Psalm 13: When Complaint Becomes Praise

Introduction

This message was first preached in Nagasaki. The preacher of the Tokyo Church of Christ then brings it to his own church in a "Tokyo version," enriched by everything God has taught him since his return. Before leaving, he had immersed himself in the history of the Christians of Nagasaki. On site, one psalm stood out to him: Psalm 13.

"How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever?" David begins with complaint and ends with praise: "I will sing to Yahweh, because he has dealt bountifully with me." That is the theme of the message: a faith that moves from complaint to praise.

To show it, the preacher weaves the psalm together with two stories from Nagasaki: that of the hidden Christians, who held on for about 250 years, and that of Tsuyo Kataoka, a survivor of the atomic bomb. He adds his own testimony.

Outline of the Message

1. A Psalm That Moves From Complaint to Praise

Psalm 13 opens with "How long? Will you forget me?" and ends with "he has dealt bountifully with me." Many psalms follow this path, from lament toward praise.
The best known is Psalm 22, whose first words Jesus spoke on the cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
David, and then so many believers through persecution and trials, lived this faith that lets itself be turned from complaint into praise. This is what the preacher wants to learn together with his church.

2. Bringing Your Complaint to God

We do not know in what situation David wrote this psalm. But he honestly expresses that his relationship with God feels distant.
In just two verses, he cries out "how long" four times: how long will you forget me, how long will you hide your face, how long will I have sorrow in my soul, how long will my enemy be exalted over me?
David does not say "God, you do not exist." He says: "God, you are there. So why do you not answer me?" This is the complaint of a believer, a prayer of lament.
"You have probably prayed like this too. So have I."

3. Nagasaki, 250 Years of Hidden Faith

In 1549, Francis Xavier arrived in Japan and Christianity took root. Nagasaki had many believers. Nobunaga accepted Christianity, then Hideyoshi and the Tokugawa banned it. In 1614, the Tokugawa edict of prohibition was issued: to profess one's faith meant risking arrest, torture, being forced to renounce it (the fumi-e, a sacred image that people had to trample) and sometimes execution.
On the first day, the preacher visited the Museum of the 26 Martyrs of Japan. Missionaries and believers arrested in Osaka were forced to walk to Nagasaki as an example, then crucified on the hill of Nishizaka. Among the 26 were teenagers. The strength of the persecution, and the strength of those who kept the faith, moved him deeply.
The hidden Christians lived outwardly as Buddhists or Shintoists. In secret, within families and communities, they passed on the faith for about 250 years, from generation to generation.
No worship, no right to gather, no free praise, no priest or spiritual guide, no free reading of the Bible. It was impossible to say "I am a Christian." Being discovered meant risking death. They had to believe in an invisible God with nothing visible to support their faith.
The preacher imagines, making clear that it is his own hypothesis, that Japanese believers prayed like Psalm 13: "How long? Has God forgotten us?"
What sustained their faith were the orasho, prayers passed down orally during the ban. Even if, over 250 years, the meaning of all the words may have been lost, they kept praying. "I believe that, in those prayers, God sustained their faith."
The preacher feels rebuked. When things went badly or his prayers were not answered right away, he built a wall in front of God. He prayed while protecting himself, without a sincere complaint, so as not to be hurt further if nothing happened. He believed halfway, without taking any risk.
"If today we can read the Bible, confess our faith in public and praise God freely," it is because believers cried out "how long" from the depths of their hearts, leaned on God and not on people, and never let go of the gospel. We stand on their history and their testimony.

4. "Give Light to My Eyes"

Verse 3 in English numbering: "Behold, and answer me, Yahweh, my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death." The preacher is very fond of this expression.
In Japanese too, we speak of having "light in the eyes." In Hebrew, the expression means giving light back to the eyes, that is, giving back the strength to live.
The prayer becomes: "God, give me the strength to live again." In hardship, it is not about grasping that strength by ourselves, but about receiving from God the meaning and the strength to live.
The psalm does not stop at complaint. It cries out to God for his help and for the strength to live.

5. Tsuyo Kataoka, From "Why" to "How Shall I Live"

Tsuyo Kataoka was born in 1921 in Urakami, the district of the cathedral, the very place where the bomb fell. A Catholic, she was 24 on August 9, 1945. She lost thirteen members of her family and her face was severely burned. She died in 2014.
She asked her mother: "What does my face look like?" Her mother answered: "With a face like that, you will be fine. As the days go by, it will get better." But when she saw her face in a mirror, she fell into the depths of despair. In another interview, she says she thought: "I cannot live with this face, I want to die."
Her words have been preserved: "I looked out over all the ruins of Urakami and wept for about twenty minutes. Our church, the most precious one, the Urakami church completed in the midst of poverty... At that moment, I doubted a little the God one must not doubt, the God I had believed in since I was little." For a person of that era, the preacher stresses, this "doubted a little" carries great weight.
"God, why does such a thing happen?" Everyone has probably prayed like this at some point. Unable to end her life because of her faith, she decided to pray for the thirteen who were gone. That is where she began again.
She repeated like a refrain: "Use me as an instrument of peace." The preacher saw her testimony on video at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.
He does not know the details of her journey, but between "I want to die" and "use me as an instrument of peace," there was a long process. Her complaint, "why?", changed into a faith that asks "how shall I live?" In a photo from her interview, he sees in her eyes no longer despair, but the light of someone whom God is using for peace.
The hidden Christians, like the believers struck by the bomb, were not simply strong. They had the same weaknesses as we do. This unbroken path of faith is the fruit of prayers that God answered. It is not that we never despair: it is God who, when we despair, hears our complaint, heals, helps, and gives light to our eyes.
The preacher gives his own testimony. He was asked what had changed since he became a disciple. Before, he could no longer see the meaning of his life, and he was so desperate that he wanted to disappear. Since his baptism and his choice to live with Jesus as Lord, he no longer despairs as he used to. "What gives light to our eyes, what gives meaning to life, is not our strength, it is God's strength."

6. "But I Trust in Your Loving Kindness"

Verses 5 and 6 in English numbering: "But I trust in your loving kindness. My heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to Yahweh, because he has dealt bountifully with me." Here, the direction of David's heart turns.
The preacher reads in it a path in three steps: complain by honestly opening your heart, ask for God's help, then be changed all the way to the joy of praise.
The Hebrew carries a nuance that English has kept: "But." From this point on, David no longer looks at himself but at God. The one who said "how long?" says: "But I trust in your loving kindness."
The situation has not changed. What David looks at has changed.
"Faith is not never being downcast, nor never despairing. Faith is continuing to pray to God even in the midst of despair."
"Praise is not the song of those who have never known complaint." It is the song of the one who has brought his complaint to God and who, in the midst of it, has found joy.

7. Jesus Entered Into Our Complaint

If you say "how long?" to God today, you do not need to hide your complaint. Bring it to God just as it is. He listens, and he gives our eyes light, strength and a reason to live.
On the cross, Jesus cried out: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus himself cried his complaint out to God.
God, in Jesus, entered into our sufferings. He came into this world to taste them. He is not far from our sufferings; he draws near until he is right beside us.
So we can pray like David: "How long?", and at the same time: "But I trust in your loving kindness." In God's presence, complaint finally becomes praise. "Let us lament with Jesus, and let us praise God with Jesus."

Key Takeaways

Complaint is not a lack of faith: David cries "how long?" to a God he knows is present.
Praying while protecting yourself, halfway, without daring to voice your pain, builds a wall between God and us.
"Give light to my eyes": God gives back the strength and the meaning to live; it is not our own strength.
The situation may stay the same, but what we look at changes: "But I trust in your loving kindness."
Jesus himself cried out his complaint on the cross. He is close to us in our sufferings.

Personal Application

When did you last bring God a complaint that truly came from the depths of your heart?
Is there an area where you pray "halfway," so as not to be disappointed if God does not answer the way you expect?
What "how long?" are you carrying right now, and what would change if you said it to God just as it is?
Are you living today by the light God has given you, or has the pressure of everything to be done gradually made you slide into unbelief?
Can you pray this week, in the same prayer: "How long?" and "But I trust in your loving kindness"?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Psalm 13 about?

Psalm 13 is a prayer of David that begins with a complaint, "How long, Yahweh?", repeated four times in two verses, and ends with praise: "I will sing to Yahweh, because he has dealt bountifully with me." The preacher sees in it the path of a faith that moves from complaint to praise.

Is it a lack of faith to complain to God?

No. David never says "you do not exist." He says: "you are there, so why do you not answer me?" This is the complaint of a believer. For the preacher, faith is not never being downcast, but continuing to pray to God in the very midst of despair.

What does "Give light to my eyes" mean in Psalm 13:3?

According to the preacher, the Hebrew expression means giving light back to the eyes, that is, giving back the strength to live. David asks God to give him back the meaning and the strength to live, instead of looking for them in his own strength.