Psalm 10

Right off the bat, I’m going to have to ask you to forgive me for today’s blog. As an author, I usually don’t like to write about something unless I’ve mulled it over long enough in my mind to be able to write about it as if it were a little package all tied up with a bow. But today’s psalm has sent my mind off in a somewhat-new direction, so what I will write about today may be more like musing out loud. I’ll try not to babble.

I was struck right away by verse one: “Lord, why are you so far away? Why do you hide when there is trouble?” Maybe I’m reading more into the verse than is there, but to me, there seemed to be a subtle implication that if the Lord was near, the trouble would cease. Maybe that’s not what David had in mind, but it’s often what we think, isn’t it? Having just finished the book of Job, we know it’s certainly what Job’s friends thought—that trouble only comes because God is angry or has forsaken you.

But have you ever noticed that, in the Bible, trouble is found in the most astonishing places?

War in heaven. (Rev 12:7)
A snake in paradise. (Gen 3:1)
Satan among the sons of God. (Job 1:6)
A traitor among friends. (Matt 26:14-15)

This last example is especially intriguing, given the fact that if anyone had control over His inner circle, it was certainly Jesus. He could have insulated Himself from betrayal and thus prevented the suffering He knew would follow. But He didn’t. Instead, He embraced Judas. He embraced the one He knew would bring Him trouble.

So, I think it might be a fallacy to assume that God and trouble can’t be found together. Yes, God can calm storms, but He doesn’t always do so. Sometimes, as in Isaiah 43, He promises that as we go through the raging rivers or walk through the fire, we will not be destroyed. Sometimes, He lets us be thrown into the fiery furnace—and then we discover that He is right there in the middle of it with us.

Does it have to be that way? Could God have created a universe that would have been free from the possibility of suffering? I think so, but it would have been a universe that wasn’t free in any other way. Because, if God was going to avoid the possibility of suffering, He would have had to make creatures who didn’t have the power to choose. He would have had to make creatures who wouldn’t have the choice to reject Him—because it is the rejection of God that has led to suffering.

True love cannot be immune to suffering. It cannot inoculate itself against rejection. And that goes for God as well. Because He loves and wants to be loved in return, He cannot isolate Himself from suffering. In fact, knowing that He will lose many of His own children for eternity, I would say that—for the sake of love and freedom in His universe—He is prepared to suffer far more than any of us ever will.

So, even if it feels like it sometimes, I don’t believe God hides Himself during times of trouble, nor does He distance Himself from suffering. On the contrary, He consistently puts Himself squarely in suffering’s teeth. If there’s one thing we can be sure of, it’s that we are never closer to the heart of God than we are when we suffer.