Psalm 10: persist, even when God seems not to hear
A cry to God is recorded here - it’s a cry for justice. The opressed voices his pain, and wonders why God doesn’t seem to be there when he needs Him: “Why, Yahweh, do you keep so distant, stay hidden in times of trouble?” I don’t disagree. It’s easy to assume that just because God doesn’t answer, and you don’t get an immediate response, that He is far away, concerned with other, more important things than your problems. It’s especially easy to do this when your problems seem insurmountable, when you’re surrounded by them, and they seem to pile up on top of each other till you look around and find yourself fenced in, unable to climb out, the hole of your despair growing deeper and deeper.
It’s interesting how this ties in with what happened last night. It’s why I think there are no coincidences with God. Close friends of ours invited Ligia and I to their home, and we closed the Sabbath by reading a passage from a book whose title escapes me at the moment. The point made by the author in the passage we read was that we may keep doing the right things, the things that God expects us to do, in the face of adversity from the world, but we will not always get visible backing from God, and we may end up falling flat on our faces, wondering where God is.
The Biblical example given in the book was Daniel, and his choice not to partake of the king’s food in Babylon. He chose to eat vegetarian foods, and miraculously, in 10 days, he and his fellow Israelite friends were smarter, fitter and healthier than their Babylonian counterparts. We may choose to be “vegetarians in Babylon”, but there is no guarantee that we too, will experience the miracle that Daniel experienced. Certainly, there is plenty of empirical evidence to support this statement. We can all think of friends, or think back to experiences in our lives, when we did the right thing, yet were still persecuted for it, and felt let down by God. Well, the point made there is to realize that this will happen, and that we still have to be faithful to God. We can’t “do as the Romans do”, or in the case of the example given, “do as the Babylonians do”, and excuse our behavior by saying that it’s what’s expected when we’re in the world.
The same feelings are echoed in this psalm. The author goes to great lengths to describe how the wicked behave and persecute those who are trying to do the right thing. He details how the wicked boast of their deeds, and in their arrogance declare: “‘There is no God.’” Having been there myself, I know it’s a very frustrating state one is in when he or she can say: “Rise, Yahweh! God, raise your hand, do not forget the afflicted! Why should the wicked spurn God, assuring himself you will never follow it up?” It’s not that I’m wiser - it’s just that God has been gracious enough to open my eyes to this - but I think the following two conclusions can be reached:
- We have to keep doing what’s right, no matter what. In the end, there will be a judgment, and the wicked will get what’s coming to them.
- God is always closer than we give Him credit for. He’s right there with us, suffering through these problems with us. Remember, there are times in our lives when we share in Job’s experiences. They’re part and parcel of living on this sin-stricken earth. We can’t expect things to go smoothly just because we’re Christians and we obey God’s commandments. The same Daniel who experienced the miracle when switching to vegetarian foods in Babylon was later put in the lions’ den when he stood up for his beliefs. We too, will be put through such experiences. But we have to trust in God, that He will do what’s right for us. If we’re to remain alive, He will make sure of that. If we’re to die, because He knows it’s our time to go, then He will be there to receive us in His arms when we wake from the sleep of death. There’s a reason for the well-known hymn verse: “I surrender all.” We do have to surrender all, and have a blind trust in God. If we don’t, we’ll fret and doubt and stress needlessly, and what will it profit us?
There’s a verse in the Bible whose location escapes me now, but it goes like this: “Which of you has managed to add a single day to their lives by worrying about how much longer you’ll live?” Really, wouldn’t it be best to focus on those things we can change, such as our behavior, our response to situations, our attitude, our personal relationship with God? I know it’s very hard to do that - I myself can attest to it - but it’s what we must do. No one ever said it was easy.
Let me share an example: I made a promise to myself that I’d have Bible study time every day. And every day, I sit down with the Bible in front of me to have that time. It gets harder every day! I tell you, I sit there, I read over verses, and I glaze over. My thoughts run to my worries, I start thinking about work, about what I need to do, about how I can’t do this and that, and before I know it, my scheduled time is over. Do I give up? No, because I made that promise to myself and to God, and by golly, I’ll get it done. So if I can’t finish my study in the morning, I come back to it during lunch, or I’ll even come back to it in the evening. I won’t give up till I get my insight into the verses I’ve scheduled to read, and I know when that happens, because I’m refreshed and renewed by spending time with God.
Persistence is what’s important in our Christian lives. We have to keep insisting on what’s right, not only in our behavior, but in our prayers. I have to give the author of this psalm due credit. He keeps asking God for justice, and I know he’ll get it in the end. We must do the same. We must keep persisting and asking God to intervene in our lives. Whether He does or not is up to Him, but either way, the trial by fire strengthens our faith, and makes us better Christians.
