"Why, O Lord, do you stand far away?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.
3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul,
and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord.
4 In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him;
all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”
5 His ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, out of his sight;
as for all his foes, he puffs at them.
6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.”
7 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
8 He sits in ambush in the villages;
in hiding places he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
9 he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket;
he lurks that he may seize the poor;
he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.
10 The helpless are crushed, sink down,
and fall by his might.
11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,
he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”
12 Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;
forget not the afflicted.
13 Why does the wicked renounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”?
14 But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless commits himself;
you have been the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
call his wickedness to account till you find none.
16 The Lord is king forever and ever;
the nations perish from his land.
17 O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
18 to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more."
Psalm 10
When the heavens are as brass, and there is no answer to our agonised prayers, what can be said in answer to the plaint, 'Why doesn't God do something?' It may help us to think of Joseph's experience in the book of Genesis - captivity in Egypt, thrown from Potiphar's household into prison, the forgetfulness of Pharaoh's butler that left him languishing in prison for another two years. How often he must have asked this very question. But later, what he said was 'God meant it unto good'. This is one explanation of the silence of God: it is the trial of our faith, which is much more precious than gold that perisheth. The fire will not burn too hotly. It is the hand of God that stokes the fire and controls its fierceness. Remember the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace, who were untouched by the flames. It was a trial, not a destruction! A wise theologian once wrote: 'God is strong enough to resist pity until grief has done its gracious work...'. What a word! Perhaps even now, distressed believer, God is doing something, although you cannot see. Do not forget that while the Israelites in Egypt were thinking and doubtless saying that God had forgotten them, God's deliverance was already an accomplished fact, for a baby had been born into a Levite family, called Moses, who was destined to become Israel's deliverer.
"Thrice blessed is he to whom is given
The instinct that can tell
That God is on the field when He Is most invisible.
He hides Himself so wondrously, As though there were no God...."
With such a God at work, it is hardly surprising that the gamble of the wicked, who said 'God will never see...I shall not be moved' was bound to fail. To gamble thus with issues of life and death and eternity is always fateful and foolish in the extreme. God sees all right, and will act in His own time. That is the comfort - or the terror - of men.