Psalm 10 | When Darkness Seems to Hide God's Face

Psalm 10 presents two powerful questions:

Where is God during suffering?

Why doesn’t He do something to stop it (i.e. injustice)

God’s gift to his people: The Psalms of Lament

What is a Psalm of Lament?

Lament is a prayer [or a song] in pain that leads to trust (Mark Vroegop, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament)

1/3 out of the 150 Psalms are psalms of lament. The reason why the Psalms of Lament are a gift to us is because they are an invitation from God to ask hard painful questions.

Where are you God?

Why don’t you do something to stop the pain and suffering?

The book of Psalms (150 chapters), offer a pathway to the heart of God. The psalms of lament offers me a language to communicate to God what is in my heart when I am in pain.

Jesus quoted the book of Psalms more than any other book. The psalms shaped his teaching and his prayer life.

When he was dying on the cross, Jesus quoted a psalm of lament (Ps 22:1)

The prophet Isaiah describes Jesus as, “ a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Is 53:3)

Here’s why you should pay attention to this message: Pain and suffering are never neutral. Pain and suffering will change your life. It will either draw you closer to God or push away from God.

Business on the brink of failure (you’ve work so hard and haven’t cut corners)

A painful break up

A divorce

Chronic disease (pain/fatigue/nobody seems to understand)

Cancer

Infertility

Miscarriage

Rejection (job, college, INS)

Ongoing mental health issues (anxiety/depression)

Relational pain (marriage, in-laws, falsely accused at work)

Victim of abuse (sexual, physical, emotional)

Loss of significant retirement funds

A child who has walked away from the faith (prodigals)

My guess is that most, if not all of you want to draw closer to go and want to grow deeper in your faith.

Psalm 10 offers the following roadmap: Lay out your heart before God and Laid down your heart before God.

Lay out your heart before God

Bring your pain & Bring your petition

Bring your pain

Ps 10:1 “ Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?”

To lay out your heart before God is to be honest with God. This helps us avoid two extremes: denial | bitterness

Lament offers a healthy path. Lament is a prayer [or a song] in pain that leads to trust

Ps 10:1 “Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?”

This is not the only place in Scriptures with prayers and songs like this

Ps 13:1 “1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?”

Ps 22:1 “1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?”

The very presence of such prayers in Scripture is a witness to his understanding. He knows how men speak when they are desperate. (Derek Kidner, Psalm 39)

God welcomes honest, raw, desperate prayers by desperate people. God could have said, “Oh come on! Turn that frown upside down. Or Let’s not include those prayers in my Bible, after all, real Christians don’t talk like that.”

Let me give another example: Job

In Job 1, Job said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Job 3:1-3 says“1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said: 3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.’”

Chad Bird, “Amens, anger and anguish swirl inside the faithful. And God will accept them all.”

The author of Psalm 10 is an encouragement to be completely candid about our inner turmoil, to pour it out and express it honestly.

Why does the wicked get away with evil and prosper? The wicked often times taunt, “Where is your God?”

(v.4) “There is no God”

(v.6) “I shall not be moved.”

(v.10) “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”

(v.13) “[God] will not call to account”

So lay out your heart before God by bringing your pain and by bringing your petition.

Bring your petition

Ask for God’s intervention in your situation.

Ps 10:12 “12 Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted.”

Seven lament psalms ask for God to arise. They are pleas asking God to fix what’s wrong with the world. (i.e. Your kingdom come)

We pray differently when we’re hurting and desperate. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. Pain has a way of awakening us to our need for God’s help. It shines a spotlight on our powerlessness to control everything. We are never more aware of our frailty than when hardship comes our way. This is one of the blessings of suffering if we allow lament to lead us. The various trials of life can become a platform to reaffirm our dependence upon the Lord. The requests of lament can become the place where we celebrate our need for God’s help. In this way, our requests become more than just expressions of need. These petitions are prayers of faith anchored in what we believe about God. (Mark Vroegop)

God I need to be my _______ during this time of need

Defender

Provider

Strength

Refuge

Peace

Healer

Justice

Restorer

Listener

Teacher

The psalms of lament are invitation to lay out our hearts before God. In addition the Psalms of lament are an invitation to...

Lay down your heart before God

In Psalm 10 we see the author wrestling with the idea that God seems absent. David is mad at the injustice and the way God seems to be handling the world.

There is a shift in v.14. The psalmist lays down his heart before God.

God is justice.

Ps 10:14a “But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands;

Ps 10:18a “to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,

Ps 18b “so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.” (There will come a day where oppression, corruption and evil will be completely eradicated)

God is sovereign.

Ps 10:16 “16 The Lord is king forever and ever.”

God is compassionate.

Ps 10:14b to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless.”

Ps 10:17 “17 O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear”

Main idea: Even when darkness seems to hide God’s face, I know I am not forsaken.

How do I know this? On the cross Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1 “1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The gospel reveals that Jesus was forsaken so that we would never have to be.

When I look at the cross, I see Jesus taking my place. He took the punishment and the separation I deserve because of my sin. Now I experience the assurance that he will never leave me nor forsake me.

Therefore, I can confidently say, Even when darkness seems to hide God’s face, I know I am not forsaken.

Video. Worth Every Second: Vaneetha’s Joy in Suffering

Twenty-one surgeries by age thirteen. Years in the hospital. Verbal and physical bullying from schoolmates. Multiple miscarriages as a young wife. The death of a child. A debilitating progressive disease. Riveting pain. Abandonment. Unwanted divorce. Vaneetha begged God for grace that would deliver her. But God offered something better: his sustaining grace.