About one-third of the psalms are categorized as psalms of lament; that is, they contain honest prayers from people who feel that God has treated them unfairly. The beauty of these laments is that we can probably all identify with them during difficult moments in our lives, and they usually end with a renewed perspective. For example, here are the first three verses of Psalm 13. Notice the depth of David’s anguish in his honest question to God:
“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?” But then the psalm turns on a dime with the conjunction that begins the fifth verse:
“But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me (v.5-6).”
All at once he has gone from worry to worship. He has gone from pouting to praise. He has gone from crying to God to confidence in God. How? David’s better future was conditioned by his past. He speaks in the past tense, saying, “I have trusted in your steadfast love.” He does not say, “I am trusting.” Because David was already a believer in God, he was able to fall back on the firm foundation he had laid earlier in his life. The person who has never really trusted in God will struggle to do so in the middle of their problems, but the one who has made that their habit will be able to stand firm when it feels like God has hidden His face.
“I have trusted” is past tense, but then David shifts to the future tense. “My heart shall rejoice… I will sing.” David knew that there was going to be a time when he would be able to rejoice, or be happy, again. He knew that one day he would pull out his harp and sing praises to his good God once more. His future was bright because his past was grounded in God.
Which tense has David neglected in these two verses? We see the past and future, but no mention of the present tense can be found. That is because the present tense dominated the first four verses. Currently, when he was writing this psalm, David was down. He was wrestling with his thoughts, struggling to see the goodness of God in the darkness of his problems. The last two verses are not intended to tell us that his problems turned on the hinge of a single conjunction; rather, they tell us that David had full assurance that his problems would turn in the future. David would one day go from sadness to singing, even if not yet.
So when you are struggling in the present, let your past determine your future. We are so prone to let our present determine our future, but that was not David’s formula. It might feel like God has forgotten you right now, but look back in time to when you trusted God, and let that trust be what shapes your future. You will come out of this and make it to the other side.
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