Commentary - Psalm 13:5-6

Bird's-eye view

Psalm 13 is a masterclass in biblical lament, but it does not end there. The first four verses are a raw cry of dereliction, with the psalmist asking "How long?" four separate times. He feels forgotten, forsaken, and surrounded by his enemies. But these final two verses represent one of the most dramatic turns in all the psalter. It is a turn from desperation to declaration, from complaint to confidence. The psalmist, having poured out his heart to God, now preaches to his own heart. He pivots from his circumstances to God's character. The entire movement of the psalm is a journey from looking inward at his sorrow and outward at his enemies, to looking upward to God's covenant love. This is not the result of a change in his situation, but a change in his perspective. He resolves to trust, to rejoice, and to sing, grounding his renewed hope not in what he feels, but in what he knows to be true about God: His unfailing lovingkindness, His certain salvation, and His past bountiful dealings.

This is the engine of Christian sanctification in miniature. We are honest about our condition, we cry out to God in our distress, and then we anchor our souls to the objective realities of the gospel. The psalmist models for us the crucial discipline of remembering. He remembers God's hesed, His covenant loyalty. He remembers God's salvation, which is a rock-solid future reality. And he remembers God's past faithfulness, His bounty. On the basis of these truths, he commands his own soul to rejoice and sing. It is a profound demonstration that true worship is not dependent on our feelings, but is a decision of faith that, in turn, shapes our feelings.

Outline

Context In The Psalter

Psalm 13 is one of the psalms of David, and it fits squarely within the category of individual lament. It follows a classic pattern seen in many psalms: complaint (vv. 1-2), petition (vv. 3-4), and expression of trust and praise (vv. 5-6). This structure is not just a literary device; it's a spiritual roadmap for God's people. It teaches us that it is right and proper to bring our unedited grief and confusion to God, but it also teaches us that we are not to remain there. The movement of the psalter as a whole is a movement toward praise, culminating in the final five psalms which are pure praise. Psalm 13 is a microcosm of that grand movement. It shows that even in the darkest valley, the path of faith leads upward to the sunlit heights of worship. It serves as a vital corrective to any theology that would suppress honest lament, and also to any spirituality that would wallow in despair without making the turn to faith that we see here.

Key Issues

The Great Turn

Something happens between verse 4 and verse 5. The change in tone is so abrupt, so total, that we are forced to ask what caused it. The text doesn't explicitly say, but the answer is implicit in the structure of biblical prayer. David has been praying. He has been casting his cares upon the Lord. And in the act of prayer, in the act of turning his face toward God, his perspective has been recalibrated. His circumstances have not changed. The enemy is still gloating. His heart is still, in itself, sorrowful. But he has remembered God. He has brought the character of God to bear upon his situation, and that changes everything.

This is not positive thinking. This is not pulling himself up by his emotional bootstraps. This is an act of raw, rugged faith. He is taking his stand on the promises of God, not on the evidence of his senses. He is choosing to believe God's Word over his own feelings of abandonment. This is the pivot upon which the entire Christian life turns. We are constantly besieged by feelings, circumstances, and enemies that tell us God has forgotten us. And faith's response is always to say, "But I have trusted..." It is a conscious, deliberate, and sometimes difficult choice to stake everything on the reliability of God.

Verse by Verse Commentary

5a But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;

The verse begins with a strong adversative: "But I..." This sets his own posture in direct contrast to the despair of the previous verses. He has been describing a world where it feels like God is absent, but now he declares his personal decision. The verb "have trusted" is in the perfect tense in Hebrew, indicating a past action with continuing effects. This is not a sudden, new idea. It is a return to his settled conviction. He is reminding himself of his default position. And what is the object of his trust? Not a vague hope that things will get better, but God's lovingkindness. This is the great Hebrew word hesed, which speaks of God's steadfast, loyal, covenant love. It is a love that is not based on the worthiness of the recipient, but on the faithful character of the Giver. It is the love that God promised to His people, a love that will not let them go. In the midst of feeling forgotten, David grabs hold of the one thing that cannot be shaken: God's covenant commitment to him.

5b My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.

Trust in God's character naturally leads to joy in God's actions. Notice the progression. First, the will makes a choice: "I have trusted." Now, the heart responds: "My heart shall rejoice." This is a command he is giving to his own emotions. He is not waiting to feel joyful before he rejoices; he is choosing to rejoice, and the feeling will follow. And the reason for his joy is God's "salvation." This salvation is a future certainty. He doesn't have it fully in hand yet, but he speaks of it as though he does, because it is grounded in God's character. God's lovingkindness guarantees God's salvation. For the Christian, this points directly to the ultimate salvation secured by Jesus Christ. Our hearts rejoice not because our problems are gone, but because our ultimate deliverance is absolutely certain. We have a salvation that cannot be threatened by circumstances, enemies, or even our own wavering hearts.

6a I will sing to Yahweh,

The internal joy of the heart now finds external expression. He resolves, "I will sing." Again, this is a decision of the will. Worship, in the Bible, is not primarily a matter of mood. It is a matter of obedience and faith. He is not singing because he feels like it. He is singing because God is worthy, regardless of how he feels. This is the kind of sacrifice of praise that is pleasing to God (Heb. 13:15). It is a declaration of faith made audible. When a believer, surrounded by trouble, lifts his voice in song to the Lord, he is preaching a powerful sermon to his own soul, to the unseen spiritual forces, and to any who might be watching. He is declaring that his God is greater than his troubles.

6b Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

Here is the foundation for the entire turnaround. His trust, his joy, and his song are not based on wishful thinking. They are rooted in historical fact and personal experience. He looks back and remembers God's track record. The phrase "dealt bountifully" speaks of God's generous, abundant provision and care in the past. David is engaging in the vital spiritual discipline of remembrance. He is calling to mind past deliverances, past moments of grace, past evidences of God's hesed. He is reasoning from God's past faithfulness to His future faithfulness. If God has been this good to me before, He will be this good to me again. This is why it is so crucial for Christians to keep a record of God's dealings with them. Our past blessings are the fuel for our present faith. The ultimate example of God's bountiful dealing is, of course, the gift of His Son. As Paul argues in Romans 8, "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" The cross is the ultimate and final proof that God has dealt bountifully with us, and it is the unshakable ground of all our future hope.

Application

These two verses are a compact manual for how to handle the dark nights of the soul. First, when your feelings are screaming that God is gone, you must make a conscious decision of the will to trust in His covenant love, His hesed. Don't argue with your feelings; defy them with the truth. Preach the character of God to your own heart. Your faith must be in His promise, not in your performance or your emotional state.

Second, on the basis of that trust, command your heart to rejoice in the salvation that is yours in Christ. Your joy is not rooted in your present comfort, but in your future, certain deliverance. The outcome has been decided at the cross. The victory is already won. Therefore, you have every reason to rejoice, even in the midst of tears. This is what it means to have a joy that the world cannot give and cannot take away.

Finally, open your mouth and sing. Let your faith have a voice. And when you sing, ground your song in the memory of God's past faithfulness. Recount His benefits. Remember what He did for you at Calvary. Remember how He has carried you to this very day. When you look back at the bounty of God in your life, it gives you the confidence to face whatever lies ahead. This is not a formula for avoiding sorrow, but it is God's appointed path for walking through sorrow with a rugged, defiant, and ultimately joyful faith.