“Is the Lord Aloof?” – FBC Morning Light (4/30/2024)

Well, a good Tuesday morning to you. Today and for the next several days in our Bible reading, we're going to be reading the Psalms of David. And they're not in any particular order. Sometimes they're clumped together, sometimes we skip around.

So like for today, for example, we're reading Psalms 8, 10, 11, and 14. And I don't know about you, but I enjoy reading the Psalms. Some of the Bible reading plans we've done in the past, we've had an Old Testament passage, a New Testament passage, and a psalm or part of a psalm as a part of the daily reading.

Well, this year we're reading chronologically through the Bible, so we haven't had the daily Psalms. And I've been kind of missing that and looking forward to these days of just getting into the Psalms.

Wrestling With Evil and the Question of God's Distance

Well, today I want to focus on Psalm 10. But before we do, let me ask you this. How do you feel when you watch the news, if you do? To be honest, I don't watch the news at all. I can't remember the last time I watched a news program.

It's not that I keep my head buried in the sand. I prefer not to spend half an hour or 45 minutes or an hour watching a news broadcast. Instead, I'll just read news synopses and find sites where I can see headlines and see what interests me, or at least see from the headlines what's going on.

But if that's what you do, even with that, how do you feel when you read some of those headlines? When you see all of the evil that is going on in the world, you think about the stuff going on in the Middle East with Israel and Gaza and Iran, the Palestinians.

And then you see that transferred over here to our shores with the violent protests that are pro-Hamas and calling for death to Israel and showing hatred and animosity toward Jews. And you read about the open borders and some of the criminals who are coming across and what they're doing in our country.

You read about squatters who get into people's homes and are able to just squat there. And it's seemingly impossible to get them out. You read about school shootings or other acts of violence that just break out and is seemingly nonsensical.

It is nonsensical, but just this proliferation of evil. And then the moral evil of just flagrant, widespread immorality. So you see all of that. How does it make you feel, especially in relationship to God and what the Bible says about God?

How many times do you express or at least feel, if you don't verbally express it, what the psalmist expresses in Psalm 10, verse 1, where he says this? Why do you stand far off, O Lord? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

Basically what he's saying is, it's a question that often comes up in calamities or disasters or some of these horrific, violent crimes. Where was God in all of this? Now, David is really kind of asking that, isn't he?

Why do you stand afar off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? And then in verses 2 through 11, he just goes through a litany of expressions of wickedness. He says, the wicked in his pride, they persecute the poor.

The wicked boasts of his heart's desire. He blesses the greedy and renounces the Lord. The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God. God isn't in any of his thoughts. His ways, his ways always seem to be prospering.

His judgments are far above, out of sight, as for his enemies, he sneers at them. He said in his heart, I shall not be moved. I shall never be in adversity. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression.

Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity. He sits in lurking places of the villages, in the secret places. He murders the innocent. Does that sound familiar? His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless.

Think about the abortionist who is ever ready to get the bucks for killing a child in the mother's womb. He lies in wait secretly as a lion in his den. He lies in wait to catch the poor. I think of these, I think of the lotteries and the gambling establishments that just seem to prey on those who don't really have the money to waste, but yet they're craving a windfall.

Now, who are the people that are behind these things and taking advantage of such people? Finally, in verse 11, the wicked person says in his heart, God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see.

The psalmist sees all of this and he says, Lord, why are you standing far off? Why aren't you doing something about all this? I wonder, how many times have you expressed the same sentiment before the Lord?

The Lord Reigns and Hears the Cry of the Humble

Well, the psalmist gives us an answer when he gets to the end of the psalm in verses 16 through 18, and he basically declares that, look, in reality, though it seems that God is aloof and distant and far off from all that's going on, the wickedness and corruption and violence and everything else in this world, he says this, the Lord is king forever and.

Ever.

The nations have perished out of his hands. So he's looking at the end of things here. Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will prepare their heart. You will cause your ear to hear, to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may oppress no more.

In other words, the psalmist comes to recognize and to verbalize the truth that he knows by faith, and that is, God is still the king. God rules over all, and God is going to hold accountable all those who are responsible for this wickedness.

We need to come to that same conclusion as well. When we don't see an end to the wickedness and the evil and the violence and all the rest, we don't see it. We don't see it. We don't see how it can ever come to pass.

We need to affirm with the psalmist that the Lord is king forever and ever, and he will hold all of this accountable. So let's exercise our faith in the Lord today, even when we read the news. Our Father and our God, we thank you for who you are, that you are the king forever and ever, and you are on your throne, and none of this which is going on in our world is taking you by surprise.

You've got it all in your scope of your knowledge, your understanding, and your plans for dealing with in time to come, in your time. We thank you for that knowledge and that truth, and give us encouragement from it today, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

All right, well listen, have a good rest of your Tuesday. May the Lord bless you in it.

Good day.