I like Psalm 13. I like it because it flies in the face of any nice, neat prayer formula that many people have tried to propose in books (I won’t mention Jabez) and it does away with any idea that life should be happy clappy if we’re following God. Instead it’s real and it’s honest.

It’s pretty simple really, David wants help and is asking for it. His emotion is driving it – stuff what logic and good theology would say (or more to the point, stuff that masquerades as good theology), forget what that warm, smiling, feel good motivational preacher puts out there, this is how he feels.

“How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?”

We like to hear that God is always present (and I believe he is) but it doesn’t always feel like it. In fact I often feel like I’m in the desert and God is a long way off. In those times doubt is ever present – so are we supposed to pray what some people think is good theology or are we supposed to pray what we actually feel and what’s actually happening for us? Psalm 13 gives permission for the latter. It shows that we can let it all hang out.

Psalm 13 shows that our prayers don’t have to demonstrate that we’ve got it all together.

I can’t remember where it was but I remember Henri Nouwen describing Christian leadership in a piece of writing. He said it’s not being the perfect person who everybody else aspires to be like, rather it’s being the first to the foot of the cross and openly showing others the way.

If there had been a cross at the time, Psalm 13 would be David running to it.

The Psalm closes out with a sense of trust – it’s that trust that sees us go to the cross in the first place. I like Psalm 13 because it’s a trust that sits in the middle of doubt and the feeling that God is distant and not listening. It has room for that stuff. It’s not a trust that says ‘because I believe that God loves me I can’t say what I’m really feeling’ – it’s deeper than that, more real and therefore stronger. It’s a weak trust that says ‘I believe in God’s love, therefore I need to push the doubts and feelings of distance down and not express them.’

When we’re feeling down and like God is distant may we be people who trust enough to be honest, go to the foot of the cross and say so. May we feel free to cry ‘help!’ when we need to because we know darn well we don’t have it all together.

Read more of my reflections on the Psalms.

Here’s why I’m walking this journey through the Psalms.