God of the Helpless

“Why?”

This is the question that has plagued the hearts and minds of people from all generations. You have asked it, I have asked it, our parents have asked it, everyone asks it. We ask this question because each one of us has a sense of what is good and so when things go wrong, we want to know why. Perhaps we want to know what we could have done or should have done or perhaps we want to find meaning and purpose in the pain. Maybe we don’t care either way and it just seems to be the right question to angrily throw into God’s face to express our disapproval and dissatisfaction.

It's the question “Why?” that introduces Psalm 10. In this case, the question is regarding God’s silence in times of trouble: “Why is God silent in times of trouble?” Very often this is exactly what it feels like when calamity strikes. We have an innate sense that something horrible like a mass shooting or wildfire or a bloody war shouldn’t happen. When they do happen though, something doesn’t add up in our brains and we ask, “Where are you God? Why didn’t you stop this? Why does it seem like you are far away and silent?” Yet throughout our struggle and despite our questioning, God remains silent.

God’s silence will lead a person to do one of two things.

First, someone might take God’s silence as a sign that God is either not there or does not care. This person, much like the person described in verses 2-11 actually, will reject God and walk away.

Let’s take a quick look at the type of person described in 2-11 who is the cause of David’s affliction.

The Wicked:

David felt afflicted by those he described as the wicked. There are three things that characterize the wicked in the Psalm. First, in verses 2-4, they reject God. Rejecting God is caused and also results in pride and selfish desires. Because they rejected God and His law and everything designed to reign in sin, they begin their descent which often involves taking advantage of the poor and helpless.

The second quality of the wicked in verses 5-6 is that they become arrogant. Having rejected God and His laws, any prosperity is viewed as an affirmation that they are better than others and even better than God. God didn’t stop them and now that they are prospering, they don’t consider or care about any divine retribution. And because of that, they begin to believe they are undefeatable.

The final quality of the wicked in verses 7-11 is that they eventually become convinced God doesn’t care about their sin. As they progress in their sinfulness, they become foul, untrustworthy, oppressive, lawless, murders, and take advantage of the poor and helpless.

So, the person described in these verses is the one who is wicked because they rejected God and turned away from Him. These wicked people are the cause of David’s problem, but they are also the type of people who reject God because of His silence.

Helpless:

The second type of person is the helpless one who runs toward God in faith. This is the example of David.

Even through he was distressed that God seemed silent, he none the less went to God and told God all about those who were giving him grief. That’s in verses 2-11. After he did that, he finally got to asking this seemingly silent God for help in verses 12-15. “Arise, O LORD” David said, “O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted.” And then in verse 15 he completed his request by saying, “Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none.” In-between verse 12 and 15, he expressed his faith and belief that God does in fact see and take note of the deeds of the wicked with the purpose of bringing justice to the helpless who commits to God.

By the very fact that David still relied on God for help demonstrates to us that he did not believe God would remain silent forever. Through God’s silence, he kept faith and looked forward to the day when God would bring deliverance, and that hope kept David going.

But what is the foundation of David’s hope that God would one day break His silence and deliver him from trouble? What helped David to keep faith when God seemed silent? I’m sure we could come up with any number of possibilities but thankfully we don’t have to guess because he told us! At the end of verse 14 David remembered that God had proven in the past to be the helper of all the helpless who were committed to Him.

I imagine David remembered stories of Hagar whom God met in the wilderness when she was near death, or maybe he thought of God leading Israel out of Egypt, or maybe he through of his own experiences like when he killed Goliath and escaped Saul who tried to kill him many times. History had proven to David the truth that God was merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Ex. 34:6).

God’s past faithfulness helps keep faith in the present circumstances.

This is a timeless truth for the Christian to hold onto. History is absolutely full of examples of God’s faithfulness. The Bible, God’s word to us, is FULL of examples of God’s faithfulness. And consider this for a moment: people have believed in the same God for thousands upon thousands of years, ever since God created people. If God had ever proven Himself faithless that you can be sure His name wouldn’t have endured throughout the entirety of history. God’s track record of faithfulness toward the helpless who seek Him is spotless.

Some might argue that God had not been faithful because He didn’t do what they wanted Him to do. The only thing this proves is that these people never understood their helplessness and never truly sought after God. Verse 14 shows us that it’s only those who recognize their helplessness that ever truly seek God: “To you the helpless commits himself.” It doesn’t say “To you the powerful commit themselves” or “To you the wealthy commit themselves.” No, it says, “To you the helpless commit themselves.” We can’t miss this point because here’s what this means: only those who recognize their helplessness and commit themselves to God will be able to say with confidence that God hears them and will deliver them.

It reminds me of Jesus when He said in Luke 5:31-32, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” God is the God of the helpless who seek Him. It’s this reason why Jesus also said it’s easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle than for a wealthy man to enter into the kingdom of God; wealthy people don’t consider themselves helpless and are far, far less likely to commit themselves to the God of the helpless.

We usually hate being helpless and do everything in our power to avoid any form of helplessness. We like to consider ourselves as having some sort of means and ability and even take pride when we do. But the wonderfully backward truth is that we need to accept our helplessness and cry out to God in our desperation before God will deliver us. God doesn’t want those who have it put together and those who are all shiny and polished. No, God wants the broken because it’s the broken who can then be put back together.

Have you ever noticed that healing and deliverance almost never happens until you’ve been humbled? Pride makes us think we’re not as bad as we really are or that we don’t need as much help as we think. When we have a heart of pride, it’s like a traffic jam that’s preventing the ambulance from reaching the car wreck at the front. We can’t receive the help we really need. Sure, we can do out best to hobble off and pretend like we don’t need a blood transfusion and a few dozen stitches, but we won’t get far and we certainly won’t do anyone else any good while we’re injured. We need God’s help, but the only way we will every truly receive it is if we are humbled and accepting of our helplessness.

It's the helpless who has committed themselves to God who will be able to say in times of trouble, “The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations perish from His land. 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.”

Despite God’s silence, have faith that God is the Savior of the helpless who seek Him.