What to Sing When God Forgets (Ps. 13)

[Sung Psalm: 13]

When the foundations of society are destroyed, the righteous must not run for the hills – rather they must run to the temple and worship the Lord and do what is right. And when the rich and powerful use words to destroy others, the righteous must listen to the pure and holy words of God, trusting that God will keep his word, and guard us from this generation forever.

Psalms 11 and 12 both have confidence that God will listen and God will make things right. Psalm 13 starts with a question that would seem to challenge the confidence of Psalms 11-12!

How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?

Does God actually forget you? No! Of course not! God does not have a faulty memory!

But the language of “forgetting” and “remembering” is not just about the “faculty” of memory.

Remembering cannot be detached from words and actions. In Deuteronomy Moses repeatedly tells Israel, “Remember the LORD your God.” “Do not forget” the days in the wilderness. In the same way, in Exodus 2, we are told that God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And that “remembering” is what sparks God's actions in redeeming Israel from Egypt.

When God remembers, he speaks and acts. When God forgets, he is silent.

I am grateful for songs like Psalm 13, because Ps 13 teaches us that it is okay for us to say that God has forgotten me! It is okay to say that God is silent – and that his silence is very painful for me!

Psalm 13 is a song for those who lament and mourn over the silence of God.