Brian Doerksen Psalm 13 (How Long O Lord) Lyrics

How long O Lord will You forget me
How long O Lord will You look the other way
How long O Lord must I wrestle with my thoughts
And every day have such sorrow in my heart

Look on me and answer, O God my Father
Bring light to my darkness before they see me fall

But I trust in Your unfailing love
Yes my heart will rejoice
Still I sing of Your unfailing love
You have been good, You will be good to me

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The Story Behind The Song

This song is the end of a long journey for me. I have longed to see how we can incorporate more 'laments' in our modern worship experience for years, but writing a lament that congregations can sing together, seems to be much tougher than writing songs of joy. In my opinion, there are so many reasons we need more laments in our corporate worship. The Psalms are full of them and God's people have sung them for several millennia. Today, real people need a safe place to express their pain and grief, and still know they are accepted and loved by God and His people. For the broken-hearted and those who are grieving, singing only 'happy songs' can leave them on the outside looking in. I have included this song in this project for all of us who are going through tough times, yet still we want to come and worship because there is no other place where we can find true comfort.

Like the Psalms, our laments can honestly express our pain and our questions, and can still have an expression of hope as well. In Psalm 13, the word "but" looms large! It's maybe the hinge word of the Psalm and our song. This is who we are; this is how we feel, but, in light of all that, I will still trust in You, O Lord. It's was especially gratifying to write this with Steve & Karen Mitchinson, very close friends from England, and Daphne, who has been a dear friend since 1985.