Prayer asking for help

This is another King David’s Psalm and it is nothing more than a prayer for help in affliction. What is affliction? It is what we spend day by day for God to form our character as Christ’s, affliction is difficulty, trial, pain, anguish, etc, but it is good that at times like those we can recognize who our God is and how much we must trust in His fullness.

Let us read this Psalm 13:

1 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?How long will You hide Your face from me?

2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death;

4 Lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed against him”; Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

5 But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.

6 I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

Here we see a David invaded by problems, a repressed David, a David who could no longer bear the heaviness he was going through, but a David confident in the goodwill of God. We ask ourselves in moments of affliction: Where is God? Beloved brothers, we must understand that God always allows these moments in our lives, but at the same time we must also understand that those moments will pass.

There are many people who would be happy if they see us lying on the floor and that’s exactly what David’s enemies wanted, to see him sunk in the mud and that’s why he says: “My enemies would be happy if I slipped.” Further on it says: “But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.”. David was trusting that God would give him victory over his enemies despite that bitter moment.

We end with this and at the same time we repeat it together with the psalmist: My heart will rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has done me good. This is what I call confidence, to thank God without even receiving the requests.

Psalm 13 is a brief but profound passage that reveals the honest cry of a man who loved God deeply. David did not hide his anguish, nor did he pretend to be strong on his own. Instead, he opened his heart before the Lord and expressed the pain that usually many people carry in silence. This Psalm teaches us that crying out to God is not a sign of weakness, but an act of faith. When David said “How long, O Lord?”, he was expressing the agony of waiting, something that every believer experiences at different moments of life.

Sometimes the affliction feels like a prolonged night that refuses to end. We may feel forgotten, as David felt, but the reality is that God never forgets His children. Affliction becomes a tool through which God shapes us, strengthens us, and prepares us for greater things. Even when God’s silence seems overwhelming, His presence is still with us. This assurance allows us to persevere even when our soul is tired and our strength seems to fade.

David’s request for God to enlighten his eyes represents the desire to see beyond the circumstances. When trials cloud our understanding, we need divine light to remain firm. Without that light, discouragement takes over and we feel as if we are about to “sleep the sleep of death.” Yet, in the middle of his hardship, David remembered the mercy of the Lord. This is the turning point of the Psalm: the moment when pain gives way to trust.

Trust is not based on what we feel, but on who God is. David chose to trust even when his emotions screamed otherwise. He knew that salvation and victory come from the Lord, not from human strength. This conviction led him to declare that he would sing to the Lord because He had dealt bountifully with him. Notice that David praised God not after seeing the answer, but before. That is genuine faith: worshiping in the valley, not only on the mountain.

In our own lives, we can follow this example. Trials will come, difficulties will appear, and enemies—whether spiritual or emotional—will rise against us. But if we fix our gaze on God’s mercy, like David did, our heart will find reasons to rejoice. Affliction does not last forever; it is temporary. But God’s goodness remains eternal. Therefore, even when we do not understand the process, we can rest in His promises and trust that He will act at the right time.