Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] If God, why evil?
[00:00:07] That is a question that often gets thrown at Christians in apologetic conversations. If God, why evil?
[00:00:17] And there are few questions in apologetics that are as emotionally charged as this one.
[00:00:24] Because typically when somebody asks this question, they don't want you to give them the origin of evil.
[00:00:30] They don't want you to give them a dishortation on good and evil. They're asking this question because they're hurting.
[00:00:38] This isn't a theoretical question for them.
[00:00:41] There's some kind of disconnect between their belief in a good God and their experience of sin, evil and wickedness in this world.
[00:00:52] This question matters to them. But because of what they are going through in their life right now, now there's an experience that has shaken the very fabric of their life because of what they see and what they don't know.
[00:01:10] But what they don't realize is there's a similar question that even Christians have to wrestle with, and that is, since God, why evil?
[00:01:22] We're not asking God to prove himself to us.
[00:01:26] We're not necessarily questioning his existence. This question isn't based on what we do know. It's based on what we do know.
[00:01:35] Since God exists, since God is all knowing, since God is all powerful, since God hates evil, why is this thing happening?
[00:01:47] Why is there this thing in the news?
[00:01:52] Why are there these things in my past?
[00:01:55] Why is there this thing in my life today? Since God, why?
[00:02:03] Friends, that's the question in a Christian's heart that is harder to reconcile.
[00:02:10] So I want to tell you this morning if you've ever had that question before, and maybe you're having that question here this morning, you're not alone.
[00:02:18] In fact, in Psalm 10, this is the very question David asks as he wrestles with what he sees in the world and what he knows about God.
[00:02:30] I can't promise you to answer your why question, but this psalm gives us a roadmap as we question and trust at the same time as we suffer and see suffering in this world and rest our Lord.
[00:02:49] So please take out your Bibles and open them up to Psalm 10 if you're not already there. Again, Psalm 10 that can be found on page 532 in the Pew parables provided.
[00:03:01] But while you're turning there, as far as context goes, we do know that originally in the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and even fragments of the Dead Sea scrolls had Psalm 9 and 10 lumped together forming one psalm. But due to the shift in tone, mood, focus, and even some older manuscripts influence, they were essentially separated not changing the meaning, not changing the interpretation, but causing them to be two stand alone Psalms in our English Bible.
[00:03:31] So because of this we can take the heading from Psalm 9 to the choirmaster according to the Muphleben, A Psalm of David.
[00:03:40] So it is mostly agreed that the human author was King David, who we read about in 1st Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 1st Chronicles. He served as king in Israel. He was in the bloodline of Jesus, and there's so much more that can be said about him, but none of it's super helpful for our time this morning.
[00:04:00] So with that in mind, we look to our text.
[00:04:04] Psalm 10 why, O Lord, do you stand far away?
[00:04:14] Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
[00:04:19] In arrogance the wicked haughtily pursue the poor. Let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.
[00:04:27] For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord in the pride of his face.
[00:04:38] The wicked does not seek him all his thoughts are there is no God his ways prosper at all times your judgments are on high out of his sight.
[00:04:52] As for all of his foes, he puffs at them.
[00:04:56] He says in his heart, I shall not be moved throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.
[00:05:05] His mouth is filled with cursing, and deceit and oppression under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. He sits in ambush in the villages. In the hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless. 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 them into his net.
[00:05:31] The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might.
[00:05:39] He says in his heart, God has forgotten he has hidden his face he will never see it.
[00:05:49] Arise, O Lord, O God, lift up your hand. Forget not the afflicted.
[00:05:56] Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, you will not call to an account, but you do see for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands.
[00:06:09] To you the helpless commits himself.
[00:06:12] You have been the helper of the fatherless.
[00:06:15] Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer, call his wickedness to account till you find none.
[00:06:26] The Lord is king forever, and ever the nations perish from his land.
[00:06:36] O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted you will strengthen their heart. You will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
[00:07:00] I have one main idea for us this morning, and that is take your hard questions to God in faith because he cares for you.
[00:07:15] Take your hard questions to God in faith because he cares for you.
[00:07:23] For us this morning, to help get our arms around the text, I think it's helpful to notice the flow of the psalm from the beginning.
[00:07:31] So I want to notice that this psalm has four main movements, four progressions of the psalmist's heart as he is wrestling with what he is seeing and what he knows about God.
[00:07:42] I'm not going to call these out as we get to each of them, but I think it's helpful for us to see the flow.
[00:07:48] So first, he has a question.
[00:07:50] That's verse one.
[00:07:52] He asks God a question.
[00:07:55] Second, he gives an explanation.
[00:07:59] He gives an explanation what he has seen in the world that has provoked this question inside of him.
[00:08:07] And then third, he gives a petition.
[00:08:10] A petition.
[00:08:13] He asks God to do something. That's verses 12 through 15.
[00:08:19] And fourthly, he gives a declaration.
[00:08:24] He declares something. He says what he knows about God, and he declares that truth, verses 16 through 18.
[00:08:35] So there's a question, an explanation, a petition and a declaration.
[00:08:41] I'm not trying to make this overly complicated, but it's helpful for us to see the flow of the psalmist's heart.
[00:08:50] So first, the psalmist David starts off with a question, really two of them, but they get to one main idea. Verse one. Why, O Lord, do you stand far away?
[00:09:02] Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
[00:09:06] This first question, why, oh Lord, do you stand far away? Isn't about ability.
[00:09:12] It isn't about knowledge. It's about action.
[00:09:16] It's about felt presence.
[00:09:19] It's a picture of someone standing far away with their arms crossed, but they're not doing anything.
[00:09:26] And the psalmist can't reconcile his knowledge of God with seeing this lack of action.
[00:09:31] And it's heavy for him.
[00:09:34] It's as if he's saying, I see you, but you're not doing anything. Why aren't you doing anything?
[00:09:41] He continues, why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
[00:09:47] Why do you walk away?
[00:09:49] Why don't you intervene? Why, when I need you most, are you so hard to find?
[00:09:56] Why do you hide yourself?
[00:09:59] So both of these questions, David is really just asking God, where are you?
[00:10:07] Why, when I need you most, do you seem so far away?
[00:10:12] I know that you know what's happening.
[00:10:15] I know that you could do something if you wanted to. So where are you?
[00:10:20] Why aren't you doing anything?
[00:10:24] Friends, do you hear the pain, confusion and Emotion in David's question.
[00:10:30] This isn't some hypothetical question in a think tank. This is a real life emotion question.
[00:10:37] Since God is real, since God is all knowing, since God is all powerful, why is this thing happening?
[00:10:47] Friends, that's a uniquely Christian question.
[00:10:51] The atheist doesn't ask this question because he doesn't believe God exists.
[00:10:57] But when you know who God is, sometimes we sit and we can say, God, why?
[00:11:06] Why did I have a miscarriage?
[00:11:09] Why did I have cancer?
[00:11:11] Why did you save me and not my brother?
[00:11:17] Why does it look like you're not doing anything with my son?
[00:11:21] Why won't you save my spouse? Why rape? Why abortion? Why murder?
[00:11:27] Why are you letting this person sin against me in this way?
[00:11:32] Friends, this question is only rational. If we believe in an all knowing, all powerful God, you, you can't have a question for somebody that doesn't exist.
[00:11:45] So David is wrestling with what he sees and what he knows and it comes out why.
[00:11:54] So let me ask you something this morning.
[00:11:57] What are you seeing in your life that is bringing this why question up in your heart to your God?
[00:12:06] What is in your life right now that you are looking to God and saying why?
[00:12:12] You might not say it, but you know it's there.
[00:12:16] So let me ask how do Christians honor the Lord as we wrestle with why questions in this life?
[00:12:25] Well, there are two main ditches to asking God a why question.
[00:12:30] On one hand, there's the angry why question question where you try to hold God hostage to his own actions or inactions until he justifies himself to you.
[00:12:43] The why that isn't submissive but is holding on God on trial until he justifies, explains himself and tells you what you want to know.
[00:12:55] And we see this in the book of Job where God allows the devil to take everything from him. His possessions, his own health and even his own children.
[00:13:05] All the devil left him with was a nagging wife and some mostly less than helpful friends.
[00:13:13] And in that suffering, Job begins to ask why?
[00:13:18] Why was he even born? Why has God kept him alive in his misery? Why is God singling him out? Why does evil people win and prosper? The good die and the evil live. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
[00:13:35] But Job's questions weren't sinless.
[00:13:40] How do we know that? Well, God answered Job.
[00:13:43] He answers him in Job chapter 38:40, where God doesn't answer his question. God tells him about himself.
[00:13:53] God tells him about God.
[00:13:57] God tells him about his sovereignty, about his power, his wisdom. And then Job says in chapter 42, I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you.
[00:14:11] Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.
[00:14:18] Suffering is not always brought on by sin, but it is really easy to sin in our suffering.
[00:14:25] And Job eventually sinned by shaking his fist at God and asking God why.
[00:14:33] God does not have to justify himself to us, so we should be careful asking him why.
[00:14:41] But there's another ditch that we can fall into.
[00:14:44] There's the other extreme, and it's that the words why can never come out of our mouth to God, ever.
[00:14:53] This is especially prominent in reformed circles.
[00:14:56] We teach the sovereignty of God. We sing like what we did this morning. Whate' er my God ordains is right. Amen.
[00:15:05] And we place our trust in an all knowing, all powerful God who does no wrong.
[00:15:12] And yet sometimes we can still wrestle with why.
[00:15:20] And we see examples of this in the scriptures, Christians verbalizing why to God.
[00:15:29] Sometimes we can have so much theology in our heads that we don't let our hearts bleed.
[00:15:37] Friends, what we need to hear is the why question in our hearts. Don't go away by pretending they don't exist.
[00:15:47] Now I'm sure someone in here is saying, eh, Jackson, I'm not sure about this. You just walked us through Job, remember?
[00:15:52] What biblical grounds do you have to say this?
[00:15:55] Well, first, David, in the psalm we're at this morning, Psalm 10.
[00:16:00] I believe one of the reasons God has given us this psalm is to honor God with our why questions.
[00:16:08] And there are other psalms too. Psalm 22, Psalm 44, Psalm 74, where grief and pain and suffering is verbalized with why.
[00:16:19] But that's not it.
[00:16:21] What did we read earlier in the scripture reading? That was Jesus last recorded words before his death. In Matthew 27, he said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
[00:16:37] So if it is always sin to verbalize why to God, then Jesus sinned. And friends, that's blasphemy.
[00:16:46] Jesus had better theology than any one of us in this building. And yet Jesus, in his pain, in his suffering, as God turned his back on him, could only say, why God?
[00:17:00] But there's something that's different between Job and Jesus.
[00:17:04] Job needed an answer. Jesus was just crying out to his father, quoting Psalm 22.
[00:17:12] We need to think about this. Do you think that Jesus was looking for an answer?
[00:17:17] Do you think that Jesus was wanting God the Father to speak to him and explain why he was dying on the cross with wrath, his wrath on him?
[00:17:28] No.
[00:17:29] Jesus knew exactly why he came to earth. He told his disciples over and over Again, why he came he sweat drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane because he knew what was coming.
[00:17:42] Jesus didn't just look forward to the cross. He looked forward to the wrath of God, and it made him sweat drops of blood. Jesus didn't need to know what God was doing. He just needed to go to his Father.
[00:17:56] Jesus didn't need an answer in his suffering. He just needed his Father in his suffering.
[00:18:03] He needed to speak to him, even though he couldn't hear God at all. Experiencing separation from the Father for the first time in eternity since the beginning.
[00:18:14] And that pain produced Jesus to say why?
[00:18:20] There's a depth of human suffering that can only be verbalized. God, why?
[00:18:28] The difference between Job and Jesus is one required an answer while the other one didn't.
[00:18:35] A mark of maturity in the Christian life is verbalizing your pain, your question and your suffering, but not having to have an answer from God.
[00:18:46] But you just need to talk to Him.
[00:18:50] Friends, the problem with our questions is not the words of our questions, but the heart of our questions.
[00:18:57] If we are asking God out of anger, hatred, disgust, suspicion, arrogance, we need to repent.
[00:19:05] Even in our suffering, we need to repent.
[00:19:10] Our suffering does not give us a right to question God.
[00:19:15] Okay, Jackson, I get it, but how do you do that?
[00:19:19] This question isn't just going to go away in my chest. Repent, sure. But what does that look like?
[00:19:25] Psalm 32:3 says, When I kept silent, my bones wasted away.
[00:19:31] And friends, that includes a sinful heart posture that we try to talk ourselves out of.
[00:19:38] Trust in God isn't pretending to trust him while you actually don't.
[00:19:45] Trusting God starts with telling him you don't trust him.
[00:19:50] Father, I believe. Help my unbelief.
[00:19:53] Father, I don't see. I don't trust you in this area and you have never given me a reason to not trust you.
[00:20:00] Father, I am angry with you and there's nothing that you could do that would make that. Just forgive me.
[00:20:08] Our why questions to God don't go away by pretending they don't exist. So even if they are in sin, we take our why questions to God and tell him about it so we can repent.
[00:20:22] But if your question is from brokenness, if your question is from faith, if our question is from confusion and you're just trying to say it out loud, I don't have to have an answer and I don't know why, but I just need to bring it to you.
[00:20:39] God, I just need to talk to you. And it comes out, God, why? Friends, Ask him your questions.
[00:20:47] But, friends, ask in faith.
[00:20:50] Ask your questions. As long as you know, as long as you hold onto, as long as you don't let go of that God turned His back on His Son so that he would never turn his back on you.
[00:21:02] Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Not height, not depth, not anything else in all creation can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
[00:21:14] So, friends, ask.
[00:21:16] But ask in faith, because your God loves and cares for you.
[00:21:23] And, friends, your Savior, Jesus Christ, sympathizes with you in that weakness.
[00:21:32] So what do we learn from David, Job and Jesus?
[00:21:38] Friends, take your questions to God.
[00:21:41] Whether it's in confession or confusion, take your questions to God.
[00:21:49] But either way, we need to know that God can handle our hard questions, but we can't.
[00:21:57] Questions need to be resolved, either in faith or in repentance.
[00:22:01] But we have to know that we have a good heavenly Father and a high priest who is able to sympathize with us in our weakness. And, friends, that is what David is doing in Psalm 10.
[00:22:16] But what has David seen that has stirred up these questions?
[00:22:22] What evidence is out there that is making him question the reality of what he sees and what he knows?
[00:22:30] He continues in verse 2. In arrogance, the wicked haughtily pursue the poor. Let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.
[00:22:41] David sees evil people doing evil things without restraint at the expense of the poor and the needy.
[00:22:49] David has an internal question based on an external reality.
[00:22:53] It appears that the wicked are winning.
[00:22:56] The wicked are running unrestrained. They arrogantly, violently and passionately pursue the poor, the weak, the needy, those who can't defend themselves.
[00:23:07] Friends, a predator isn't looking for a fair fight. They're looking for an easy one.
[00:23:13] Wolves don't look to fight the sheepdog or the shepherd. They look for weak sheep. And this is going on in verse two.
[00:23:20] So much so that David wants them to get tripped up in their own trap.
[00:23:26] So, friends, where do we see this?
[00:23:29] This is someone that goes to shoot a helpless, vulnerable school because they're too much of a coward for a fair fight.
[00:23:37] This is abortion doctors making a living killing helpless babies.
[00:23:43] This is husbands that beat his wife and children behind closed doors because he's just bigger.
[00:23:50] This is a man that walks around sizing everyone else up to look for his next victim.
[00:23:55] Friends, people who prey on the weak. They're not strong. They're just evil.
[00:24:01] And that's taking place before David's eyes.
[00:24:04] And friends, this is what's going on in the World around us today. Just look at the news.
[00:24:11] But he doesn't stop there. He continues. For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul.
[00:24:17] The one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord in the pride of his face. The wicked does not seek him. All his thoughts are there is know God.
[00:24:31] They don't care about God, about what he says, about what he commands about morality.
[00:24:39] They just care about what their flesh wants, what they desire.
[00:24:43] They take advantage of the poor and the needy and the helpless to gratify whatever their flesh wants.
[00:24:50] This is abusing power for selfish motives.
[00:24:54] This is rape. This is any form of sexual abuse. This is extorting someone. This is scamming someone.
[00:25:02] One of the most sickening things about mankind is what people will do just because they want to or just because it leads to what they want.
[00:25:13] It's evil, it's wrong. All because they say in their heart there is no God.
[00:25:20] Friends, on an apologetic note, God is the standard for morality.
[00:25:25] Not what people want, not what people feel, not what people think. God and his Word is the standard for what is right objectively and what is wrong objectively.
[00:25:38] So if you are in here this morning and you believe in your heart that there is no God, friend, you're going to be shocked one day when you meet him.
[00:25:48] When mankind drifts away from God being the standard of morality, it's heinous and disgusting where he ends up.
[00:25:56] And David is feeling the weight of that.
[00:26:00] And friends, we should feel the weight of that.
[00:26:06] But it's not just the evil that is bugging David.
[00:26:09] It's not just the wickedness, it's not just the godlessness. All of that would be enough.
[00:26:15] It's also that it looks like they're getting away with it.
[00:26:21] Verse 5 and 6, his ways prosper at all times.
[00:26:26] Your judgments are on high, out of his sight.
[00:26:30] As for all of his foes, he puffs at them. He says in his heart, I shall not be moved throughout all generations. I shall not meet adversity.
[00:26:43] In his sin and wickedness, in his preying on the weak to fulfill his own desire, there is no evident consequences.
[00:26:53] He, the wicked, his ways prosper at all times.
[00:26:58] These arrogant, abusive, greedy, wicked, evil people are prospering in their sin.
[00:27:05] And it doesn't look like there's anyone who's going to stop them. And this is troubling David.
[00:27:10] David sees their wickedness. David knows God's morality. David is above the board game, looking down at all the information and he's confused.
[00:27:21] The wicked life has gotten them exactly what they wanted.
[00:27:28] So they're going to keep on doing it.
[00:27:30] No justice, no restraint, no signs of stopping. They are getting away with it.
[00:27:37] Friends, for us this morning, this is the confusing reality of people prospering.
[00:27:42] They have money, power, influence, but they don't have character.
[00:27:49] Millionaires and billionaires that got their wealth, their prosperity through sin.
[00:27:56] This is when you know about an abusive situation and you can't do anything about it.
[00:28:02] This is when you know someone got arrested and they got the right guy, but there's not enough to prove it in court.
[00:28:08] This is when you think, I can tell them what he does to me, but they'll never believe me.
[00:28:15] He'll just lie about it and then it'll be worse.
[00:28:20] Friends, there's a unique helplessness when evil is prospering and prevailing and there is nothing that you can do about it. And David feels every second of it.
[00:28:34] But friends, he's still not done.
[00:28:37] David continues in verse 7. His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and depression.
[00:28:47] Under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
[00:28:52] He says he uses their mouth, their tongues to belittle people, to deceive people, to crush people, to manipulate them, oppress them.
[00:29:03] This is verbal assault to drain any confidence, verbal manipulation to trick, to remove confidence, to remove stability.
[00:29:12] Poisonous words that rot someone from the inside out.
[00:29:17] People that use their words to make someone a shell of who they used to be.
[00:29:22] They control, deceive, manipulate, destroy just with the words of their mouth.
[00:29:31] Everything that comes out of their mouth and stays in their mouth is evil. Even their intentions are wrapped up in what they are trying to achieve.
[00:29:42] They're willing to proverbially drown someone to do it.
[00:29:46] Friends, this is the professional gaslighter that you know that is guilty and twists everything to make you feel crazy.
[00:29:57] This is the abusive spouse that never lays a hand on their spouse, but makes them a shell of who they used to be.
[00:30:04] They take away their stability, they take away any kind of peace. They verbally wear them down until they have complete control.
[00:30:13] This is the guy that boasts, I can talk myself out of anything. He doesn't care about truth, he just cares about what he can get away with.
[00:30:23] Jesus says from the heart, the mouth speaks.
[00:30:26] And David is troubled by what they say and what that shows about their heart.
[00:30:33] Friends, David is exhausted and troubled by words, deeds, desires, intentions and actions of all these evil people.
[00:30:46] But there's another layer to this.
[00:30:48] David's been primarily looking at the wicked, the evil. But now he gives a window into the poor's experience.
[00:30:55] The victim's experience, he says in verse eight, he sits in ambush in the villages, in the hiding places. He murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless.
[00:31:07] He lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket. He lurks that he may seize the.
[00:31:13] He seizes the poor when he draws them into his net.
[00:31:18] The next layer to this is that it all comes out of nowhere.
[00:31:23] All of the stuff that David has been laying out is unexpected again, it comes out of nowhere. There's no time to prepare, there's no time to brace. He says they are ambushed, murdered from a hiding place like a lion in a thicket, and they are drawn into his net.
[00:31:42] Yes, we could talk about the wicked's desire for evil, the ferociousness of who these people are and the evil that is deep down, bedded inside of them. So much so that they give their life to hunting their prey, the weak.
[00:31:58] That's their intention.
[00:31:59] The goal of their life is to produce suffering in yours. They ambush, murder, stealthily watch, lurk, draw, catch the poor, the needy, the helpless. It's a warning to us that there are evil people out there hunting, but for the victim.
[00:32:19] What this all boils down to is that it's so unexpected.
[00:32:24] They were just walking down the street. They were just walking through the field. They were just walking along. And then the ambush happened.
[00:32:31] The lion pounced, the net came.
[00:32:35] David is pointing to two things. The heart of the wicked and the experience of the victim. The evil intent, premeditation and purpose of the evildoers, and the shock of the unsuspecting victim. They never saw it coming.
[00:32:51] Friends, trouble doesn't come with a billboard.
[00:32:55] Suffering doesn't always come with a warning.
[00:32:58] One moment you're fine and the next you're out in the middle of an ocean with no sight of land. And worse, the sharks are circling.
[00:33:08] These are the weeks that don't end like they started.
[00:33:12] These are the conversations that you didn't know were coming.
[00:33:15] Friends, you weren't who they thought they were.
[00:33:20] Pain and confusion that makes you say why, Lord, I didn't bring this on myself. I didn't seek out this trouble, this pain. I didn't seek this out. I tried to walk in wisdom.
[00:33:32] Situations that make you sit there and think, if I had just thought better, if I had just planned better, if I had just done these things better, then I wouldn't be here.
[00:33:42] But it's too late now.
[00:33:45] Hindsight's 20 20, but it doesn't change where I am today.
[00:33:49] And I'm already in the net, friends, and I'm crushed, verse 10. The helpless are crushed, sink down and fall by his might.
[00:34:04] The most painful punch is the one you didn't see coming.
[00:34:07] It's so disorienting, so much so that maybe even you begin to buy the lie and agree with the wicked who say in verse 11, God has forgotten.
[00:34:19] He has hidden his face and he will never see it.
[00:34:24] The evil hunt seize and subdue the poor, then smirk and say, God won't do anything about it.
[00:34:32] He's not with them.
[00:34:34] I'll never give an account.
[00:34:39] This is what David is seeing that makes him ask why.
[00:34:45] This is the world that David is confused by.
[00:34:49] This is the world that David is heartbroken for. This is the world that David has experienced. And friends, this is the world that you and I live in today.
[00:34:59] For some of us, we see this on the news.
[00:35:02] For some of us, we see this in our past churches. For some of us, we've seen this on our phones. And for some of us, we experience this in our own lives homes. We've experienced this in our own hearts. And it makes us sit and say, God, why?
[00:35:21] I don't get it.
[00:35:23] What good is all this evil? Why didn't you do something?
[00:35:27] Why, oh Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
[00:35:36] But friends, the psalm isn't over yet.
[00:35:40] If you stop here, this isn't a Christian perspective.
[00:35:44] If you stop here, there's only despair, agony and pain and evil with no hope.
[00:35:50] If you took the rest of the psalm out, there's no hope. It's all meaningless. And friends, that's what the world sees.
[00:35:58] That's what the world has.
[00:36:01] You can't deny what David just laid out. And people try to use this to discredit God.
[00:36:07] If there is God, then why evil?
[00:36:10] I won't believe in him. Look at the world around us. But the Christian's response, if there's no God, then where's your hope in evil?
[00:36:20] The reason evil breaks our heart. The reason we know evil is not good. The reason we see and read this and know that it's wrong. The reason that we look at the world around us and say that's wrong is because there's a God who says we.
[00:36:36] There's a God who is infinitely more troubled by the sin and suffering in this world than you and I are.
[00:36:43] Psalm 7:11 says God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation every day.
[00:36:50] We are troubled by what we see and God sees everything perfectly.
[00:36:57] But there's another response. For the Christian, there's Another anchor for our souls.
[00:37:05] Friends, if there's no God, where is our hope in evil? Right?
[00:37:12] Evil. Immorality. Immorality necessitate a lawgiver.
[00:37:18] If you take God out of the picture, we don't know what evil is and there is no hope that it will ever be made right.
[00:37:27] The presence of evil necessitates a God to make it right.
[00:37:34] And this is where David goes. In verse 12 he says, Arise, O Lord.
[00:37:42] Get up. It looks like you're far off. It looks like you aren't doing anything. Stand up and lift up your hand.
[00:37:50] Do something. Protect. Provide. Work in such a way that man could never take credit for it.
[00:37:57] Forget not the afflicted.
[00:38:00] Don't overlook them. Don't leave them any longer. Friends, prayer is the most appropriate response to evil in this world.
[00:38:09] Don't let evil in this world take you away from God, but let it drive you to him in prayer.
[00:38:16] David knows that he can go to God because he knows his God. He continues, why does the wicked renounce and say in his heart, you will not call to an account, but you do see.
[00:38:30] Don't they know what I know?
[00:38:33] David says it doesn't matter what they think. It doesn't matter what they say. God will note mischief and vexation that he may take it into your hands.
[00:38:45] David's not just confident because God is aware.
[00:38:49] He's not just confident because he sees. He writes it down to do something about it. God keeps track. Nothing escapes our all knowing God. So much so that he continues to you, the helpless, commits himself. You have been the helper to the fatherless God. I know you.
[00:39:10] I know what your word says. I know what my eyes have seen.
[00:39:14] And I know that you can do something.
[00:39:17] And I know that you aren't passively watching, but watching to act, watching to do something.
[00:39:25] Whether now or in eternity, it matters to you and you will do something.
[00:39:30] You will carry out justice on the wicked and you will help the vulnerable.
[00:39:35] You will be his vindication.
[00:39:37] You will be his help.
[00:39:40] So he continues, O Lord, break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer.
[00:39:47] Take away his ability. Remove his agency, take away his resources. Remove victims from his path.
[00:39:55] Shut down abortion clinics, catch rapists, catch child predators, catch abusive spouses. Catch the liar, catch the thief, catch the murderer. Call their wickedness into account until you find none.
[00:40:11] Don't just stop him, but hold him accountable for everything that he has ever done. Lord, don't just make it stop, but give us justice.
[00:40:23] Friends, evil in this world doesn't take David away. From God, but it drives him to him.
[00:40:32] The only hope for evil in this world is God.
[00:40:37] Our only hope is for him to act. Our only hope is for him to call them to account.
[00:40:43] The helpless and the fatherless, their only hope is in God.
[00:40:48] David's why question? Find their answer in faith. Here.
[00:40:54] This is where David's knowledge overrides his confusion.
[00:40:59] You do see, you do keep track. The helpless can come to you and you are able to stop the wicked no matter what. I see this is true. So I'm asking, Lord, for you to be who you say you are.
[00:41:17] David doesn't say. God already knows. I don't have to ask.
[00:41:22] He doesn't say. Well, since God is standing far off, that means the decision has already been made. He doesn't say, since God is sovereign, I don't have any business asking.
[00:41:31] No, he doesn't do that at all. He goes to his heavenly Father, pleading, petitioning and asking, because he knows his God.
[00:41:42] Friends, whatever you're going through today, whatever you're experiencing, whatever you're seeing, whatever will come to you in the future, take it to the Lord in prayer.
[00:41:54] Don't let your why questions snuff out your faith, but let your why questions be an opportunity for faith, Lord. I don't get it, Lord, but I trust you.
[00:42:07] I don't know why this is happening. Do something. I know you can do something.
[00:42:13] It feels like you have hidden yourself, but I know that you have not forgotten me.
[00:42:20] Friends, God has not forgotten you. And you can go to him in prayer.
[00:42:28] And that's good news because verse 16 the Lord is king forever, and ever the nations perish from his land.
[00:42:42] The evil that is happening in this world is on borrowed time.
[00:42:47] There's one king and one true ruler of this land. One true judge. And he is our judge and our Savior. And his name is Jesus Christ.
[00:42:59] As we read earlier in Matthew 27, friends, he is able to sympathize with us in our suffering. Because he suffered at the hands of sinful man.
[00:43:09] He was wrongfully pursued.
[00:43:12] Wicked men schemed against him. They boasted in the desires of their soul to put him to death. And they renounced God. And they got away with it. They prospered.
[00:43:23] They got exactly what they wanted. They crushed him. They lied about him. They oppressed him from the wickedness of their heart.
[00:43:31] He was ambushed while he was praying in the garden by one of his own disciples. And he was crushed for our iniquity.
[00:43:40] And God hid his face from him so much that he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
[00:43:49] Friends, the king of this land that is coming has experienced everything the wicked did in this psalm. And he is able to sympathize with us in that weakness, in that pain.
[00:44:01] But friends, he is coming back to right everything that sin has made wrong.
[00:44:08] There will be a day where the evil rulers and people will perish from his land.
[00:44:14] No more sin, no more suffering, no more sin in us, and no more sin afflicting us.
[00:44:24] Our Lord Jesus Christ is king forever and ever. And one day he is coming back.
[00:44:33] And if you're in here this morning and you don't know him, friend, I have one encouragement for you.
[00:44:41] Friend, get right with him before you meet him.
[00:44:46] Paul uses Psalm 107 as an indictment against all of humanity, as a proof text to show all men's sinfulness.
[00:44:55] All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. None is righteous. No, not one.
[00:45:00] This psalm isn't just an indictment against a certain type of person. This is an indictment against all people apart from the person and work of Jesus Christ.
[00:45:11] So if you see this morning that you are a sinner separated from God and you need to be saved from not just sinful people, but your own sin, you see that you're actually not the victim, you're the perpetrator. Friend, repent of your sin and believe in Jesus Christ.
[00:45:30] Call on your coming judge to be here even now as your Savior.
[00:45:35] Friend, I don't know what you've done, but he can forgive you.
[00:45:39] He's forgiven me.
[00:45:43] Call on Jesus Christ.
[00:45:46] He's an able Savior.
[00:45:50] Oh, friend, get right with him before you meet him.
[00:45:55] But Christian, until that day.
[00:45:59] Until that day. David says verse 17.
[00:46:03] O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted.
[00:46:11] Friends, he hears your heart.
[00:46:15] God sees what you are longing for, the relief you are looking for, the reason you are praying, what you are praying for. God hears the desires of the afflicted.
[00:46:26] And through those tears, through those cries, through those sleepless nights, through that pain that you don't think you can take any longer, there's two things that David says God will do.
[00:46:39] He says, you, God will strengthen their heart.
[00:46:45] Proverbs 18:14 says, A man's spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?
[00:46:55] I don't know who needs to hear this, but God will strengthen your heart.
[00:47:00] The promise David gives to you to hold onto what God gives us through his word, to hold onto what Jesus Christ promises to you through his word, that whatever you're going through, he will be there to strengthen your heart.
[00:47:19] When you don't think you can get out of bed again, when you don't think you can go talk to that person again, when you don't think you can go on to your God and Savior will be there to carry you, to walk with you through whatever questions you have, through whatever weight is on your heart, through whatever sin and suffering you experience on this earth. On the way home. Christ has your heart in the palm of his hand, and Christ will be your strength.
[00:47:53] But there is something else that he says God will do.
[00:47:56] He says, you, Lord, will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed.
[00:48:05] Friends, God doesn't just hear our prayers.
[00:48:08] He doesn't just hear the desires of the afflicted. He's not just listening. He's listening to act.
[00:48:14] Whether now or in eternity, you can trust that God hears your prayers and whatever is according to his will. Will.
[00:48:25] First, John 5, 14, 15 says, and this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
[00:48:39] And if we know he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him.
[00:48:50] Friends, we don't just pray for God to work justice. We don't just ask that God would be with the fatherless and the oppressed. We're not just heaping up empty phrases and saying words when we do that in our prayers, in our suffering, God inclines His ear to us and is working according to his own character.
[00:49:11] So much so that David says here at the end, so that God is doing these things for the purpose of so that men, who is of this earth may strike terror no more.
[00:49:30] God is at work in the world around us, even right now, for the purposes of restraining evil in wicked men.
[00:49:38] And friends, there is coming a day where all the evil people in this world will be cut off and strike terror no more.
[00:49:52] So what do you and I do with our why questions?
[00:49:56] Friends? Take them to the Lord in faith because he cares for you.
[00:50:03] Ask him why.
[00:50:06] Tell him what's on your heart.
[00:50:08] Tell him the burden. Tell him why the question is there.
[00:50:13] But friends, then ask him to do something.
[00:50:16] Your God is strong. He is able, and he delights in preserving his people.
[00:50:24] But friends, then trust him, friends, he is good to us, immeasurably good to us, and we can trust Him.
[00:50:41] So since God, why evil?
[00:50:44] Since God, why is this thing happening?
[00:50:48] Well, friends, I don't know. And I'm not sure that any of us will ever perfectly know.
[00:50:54] But since God is loving Kind and tenderhearted, abounding in grace and steadfast love. Friends, he hears your cry.
[00:51:05] Since God is good, just and feels indignation every day, there is not one wicked deed done on earth that will not go unpunished. There will be perfect justice for wicked men. So, friends, you can trust in his perfect judgment.
[00:51:22] Since God is the helper to the helpless, the helper to those in need, the Father to the fatherless.
[00:51:29] Friends, you can commit yourself to Him.
[00:51:34] And since our Lord Jesus Christ is king forever, since he hears the desires of our heart and sympathizes with us in our weakness, since he is gentle and lowly to strengthen our hearts and teach us, and one day the nations will perish from his land and he will render justice for the fatherless and the oppressed so that men may strike terror no more. Friends, since all of that is true, friends, you can walk with him, knowing that he carries you, knowing that he is with you.
[00:52:12] Friends, you can trust Him.
[00:52:15] He has not forgotten you.
[00:52:19] Let's pray.
[00:52:29] Father, we are grieved about the sin and wickedness we see in the world around us and even in our own lives.
[00:52:42] Father, we do need your strength.
[00:52:45] We do need your strength in our hearts. Father, we pray, forget not the afflicted arise.
[00:52:54] Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer. Work justice on this earth. Oh Father, strengthen our faith where our sight fails.
[00:53:06] Father, to any of us that is going through these circumstances in this room this morning, we pray for your comfort to them.
[00:53:15] We pray that your word has ministered to them and strengthened their heart and set their minds back on Christ.
[00:53:25] Lord, you are our hope.
[00:53:29] And in you do we trust.
[00:53:32] And in you do we have peace.
[00:53:38] In Jesus name we pray.
[00:53:40] Amen.
