Psalm 10:1 Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble
I don’t know about you, but the older I get the more I feel I do not know. Sometimes I get frustrated by all the things I don’t know. A lot of times it is just practical things. I want to learn about something and I almost get impatient because I think, “I cannot learn this fast enough. I feel like I should have known this twenty years ago.” That is just the practical things in life. If I think about the deeper mysteries of life, there are just so many things I do not know or understand.
Psalm 10 is a contrast between the humble and the proud, and you find very clearly that the way you respond to the unknown exposes your relationship to God. Psalm 10:1 begins by asking a question, “Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?” That is a good question, and it is a question of a humble person. You find this humility, need of and dependence upon God, throughout the psalms. I just finished reading the book of Job, and there is so much about the story of Job that I do not understand. Even if I think about what is happening behind the scenes in chapter 1, I still don’t comprehend all of God’s dealings with Job.
In Psalm 10:1 the psalmist asks the hardest question of all. It is not a what, where, or when question; it is a why question. Why, God, why? This describes the question in play, but there are two kinds of people, the humble and the proud. The way you respond to what you don’t know really does expose your relationship to God.
First, there is arrogance. Arrogance is ignorance almost by definition. Here is a man who boasts. Verse 2 says, “The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor.” Verse 3 says, “For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire.” Verse 4 is the most instructive, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.” The proud doesn’t seek God because he doesn’t think he needs to. He assumes that God cannot see. Verse 5 says, “His ways are always grievous; thy [God’s] judgments are far above out of his sight.” A boastful man sees things around him and assumes things are good for him because he is great and the poor have a hard time of it because they are not great. God’s judgments are out of his sight. Instead of acknowledging there are things he doesn’t know, he assumes he does know.
Arrogance is ignorance. You don’t know what you ignore and what you don’t think you need to know. So, the arrogant cannot see. He assumes that God is the one who is deficient. Verse 11 says, “He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.” He thinks that God has forgotten the poor. The arrogant assumes that God doesn’t care about the poor and God doesn’t see what wicked is doing. That is pride. Arrogance is ignorance.
Only the humble get help. While neither the proud nor the humble understand what God is doing, the proud don’t know because they don’t think they need to know or they think they know everything. On the other hand, the humble ask God. Verse 1 is a bold question, “Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?” That is a bold question and one borne out of humility. If you were to ask such a bold question with an arrogant heart, you might be struck dead. The psalmist is asking in all sincerity, “God, I don’t understand. Please help me to know and to understand.”
God has seen. Verse 13 says, “Wherefore doth the wicked contemn [sneer at] God? he hath said in his heart, Thou [God] wilt not require it. Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite [repay] it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.” So, the humble get help because they ask. In verse 12 we find that God will neither forget nor forsake. Psalm 9:12 says the same thing, that God will not forget us nor forsake us. God has seen.
God has heard. Verse 17 says, “LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble.” So, arrogance is ignorance and only the humble get help. Hebrews 13:5 says, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” God will never intentionally or unintentionally forget or forsake us.
Years ago, at college I had a job at the information desk which was the hub of campus. I gave answers to all kinds of questions by phone and in person. I quickly learned there was no way to know all the answers. The secret was to know who knew the answers, to know who to ask. Today, that is the sum and substance of it all. There are so many things we do not and cannot understand. Some people don’t even know what it is they don’t know because they are arrogant, but the way your respond to the unknown exposes your relationship to God. Arrogance is ignorance, but the humble get help.