we are still got to redeem
the time, serving our day and our generation, awaiting that
time that the Lord will come with power and with great glory. Very different to how he came
before as a babe, He shall come with great power. Every eye shall
see Him. He shall come in the clouds and
shall herald the end of the world. The dead in Christ shall rise
first. We which are alive shall be caught
up with them in the air. He shall come with all of His
saints. And the Church of God is all the time asking this as
well, how long? They're watching the signs, watching
the things that are happening. Men shall be lovers of pleasure
more than lovers of God. Yes, we see that today. There
shall be a famine, not of bread and of water, but of hearing
the words of the Lord. We see that today. You can go
into many churches in this land and the Bible won't be opened.
It won't be read. Or read very little and hardly
preached from. Or it may be that it is read,
but it is not. heard with power, heard with
authority, heard in the soul. And we see these days in which
we live, when men have no knowledge of the things of God. There's
much running to and fro, knowledge shall increase, and it has in
the last hundred years. Knowledge has increased so much,
you go back 120 years, And we were still using horse and cart
for motive around, or just the cars starting to just arrive,
and what has advanced in computers, in cars, in aeroplanes, in all
manner of things. Man has been given wisdom for
that, but he has not been given wisdom of the things of God except
through the preaching of the Word, except through the work
of the Holy Spirit. He has pleased God through the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. God, in His
wisdom, hath kept that wisdom from man, except it be revealed
from heaven. And we see this great difference
between natural wisdom and spiritual wisdom, and that which is attained
by man, and that which can only be attained by the gift of God. By grace ye are saved. Through
faith and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. So the Church of God then is
waiting for the Lord to come and they're asking this question.
The question asked four times in our text, how long? How long
will it be? And their expectation, why they
ask it, is their longing for that time. Paul, he says that
I might depart and be with Christ, which is far better There's that
desire for a heavenly country. There's a wanting to be free
from the body of sin and death, and to be with the Lord. Well,
those are those two great times at which the Church of God is
asking, how long? But you and I, in walking it
out like the Psalmist David here, we'll have those times in our
life as well, that we are asking, how long? And in connection with
this question, how long, there's four things that are set forth
in our text. I'll just name the points and
then we'll go back over them. The first is the Lord remembering
his people. It's put in the opposite way
here. How long will thou forget me
that the Lord remembers his people? Secondly, the Lord showing his
face to his people, the question, how long wilt thou hide thy face
from me? But it implies this, the Lord
has shown his face to David, and he does show his face to
his people. The third is inward counsel and
heart sorrow. God's people know what goes on
in their hearts, the things that they question, the things that
they feel. And then fourthly, there's being
under the hand of the enemy. We are in an enemy's land, but
David says, how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? So firstly, the Lord remembering
his people. The psalmist says, how long wilt
thou forget me? But the Lord really doesn't forget
his people. He always remembers them. He
says, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. The church
in Isaiah 49 says that the Lord hath forgotten me. Zion said,
the Lord hath forgotten me. The Lord says, can a woman forget
her sucking child, the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget. Yet will I not forget thee, I
have graven thee upon the palms of mine hands, thy walls are
ever before me. But the Church, like David here,
does feel at times that the Lord has forgotten them. Instead of
helping them, appearing for them, He seems to be silent, and not
appearing for their help. When we think of the children
of Israel in Egypt and Pharaoh was making their tasks very hard,
their grievous burdens, we read that the Lord looked upon their
affliction and he had respect unto them. He remembered them.
He recognized them as his people. And what did he do first? He
sent Moses. Moses was born. that 40 years,
Moses was in Pharaoh's household. What was Israel thinking about
then? 40 years is a long time. And
then Moses had to go into the desert another 40 years. Were they still thinking, how
long? How long are we in Egypt? Some
of them may have remembered God's promise to Abraham. Thy seed
shall be a stranger in a strange land, and they shall be afflicted
four hundred years. And then I shall judge that nation
and bring them out again. Some of them may have remembered
that scripture. They may have been looking for
that time, the same as Daniel was remembering seventy years
in Babylon, looking for that time to be finished. Those who
know the Scriptures often can have a comfort and a joy where
the Lord has set a time, has set a bound, but sometimes it
is not clear and sometimes it is not really realized or even
told the people of God. So the children of Israel had
to walk through that time. And then even when Moses was
sent, they must have wondered as well, nine wonders Egypt just
about destroyed and still we are not let go. And yes, Pharaoh's
servants saying, how long shall this man be a snare to us? Moses a snare to us. But the
children of Israel must have thought, how long before we will
be let go, before we have served the Lord? And yet we know the
Lord did appear and it was with the shedding of blood, the Passover,
That is what released them, that is what set them free, that is
what closed that period of bondage and captivity. May we always
remember that. It is the setting free, it is
through the precious blood of Christ that releases the people
of God, that brings an end to their captivity. We think of
how it was with dear Jacob. The Lord did not tell Jacob that
his son Joseph was still alive. And for 20 or so years, he thought
he was dead. Wouldn't have prayed for him,
wouldn't have thought of him that he'd ever see him again.
He said to Joseph later on, I thought not to have seen thy face, yet
God has shown me thy seat. And yet he walked through that
time, not knowing even, and he might say, He might have felt
there how long, not how long till I see Joseph, but how long
that God was going to be with this cloud over him. It must have been a very dark
period in his life, in which scripture is silent, and yet
he comes to nearly the end of that period, and he says, all
these things are against me. But how close he was to that
time that he was going to see that they weren't against him
at all. You might feel like that too.
Some matter. The Lord doesn't seem to be appearing
at all, silent to you. So mysterious, so perplexing. And you might say, how long?
But the Lord knows how long. those afflictions shall pass
upon us. We think of Joseph himself in
prison. He interpreted the dreams of
the butler and the baker, and he pleaded and he asked the butler
that when he was restored to his office, that he would remember
him, but he didn't remember him. And Joseph must have thought,
how long? How long am I going to be in this prison? How long
before the dreams that God gave me are going to be fulfilled?
But they were fulfilled. And very suddenly, very quickly,
it must have been a very sudden event where Joseph was called
for, shaved himself, dressed, and stood before Pharaoh. Very
little warning at all of that. To the Lord remembering his people,
appearing for them, helping them, Maybe in Providence, waiting
for the Lord to appear. Maybe in a job or a home or a
place of worship. Maybe in the soul that is brought
into concern and they feel themselves a sinner and feel under the law
and under condemnation and they wonder how long they are going
to be in this low place and the Lord seeming to forget them.
And they might remember and plead the word that ask and it shall
be given you, seek and you shall find. And they might say, but
we have asked and we have sought, but we haven't found. And how
long shall I go on like this before the Lord appears? And this cry of the psalmist,
how long will thou forget me? Do you feel, do I feel forgotten
of the Lord? Here is David, a man after God's
own heart, and he is saying this, you are not alone. You walk with
the psalmist, David, in this word. So the first is, how long
in relating to the Lord, remembering his people, he seems to have
forgotten them. We know he doesn't, but the Lord
will remember and visit his people And we read, like with Noah,
he had a year in the ark. And then we read, the Lord remembered
Noah. And what it meant was the time
of the going out of the ark was coming to pass. When he remembers
a people, it brings to a close, like the 70 years in bondage,
or David running away from Absalom, or fleeing from Saul and brought
to the kingdom. it is spoken of in that way.
The Lord remembers his people to appear for them, do them good,
deliver them and answer their prayers. May we still pray and
may you be encouraged still to pray, Lord remember me. Remember how quickly the answer
was given by the dying thief, Lord remember me. when thou comest
into thy kingdom. They had an immediate answer,
and very soon he was with Christ. This day shalt thou be with me
in paradise. A very encouragement for us to
continue to ask the Lord to remember us. The second thing is the Lord
showing his face to his people. David says, how long wilt thou
hide thy face from me? Now we would remember when Adam
and Eve were driven from the garden, that there was that separation
between them and God, and the separation between God and man. We know what it is if someone
is angry with us, if someone is not favourable to us, and
they give us the back, not the front. They give us a cold shoulder,
they turn around and they look away from us. And that's very
different than someone looking at us and they smile at us, and
they're pleased to see us. It's a very big difference. And
when we can see someone's face, then we can read their countenance,
we can read whether they are pleased or angry. But when they're
hidden from us, when they're looking away from us, We cannot
discern that. And this is what the psalmist
is meaning here. In his day, he couldn't literally
see the Lord like the disciples did on the road. He couldn't look in the face
of our Lord the same as we can't. But we can use the same language
in this way to be able to discern the Lord's face towards us. very
much is in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is in Him that
God looks with pleasure upon His people, joy upon His people,
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is in the Lord that we
can look upon God and not perish. Remember, Manoah and his wife,
Samson's parents, and when the angel appeared to them, And Manoah
realized that they had seen an angel of the Lord. He said to
his wife that we shall die because we have seen God. But his wife
said that if the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have
shown us such things as these, nor would he have told us such
things as this at this time. And she was able to see a reason
why they would not perish. Of course, this was one of the
pre-incarnation appearances of our Lord Jesus Christ. He asked
after his name, wherefore askest thou after my name, seeing it
is secret. And that's what makes it so beautiful. In Matthew 1, his name shall
be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. It is in the face of Jesus that
we can look upon the face of God and not die, not perish. It is in Christ alone that we
have salvation. And so when the psalmist says,
how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? What we want is the
Lord to reveal his face in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the gospel,
as a smile, as a way of salvation, in joy and pleasure, the expectation of heaven that
we shall behold his face with joy, that we shall see him as
he is without a veil between, Now it is he sees us, but then
we shall see him. And here below we want the visits
of his face, we want his blessings, we want the sweet savour of Christ,
the joy of the Lord, the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich,
that addeth no sorrow with it. When we see Christ upon the page
of scripture, when we see him like the eunuch did in Isaiah
53, It is at those times that then we have joy and gladness.
Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. With
them, it was literally. But with us, we may see the Lord
through the lattice of his word. And that then makes us glad.
You might be longing for that, waiting for that, to see the
Lord through his word, to shine forth. And your question might
be with David, how long? will they hide thy face from
thee. Oh, the Lord knows when he will
favour his people, there is a set time to favour Zion and to visit
them and to bless them. The third how long question is
concerning the inward counsel and heart sorrow. In verse two,
we have how long Shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow
in my heart daily? It is a privilege of God's people
to ask counsel at the Lord, that we walk in the light that He
gives us and the wisdom that He gives us. But it's a sad thing
when we feel that the heavens are as brass, they are shut up,
And all we are doing is asking counsel at our own heart. We
are reasoning things through. We are going through matters. We read in the multitude of counsellors
there is safety and we may indeed ask other men their counsel and
their advice. But the blessed thing is when
we have the Lord as our counsellor. Now the children of Israel, when
they had come into the promised land, had the Gibeonites come
to them, making out they came from a far-off country. They
had old worn-out shoes and old worn-out garments, and they said,
thy servants have come from a far country, make a covenant with
us, make an agreement with us. And we read, the children of
Israel asked not counsel at the Lord, but took of their vectuals. They saw what they thought was
a clear-cut case, and they made their decision on that, and then
they proved deceived. They couldn't destroy the Gebionites. They ended up their servants.
The Gebionites served the children of Israel, but they couldn't
destroy them. And it's a lesson to us, especially
when things seem very easy for us to decide ourselves. to ask
counsel of the Lord. But David pictures here that
day by day, he is going over things in his own heart. And
the more he looked within, the more sorrow he had. And that
might be where you are, where I am. The more we look within,
the more sorrow we have, the more low we get, the more discouraged
we get, the more confused we get. The help for the people
of God is looking out of self and looking unto the Lord and
seeking that counsel and wisdom from Him, not in ourselves. And really, David's how long? It is not a comfortable place
that he is in. As if he would say, I don't want
to remain in this place of sorrow in my heart daily, and constantly
just having my own self to ask counsel and wisdom of. I want
to have that joy of the Lord speaking to me. Thou shalt hear
a word behind thee saying, this is the way. Walk ye in it when
ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the left. David
would say, I want to walk in the way of Psalm 32. I will instruct thee and teach
thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine
eye. That is the way that I want to
walk in. I want to hear thy voice, that
still, small voice. And then there is that gladness. You know, the children of Israel
through the wilderness had the fiery, cloudy pillar to go before
them all their journey through. They had the Lord to counsel
them, to show them the way that they should go. And when that
is withdrawn, I hope that we also are sorrowful. We don't
want to remain like that. We want the Lord as to be a lamp
unto our feet, a light unto our path. When he putteth forth his
sheep, he goeth before them. And the Lord is our counsellor. He is the one that advises us.
Well, that is the third. Then we have the fourth. How
long? And this is concerning the enemy. exulting over him. David had
that in the time that Saul was pursuing him, some seven years. He had that time when Absalom
was pursuing after him. He had the adversaries that were
in his own camp, even his own family, the sons of Zeruiah,
which were a burden to him. Sometimes, like with the children
of Israel in Babylon, the Lord had it that the enemies of his
people ruled over them, and they seemed to have the mastery over
them. And the question, how long, may
rightly be asked. God's children have enemies.
Satan is their adversary. They have their own wicked, evil
heart. They have the world as well. all these adversaries, there
are many adversaries. And so the people of God prove
so. And so the question, how long
shall mine enemy be exalted over me? In a way, it's a great blessing
where we are brought to feel and know that Satan is our enemy. Remember when I was young, one
of our hymns, Hymn 76, the words of that hymn says, at peace with
hell, with God at war, in sin's dark maze we wander far. And I asked my mother, I said,
this is written wrong, this hymn is wrong. Surely it should be,
at peace with God, with hell at war, that's the way it should
be. But I didn't know my own heart then as a child. uncalled. I didn't know how in line with
Satan I was and against God. Man goeth forth from the womb
speaking lies. We are at peace with hell. But
when God starts to work in a soul, when that soul first begins to
pray, then Satan knows he's in danger of losing that person.
Then he will attack them. Remember when Christ was baptized,
The first thing that happened, he was driven into the desert
by the spirit to be tempted of the devil. And the devil will
try and attack the people of God. When they side with the
Lord, when the Lord begins with them, then he becomes their enemy. Peter, he warns of your adversary,
the devil, that goeth about seeking whom he may devour. And sometimes it seems, like
the time with dear Peter, that he denied his Lord and Master
three times, that Satan is in control and that he is over the
people of God. But the Lord prayed for Peter.
He said, I prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. Sin shall
not have dominion over you, for you're not under the law, you're
under grace. And that is a great mercy and
blessing for the people of God. They may have enemies, they may
at times seem to be exalted over us, but there is a set time for
that, a deliverance, the same as the children of Israel out
of Egypt, the same as the children of Israel out of Babylonian captivity,
there is a deliverance, there is a setting free. So may these
how longs of our texts, these four of them, may they come where
we are in our life, our experience, be encouragement to us, a help
to us, that this is the inspired word of God, but it's also the
experience of David himself. And when we have long, long trials,
I remember one of the Lord's dear servants came, preached
here many years ago, and he said, the Lord may give us a long trial
of many, many years from the beginning to the end of it. But
what He'll do in the middle of that time, He will give us a
short trial, maybe an affliction, and He'll bring us into it, and
He'll bring us out of it, to show us that He is with us, that
He is our God, that He is able to deliver, to encourage and
help us in that long-running trial that may last many, many
years. So if this is your cry, your
question this morning, may it be a help as you walk with David
here with this question, how long? The Lord add His blessing.