Psalm 13:1-6
‘How long will You forget me, O Lord? For ever?!… O Lord my God, lighten my eyes — lest I sleep the sleep of death!… But I have trusted in Your mercy! My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation!… Because He has dealt bountifully with me!’ Psalm 13:1-6.
Calvin comments: “David, being afflicted not only with the deepest distress, but also feeling himself…overwhelmed by a long succession of calamities and multiplied afflictions, implores the aid and succour of God…. In the close, taking courage, he entertains the assured hope of life from the promise of God — even amidst the terrors of death….
“It seems to David, so far as could be judged from beholding the actual state of his affairs, that he was forsaken by God. At the same time, however, the eyes of his mind — guided by the light of faith — penetrated even to the grace of God, although it was hidden in darkness…. The infirmity of the flesh could not hinder David from seeking God, and having recourse to Him….
“The words ‘How long’ (and) ‘For ever?!’…, give us to understand that for the purpose of cherishing his hope and encouraging himself in the exercise of patience, he extended his view to a distance…. He teaches us therefore, by his example, to stretch our view as far as possible into the future — so that our present grief may not entirely deprive us of hope….
“‘O Jehovah my God, enlighten my eyes — lest I sleep in death!’… He had put the mercy of God in the first place…. To ‘enlighten the eyes’ signifies…to give the Breath of life…. The word ‘sleep’ — as it is used in this passage — is…being put for death…. David confesses that unless God cause the light of life to shine upon him, he will immediately be overwhelmed with the darkness of death…. Certainly, our confidence of life depends on this!… Although the world may threaten us with a thousand deaths, yet God is possessed of numberless means of restoring us to life….
“‘I trust in Your goodness! My heart shall exult in Your salvation!’… The Psalmist…makes use of this hope as a shield to repel those temptations — with the terror of which he might greatly be distressed…. He…declares it to be his resolution to continue firm in his reliance upon the grace of God, and in the hope of salvation. With the very same confidence, all the godly ought to be furnished and sustained!… We may not be wholly free from sorrow, but it is nevertheless necessary that this cheerfulness of faith rise above it — and put into our mouth a song, on account of the joy which is reserved for us in the future!”
In his Psychopannychia, Calvin adds: “When you hear that the wicked man sleeps, do you think of a sleep of his soul?” No! “How can there be sleep, amid such anguish? ‘The wicked are like the tempestuous sea which cannot rest!’… Isaiah 57:20…. When David wished to describe the bitterest pang of conscience, he says (Psalm 13:3): ‘Lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death!'”
But David’s eyes were enlightened! So, when he fell asleep and died, he would not enter ‘the sleep of death‘ — but the sleep of life! Of life, everlasting! Will that be your lot, when you die?
