There Even When

             Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. He boasts about the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord. In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. His ways are always prosperous; your laws are rejected by him; he sneers at all his enemies. He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.” He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.”

         His mouth is full of lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue. He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent. His eyes watch in secret for his victims; like a lion in cover he lies in wait. He lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net. His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength. He says to himself, “God will never notice; he covers his face and never sees.”

Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, “He won’t call me to account”? But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand.

The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out.

The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror. (Psalm 10)

 

          Today’s passage is another bounce in the pinball machine, and it starts out with one of those questions we are not supposed to ask. “Why?” In fact, this psalm is sort of like the song, “Henry the Eight I Am.” When you get to the end, you’re almost compelled to go back to the top. “…so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror…So… Why, Lord, do you stand far off?”

          The first thought that comes to mind as an answer is the story of Elijah and his servant in II Kings 6, in which the servant is afraid of the king and his soldiers, and Elijah prays that the servant be able to see the hills full of horses and chariots all around Elijah. The other thought that comes to mind is the idea of hunting for your cell phone in the dark, using your cell phone’s light. A third is the story of the boy who is taken to the woods for his initiation into manhood, and left sitting on a stump blindfolded. In the morning, he discovers that his father was sitting feet away all night.

When we think God is standing far off, he may be standing beside us, behind us, in front of us, or within us. He may be doing the armchair-quarterback bit, or applauding, but we don’t notice. And we might be tempted to say that our not seeing is his fault. It might not be. Have we been practicing seeing Him? Have we been looking? Do we have a clue what to look for? It’s much the same as when the wicked men revile God and say to themselves “He won’t call me to account.” Just because God doesn’t immediately respond doesn’t mean He won’t, when the time is right.