But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
"But" is one of the smallest words in this verse, and it's carrying almost all the weight. Psalm 13 spends most of its length asking hard, honest questions — how long, God, will you forget me? How long will sorrow fill my heart? It's a psalm of someone genuinely struggling, not performing peace they don't feel.
And then, without the questions being resolved, without the circumstances changing: "But I have trusted." Not "but everything worked out." Not "but I finally understood why." Just a decision to keep trusting in the middle of not having those answers.
That's a more honest picture of faith than most people expect — not the absence of hard questions, but trust that persists right alongside them. If you've been holding real doubts and real trust at the same time and felt like that made you a bad believer, this verse suggests that's actually what faith often looks like.
If you've assumed doubt and trust can't coexist, this verse is worth reading as proof that they often do.
A short video on this is coming soon — for now, read on.