How Did They Know God Would Help?

I'm on an airplane now, returning home from my third trip this week. I've never had a schedule like this before. One reason this happened is because I added a visit to my sister on Monday and Tuesday; she is recovering from a serious injury. This current trip has been to meet with leaders of Global Aid Network (GAiN), a relief and development organization that's providing help for poor and hurting people around the world. Meanwhile, at home our family has been helping a young friend who has experienced more pain than anyone should ever be exposed to.

Waiting for the airplane to leave Dallas, I was reading Psalm 10, noticing how it relates to experiences like these. The first two-thirds of it is mostly questions, hard ones, starting with (in the English Standard Version):

"Why O Lord, do you stand afar off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?"

Our family is seeing trouble in major ways right now; every family does from time to time. Where is God? The Psalmist knows trouble:

"In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor....

"The wicked boasts of the desires of his soul,
and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord...."

"His ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, out of his sight;
as for all his foes, he puffs at them...."

"The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might.
He says in his heart, 'God has forgotten,
he has hidden his face, he will never see it.'"

It does look like God has forgotten sometimes. This is not just an Old Testament experience. The poor are still oppressed, the violent still run rampant, and hate often rules.

Yet somehow the Psalmist knows this is not all there is:

"Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;
forget not the afflicted....
You do see, for you not mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless commits himself;
you have been the father of the fatherless."

There is more:

"O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more."

The Psalmist sees God at work, somehow, somewhere. He sees God being the father of the fatherless, a current reality; he sees a future when justice will be completed and terror is done away with. How did he know? How can we know?

The short answer is this: by the works of God and by the words of God.

This Psalm is not listed as being "of David," but it stands in the middle of several which are so described, so I'm going to take it that this is also a Psalm of David, or at least written contemporaneously with him. Israel the nation had a long heritage by this time of seeing the works of God. We might begin with Abraham--his call, the promise of a son and the miraculous fulfillment of the promise. There was the work God did through Joseph in Egypt, giving him prophetic knowledge and saving many from famine. There was the Exodus--the plagues, the deliverance through the Red Sea, the miraculous provision of their needs in the desert, the pillars of smoke and fire, the delivery of the law and the signs that came with it. There was the crossing of the Jordan and the conquest of the land.

There were the successes and failures of the people, during the Exodus years and even more plainly in the time of the Judges. When Israel sought the Lord they prospered (a pattern, it could easily be argued, that continues among cultures and societies up to the 21st century). When they turned away from God, they suffered both economically and by political/military defeat. The last of the judges was Samuel, an older contemporary of David, who was the prophetic voice when King Saul failed to follow God and lost the kingdom to a man of far stronger character, David.

These are some of the works of God this Psalmist would have known. He would have known the word of God as well--the written law, the words of prophets like Samuel and Nathan. God revealed his character through his word, and confirmed it by his works. They knew the promises of God, and that God would fulfill them.

Why then do the wicked prosper, and why does pain so often prevail? We've dealt with that before, and this already-long post would get completely out of control if we picked up that question again here. Why, though, does God seem not to answer when we call on him for justice? Could it be he is just a myth after all? No, for we still have the testimony of his works and his word. We see his work happening still: my sister is one case in point. Her recovery is going far better than anyone had expected, and even while half-paralyzed on her left side she still smiles. This is the power of prayer and it is the strength of her character in Christ. Our young friend mentioned above is still in a time of difficulty, but she has recently come to know and follow Jesus Christ, and she expresses genuine joy in him. Millions of persecuted Christians have told of their deep satisfaction in Christ.

And God's work has yet to run its full course. There is justice to come. He holds it back for now, in anticipation of many more persons coming to life in Christ rather than to judgment. It seems slow to come, but it is as sure as tomorrow's sunrise.

"O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more."

Posted: Fri - September 28, 2007 at 09:01 AM |

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson getCategoryName("<$CategoryUUID$>");

How Did They Know God Would Help?

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson