Today’s Reading:
PSALM 10:1-18
"Why do you stand afar off, O Lord? Why do you hide in times of trouble?" (v. 1)
In the passage read today, the Psalmist was asking why does God hide himself in such times of trouble? (v.1) David wants God near at hand, resisting the schemes of the ungodly, vindicating and delivering his servants. We ask God for help, but He is not answering like we think He should be. We have a problem of some sort and it concerns us because it’s too big for us to solve. Hostility is everywhere. We keep on praying, and the problem still lingers on with nothing changing at all. We get weary, weary of dealing with our problem, weary of continually praying about it, and (even more) weary of seemingly getting no response from God. Then after we’ve been wearied for a while, we begin to have a problem with prayer. We find ourselves wondering if it really does any good, if it’s worth it to keep on praying. But a little later we slip into another struggle. We begin to doubt ourselves: “What’s the matter with me? Don’t I pray right? Aren’t my prayers good ones? Is there something wrong with my faith? Is it too small?” And after a while it gets even more painful. Soon we are not only weary, and doubting prayer, and doubting ourselves, but we begin to have a problem with God. Where is God? Does he listen and care?
The Bible says prayer is good, it’s powerful, and it makes a difference. We find many prayers in the Bible, prayers that obviously made a difference. We hear Jesus say in Matthew, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find” and then he went on, “For everyone who asks receives . . .” (Matt.7:7&8). And we remember that in John’s gospel he said, “The Father will give you whatever you ask in my name”. (John 15:16 and 16:23) And the apostle James said, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16) and then he substantiates that claim with the story of Elijah who prayed first that it would not rain and it did not for three and a half years, and then he prayed that it would rain and it did rain! With things like that in the Bible, I would expect that when I pray it’s going to make a difference, and things are going to change.
David does not stop praying. Our Lord Jesus tells us that men should always pray and not faint. What is he demanding from us? Tenacity in prayer. Let God know of your deep, deep desire for what you are asking for. We can dream of a hundred things a day that we’d like. We can pray about ten of them, but if there’s something we know that’s pleasing to God then we’ll plead with God for it with importunity. We pray, and there is a gap, maybe a long gap before that particular answer comes. Is that a wasted prayer? Did we mix it with worship and thanksgiving and submission and longing? Yes. Was it worship acceptable to God through Jesus Christ? Yes. Were others of our requests answered? Yes, and did we have sins to confess and gratitude to express? Yes. Did he ask us to pray, “Thy kingdom come?” Yes. Let’s go on praying for what we haven’t yet received. Please do not faint. And that is what David does.
David comforts his heart in the mercy of God. Though he wonders where God is, and why he doesn’t arise when the enemy comes in like a flood, this is his final assurance; David has broken through; “You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more” (vv. 17&18). The king had been wavering; he heard of the pain; he saw the grief that his people were enduring. He saw the mighty strength and cruelty of the enemy. He cried to God for help again and again and at first there was no response but then assurance flooded his soul. God does hear. God does answer in his perfect timing; “You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more”. Remember, God is delaying in answering your own prayers for a reason. It is not mere sovereignty that is saying No. Maybe the Lord is wisely denying a request that wouldn’t be good; or perhaps God has a better alternative plan. If we could see the big picture, we would know that God is indeed at work answering. I would also caution you to be careful about how much you feel you can demand of God. It’s true we may tell God all of our needs, and we may ask him to help with all of them, but sometimes, I’m afraid, we also think we can tell God exactly how he ought to answer, and exactly what he should do. Then if he doesn’t do it in exactly our way, we think he’s being silent. We call for help, but then we must leave it to him to decide how and in what way he will help.
There’s another caution too. Don’t assume that just because God is silent it means he is inactive. It’s easy to jump to that conclusion, I know, but not all silence is inactivity. Sometimes while he seems silent, he is busy working out something in the background. I want to conclude with this, that we must learn to live with mystery. There are and always will be things that we can’t understand. There will always be some of God’s ways that we can’t fit into our finite minds. They are sometimes beyond our comprehension. And so, though we cannot understand why he seems to stand afar off and hide himself from his people in trouble, we affirm that from everlasting to everlasting he is God. He loves us, he is merciful, trustworthy; he is the source of all good, and we can trust him no matter what!
Keep on praying. Don’t give up, even when you are tempted to doubt its value. There is a very stirring parable that Jesus told in Luke 18. A widow was calling on a judge for some justice; and the judge paid no attention to her. Day in and day out she kept coming to him, but he wouldn’t listen. Finally, after many such attempts, he changed and gave her what she requested. The point Jesus is making is not that God is like that Judge whose reluctance has to be overcome by monotonous persistence, but that if a godless hard man will finally give in to the persistence of a widow, then how much more will God give the very best to those who trust in him.
OLAJIDE OGUNFUWA
Prayers:
God don’t be silent on my case, arise and attend to my cry in Jesus’ name.
Bible says “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” Father I confess any unrighteousness that may want to hinder my prayer, in Jesus’ name.
God pour your blessing upon me and my family in all that we do, in Jesus’ name.
Lord take away doubting mind from the heart of our Church leaders, help them to understand supremacy in answering prayers, in Jesus’ name.
God have mercy on our nation, in Jesus’ name. Amen
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