How Long
"How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I wrestle in my soul, with sorrow in my heart each day? How long will my enemy dominate me? Consider me and respond, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death, lest my enemy say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes rejoice when I fall. But I have trusted in Your loving devotion; my heart will rejoice in Your salvation."
— Psalm 13:1-5
About a third of Israel's songbook is made up of complaints like this one, sung together as well as alone. In this short text the same question comes four times in a row. Nothing here says that someone sinned and is suffering for it; there is only a person who does not know why God is silent. A hidden face meant withdrawn favour, like a king looking away from a subject. The talk of sleeping in death shows this is not a low mood but a matter of life and death. Between the plea and the last line the text records no answer and no change of circumstances. The Hebrew word behind loving devotion is God's faithfulness to those he has bound himself to, and the turn at the end rests on that alone. God is not offended by this question, since he let it be written into his book.