December 1, 2012
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 10

OBSERVATIONS
1. Sometimes (often) God seems silent, distant, as if He does not exist or does not care that we are going through crisis. David says here that he feels that God is standing far off, hiding? Does God play ‘hide and seek’? Why does it feel that we are separated from God… Or are we, is that what the Genesis story tells us. It also tells us that this separation is not the result of God’s leaving us, but our leaving God. It’s like a person who cheated on their spouse lamenting that they do not feel close to their spouse any more. Is it any wonder that we feel distant from God, we live much of our time with our back to God?
2. What does a world look like that turns its back on God. Brokenness, misery, emptiness, cruelty, injustice, despair, anxiety, desperation, selfishness. People victimize others, and are victims to others. This is the context that David finds himself in, the life setting that leads him to cry out to God. I think this is one of the reasons that God allows us to feel the separation, so that we realize what life is like without Him. But then why do the wicked prosper (v.5), why do they think they are secure (v.6), that no one will call them to account (v.13)? For some reason, it looks as if life without God is just fine, but is it?
3. David clings to the fact that even though for the moment it seems as if people without God do well, they will eventually fall. In the same way, those who live in defiance of the law eventually get caught. I just read a story of someone in hiding from the law for 6 years. Eventually the life got to them, and they turned themselves in. They seemed to get away with their crimes, they seemed to be successful, but they couldn’t endure the lifestyle. Life against God and His will is not a happy life, it eats away at the core of a persons heart, and eventually they crash. This is what David is hanging on to, one day the wicked will discover the error of their way, and God will hold them accountable.
What do you notice in this passage?

APPLICATION
1. When life is good, I can go through my day not giving a lot of attention to God. But when things fall apart, I run to Him and ask Him why, I grumble about His being far away. Are you like this? Do you ignore God when you don’t need Him, then complain that He isn’t there when you need Him? If this were a friendship, and someone treated you this way, you would feel used and unappreciated. Is that how God experiences our relationship to Him, that we use Him?
2. God is never far away from me, He is always with me. But there will be times when He seems distant, when He holds Himself back from my experience, to test my faith, to strengthen my dependence on Him, or to expose how I use Him. The absence or silence of God is not a sign of God’s anger, but of His love. It is for our own good. I sense the Lord challenging me to look at my heart, my relationship to Him, how I go through each day with – or without – Him.
3. How many times are we fooled into thinking that we can get away with going against God and His will. We make moral compromises, and we make allowances for subtle and not-so-subtle sin. But we think God does not see, we think God will not punish us. God sees, God knows, God cares. He will step in and help us, but He will also step away to help us, by showing us what life without Him is really like. He wants to increase our dependence on Him.
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?

PRAYER
God, I know that You are always with me. And I know that I am not always with You. Make my heart eager to trust in You in good times and bad, and not just to turn to You when I get in trouble.