May 13, 2025

May 13   Psalm 10

This Psalm points to the fact that sometimes the trouble in this world makes it seem like God is distant.  Watching the news and hearing of all the things that take place can feel overwhelming to people at times.  Here is the problem we face.  We hear of bad things happening and we start to wonder what God is up to. Does He care?  Is He paying attention?  However, we don't take in mind a couple of things.  

First, we don't take into account the things that are not reported in the news.  This is two-fold.  On one side, the news hardly ever reports the positive things that happen.  God often gets no credit because the good works aren't highlighted, only the bad things people do.  On the other side you have things that are no way reportable.  How many things has God kept from happening, tragedies that were avoided that we are completely unaware of?  I believe that God does a lot of work in our lives to keep us safe and help us that we are completely unaware of and it never gets recognized.

Second, there is a time-limit on evil.  Evil will not go on forever.  At some point judgment is going to come and all people will be held to account. For those who have put our lives in the hands of Jesus and our faith in the LORD for salvation we will spend eternity in Heaven.  For those who are unrepentant- the evil and wicked- they will face judgement and accountability and will spend eternity away from God in Hell. Eternity away from God in Hell also means the evil will not be around us for all of eternity.  God is eternal and he sees time differently than we do.  He will deal with all evil in due time, and what will result is eternity free from the wicked and evil-doers and in the presence of God.  In the big picture, our troubles of today will be nothing compared to the glory that lies ahead of us.  Our troubles are temporary, but our glorious future never ends.

Lastly, don't forget that the LORD listens carefully to our pleas.  When we are seeking help, it does not mean he did not hear when He does not act immediately. Our prayers are typically to ask God to get me out of this situation, and there is nothing wrong with that.  But sometimes God's answer to your prayer is not to get you out of the situation, but rather to get you through it.  He may not stop it immediately, but He sustains you through the struggle.