A human question, and its answer
How Long, O LORD?
In a season of unanswered prayer and unrelenting sorrow, David cried out the question of every waiting sufferer. "How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?" It is the honest lament of a soul that still speaks to God even while it aches.
“How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?”Psalm 13:1
Who asked, and why
Who asked, and why. David asked this in Psalm 13, a short psalm of raw distress (Ps 13:1). We are not told the exact occasion, but the words carry the weight of prolonged suffering. Four times in two verses he cries "how long," the repetition of a man worn down by waiting. "How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?" (Ps 13:1-2). His grief is layered: he feels forgotten by God, tormented in his own mind, sorrowful day after day, and overshadowed by an enemy who seems to prosper. This is not the complaint of a man who has abandoned faith. It is the complaint of a believer whose faith is stretched to its limit, who still turns toward God even to voice his anguish. That he cries out to the LORD at all is itself an act of trust. It is the question of all who wait in the dark and wonder when, if ever, the morning will come.
The answer
The answer. Psalm 13 does not record God speaking a word of explanation. The circumstances do not visibly change within the psalm. What changes is David, and the change comes through prayer. Having poured out his questions, he brings his petition: "Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death" (Ps 13:3). Then, remarkably, the psalm turns. "But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me" (Ps 13:5-6). Nothing in the sufferer's outward situation is said to have improved, yet he moves from "how long?" to "I will sing." The answer to the lament here is not an explanation but a renewed grip on the mercy of God. David chose to trust while still waiting. Sometimes God answers the cry "how long?" not by ending the suffering but by giving the sufferer himself, and enough faith to sing in the dark.
How Christ answers it
How Christ answers it. Jesus entered fully into the "how long?" of human suffering. On the cross he cried the opening words of another lament psalm, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt 27:46), taking upon himself the very feeling of being hidden from God's face so that we need never be finally forsaken. He knows the sorrow of waiting and the anguish of an unanswered cry from the inside. Because he was raised, our laments are not the last word. The saints who suffer still cry, "How long, O Lord, holy and true?" (Rev 6:10), and the answer given is not yet, but surely. Christ himself is the coming answer, for the day approaches when "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying" (Rev 21:4). Until then, the one who cried "why?" on the cross meets us in our waiting and teaches us, like David, to trust his mercy and sing before the morning arrives.
Questions people ask
Is it faithless to ask God "how long?"
No. David's lament in Psalm 13 is itself an act of faith, because he brings his anguish directly to God. Scripture is full of honest laments; crying out to the Lord is far better than turning away from him in silence.
Does the psalm say the suffering ended?
Not explicitly. David's outward situation is not described as changing, yet he moves from "how long?" to "I will sing unto the LORD" (Ps 13:6). The answer here is renewed trust in God's mercy rather than an immediate rescue.
How does Christ speak to this cry?
Jesus took the lament "why hast thou forsaken me?" upon himself at the cross (Matt 27:46), bearing our forsakenness so that we would not be finally abandoned. His resurrection promises a day when sorrow and crying will be no more (Rev 21:4).