Psalm 13 — Waiting on the Lord

Though the plot of the enemies lasts a very long time, do not lose heart, as though God had forgotten you, but call on the Lord, singing Psalm 13.

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

These days it is easy to lose heart and feel as if nothing will ever change. We're a year into the Covid-19 pandemic with contentious political division and everyone arguing ferociously at the drop of a hat.

I especially think of this line from verse 2: "How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long?"

I like how the psalmist thanks God at the end, before his prayer has been answered. Such is his trust.

Psalm 13 in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry

13:5. Trusting in God's Steadfast Love

A Hope-Filled Soul. St. John Chrysostom: Do you see a hope-filled soul? He asked, and before receiving he gives thanks as though having received, sings praise to God and achieves all that had been anticipated. Commentary on the Psalms

Psalms 1-50 (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture)

Clearly, though, the psalmist has been suffering a long time and feels as if God has abandoned him. This commenter looks at the result of the Babylonian Exile on the Jewish people who felt abandoned by God. I mean to say when your temple has been destroyed and your people dragged to slavery, it is safe to say you feel as if God wasn't around. The change to their thinking about suffering and redemption is transformative. Surely it also paved the way for their ability to recognize Christ's redemptive sacrifice. Also — I never knew why it was called "the Holocaust." Astounding

The Absence of God

Throughout the centuries since, the convention arose of understanding the continuing suffering of Diaspora Judaism as redemptive, vicarious suffering by the faithful remnant for the sins of the whole community. This draws on Isaiah's four Servant Songs (Isa. 42:1-6[9], 49:1-6; 50:4-11; 52: 13-53:12), in which Yahweh's servant (variously identified as Israel, a faithful remnant, the prophet, or some future servant/messiah) suffers innocently for the sins of the people.

In this regard, the acute and tragic suffering of the European Jewish community under the Nazi program of exploitation and extermination during World War II has come to be called "the Holocaust," a reference to the completely burned sin offering offered yearly on the Day of Atonement for the sins of the nation. In this way the suffering and death of six and a half million Jews and their survivors has been interpreted as vicarious and redemptive sacrifice by the innocent for the sins of the world. This reinterpretation of the suffering of the faithful follows the lead of Job and Ecclesiastes in affirming that the absence of God is not a sign of his lack of power or concern. Nor is God's delay in coming a necessary indication of the wickedness of those who suffer in the interim. God is still God and worth of worship and allegiance despite the inability of humans to comprehend human suffering fully.

Psalms Volume 1 (NIV Application Commentary)

Sources are here and an index of psalm posts is here.