Psalm 13 is an individual lament, a cry of anguish, for circumstances that have put the faithful one on the verge of despair. This is a prayer of feeling and emotion.

How long will you forget me is not a question to God as much as it is an expression of feeling unable to endure any longer. Is this your situation? The Psalm moves from God’s apparent indifference to the Psalmist’s anguish. It feels as though God has forgotten them, that God has hidden his face from them, that God has abandoned them. This is summed up in the rhetorical question, how long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

The anguish is followed by this prayer for help. The Psalmist calls on God to intervene.

The conclusion is that the Psalmist reaffirms his trust in God’s steadfast love of God’s faithful ones. The Psalmist is assured that God will save him from this crisis and will deal with him bountifully.