‘How long, O YHWH? Will you forget me for ever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart by day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?'
The psalmist has been at prayer over his problems but feels that his prayers are unanswered, and that YHWH has forgotten him, and has hidden His face from him, and he does not know why. It almost feels to him as though it is going to be for ever, and yet he does not really think so, for he asks how much longer he must wait.
So he is puzzled and wants to know how long this is to go on. His thoughts within him are in turmoil, his heart is filled with sorrow, and the reason is because his enemy seems to triumph.
‘How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart by day?' The problem is such that it requires much thought during each day. It would seem that he had little to fear at night. This may suggest such a time as when David was hiding in the mountains which he and his men knew well. Saul would not dare seek him at night for he did not himself know the terrain. But once day came he pursued David with a vengeance, prompting David to constant use of his mind, and counsel from others, in order to avoid him.
This might well fit David when his controversy with Saul had been going on for some long time, when the searches were constant and he was beginning to feel that it would never end. It would fit any ruler who was being hard pressed by enemies in such a situation. It fits any who have a private enemy and feel that they are experiencing constant persecution and defeat in one way or another. It is a reminder of those times when God tests us by not responding immediately, so that we might learn to trust Him ‘in the dark'.
But in its own way it is also a cry of faith. The psalmist cannot believe that God can leave him in this situation for much longer. He is confident that at some stage God will act. But the question is, when?
How often we too might find ourselves in such a situation, and then we too must have the confidence that in the end God will act on our behalf.