Psalm 13: Faith AND Feelings
How long, oh Lord?
When will You answer me?
When will this change?
Hasn’t it been long enough?
Maybe these questions sound familiar. Maybe you’ve asked them of God. Maybe you are currently asking them, desperate for answers. Maybe you’ve walked with someone who has had these questions on their lips for years.
is it really faith or feelings?
Turning to Psalm 13 and immediately being confronted with these questions, I found myself oddly comforted and encouraged. Because David, who is generally believed to be the author of this Psalm, was open and honest before God as he spoke these words. He didn’t hold back his emotions, his discouragement, and utter despair. He wasn’t hiding or masking how he genuinely felt.
Let’s be real for a minute: Feelings often get a bad rap in many Christian circles. We are quick to tout “faith over feelings” when we find ourselves overcome by our emotions—or we attempt to encourage others with that sentiment, often unsuccessfully. When our feelings get involved, the water gets a little murky, right?
If we’re honest, maybe we fear our faith will be compromised by our temperamental leanings. Faith shouldn’t waver; it should stand strong through every storm, right? I think, over time, we have found ourselves believing that faith and feelings can’t coexist within a Christ follower. That somehow we aren’t capable of holding this inevitable tension. It’s either faith or feelings.
This Psalm is particularly encouraging, because we are given an example of someone doing just that—straddling the tension between real, genuine, gut-wrenching feelings and bold, decided, tested faith. He shows us it is possible. He reveals just how nuanced we are as human beings made in the image of God.
So, yes, David has feelings and he clearly expresses them to God. He doesn’t hide them or minimize them or apply a fake “faith” mask over them. No, he lets it all out. He gets raw and real with His Creator.
But he doesn’t stop there, and that is important for us to note. He doesn’t wallow in his emotions and circumstances. He does something about it.
In fact, this Psalm is easily split into three sections, which helps us better understand the successful handling of real-life emotions and situations along with our faith and trust in God:
The feelings-driven cries to God
The spoken prayer to God
The faith-filled praises of God
Yes, David is beat down and struggling. He covers all the bases in his cries out to God. He feels abandoned by God, persecuted from within himself, and attacked from the outside. He feels crushed on all sides.
Yet, in the midst of his distress and despair, he calls out to God! First, with his complaints, acknowledging honestly how he feels. Then, he boldly asks for an answer from God, seeking a lighting up of his eyes. The apostle Paul uses similar language in his prayer found in Ephesians 1:17-19. The lighting of eyes often refers to understanding. David doesn’t ask for a change in circumstances necessarily, he asks for understanding in the midst of them. And as Paul reveals in Epehesians, this understanding leads to hope.
And finally, all within one breath of his cries of despair, he remembers and declares God’s steadfast love, His mercy, His faithfulness. It’s past tense—something that has already been done. He is drawing from experience. He remembers that God has already been so good to him. David’s faith is anchored by who God has already revealed Himself to be and the fact that he believes God to always be true to who He is. He has no reason to expect otherwise. Rather, He has every reason to forever sing praises to God!
He finds understanding and hope when he looks to God—who He is and always has been.
faith and feelings can coexist within us
We don’t know if or how or when David’s circumstances change. That’s not the point of this Psalm. This is a Psalm written to encourage the people of God, whether thousands of years ago or today. To remind us that God is good. That He is faithful and always near, even in the deepest, darkest, toughest times of our lives. It’s an encouragement to cry out to Him, not withholding our true feelings, because He can handle them. It’s proof that our feelings and our faith CAN coexist within us. Our faith is meant to direct our feelings toward the goodness and faithfulness of God, not necessarily eradicate them.
Friend, your feelings, your questions, and even your doubt are no match for God. Rather than living in fear that your feelings will draw you away from your faith, let them draw you nearer to your Heavenly Father. Let your faith gently and ever so kindly convince and remind your feelings of the goodness, faithfulness, and mercy of God. Faith and feelings can work together; they don’t have to be pitted against each other. And that’s really good news, because whether we like it or not, we’ll have feelings and emotions our whole lives. That’s how God made us.
Digging deeper:
Isaiah 49:14-16
Ephesians 1:17-19
Psalm 34:4-5
Psalm 16:1-2
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