Where Are You, Lord?

[0:00] But what about those theological and existential questions that never seem to have a complete resolution? What about those questions? What are we to do with them?

[0:13] Psalm 10, I think, presents us with such a predicament. After being told in Psalm 9 of God's nearness to the afflicted, we are now challenged here with the feeling of God's distance, particularly in times of trouble.

[0:34] As Derek Kidner said, there in Psalm 9, the center of gravity was the judgment of God that is to come. But here, it is the present age where injustice and wickedness is rampant.

[0:53] And the intention of this psalm is made actually very clear in the first two verses. Observing the tragic injustices that are committed against the vulnerable, the unnamed author of the psalm, Ask God why he seems so distant in this evil.

[1:14] Where are you, Lord, in this? The question, it doesn't suppose that God is actually absent or that he has lost interest in the issue at hand, but it does reflect the psalmist confusion with God's delay.

[1:34] Surely, there has been some time in your life before and after Christ where you have looked at the rampant wickedness of this world and you've asked something similar to this psalmist.

[1:49] Lord, where are you in this evil? Why aren't you doing something? Why do you let this continue? Why do abusers and warmongers and cheats continue to get by with oppressing the weak and helpless?

[2:10] Lord, are you there? So, the psalmist asked God to act. Let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised, he prays.

[2:25] Which, interestingly enough, if you think back on the previous psalms that we've studied, this has been a common theme, hasn't it? In relation to God's judgment, there is always this focus on a future judgment.

[2:37] But some of these psalms indicate that God does indeed sometimes work now to judge the wicked. And he has a particular way that he often does that. And that is by turning their wickedness against them.

[2:50] And this facet, feature of God's work and God's judgment is prevalent in the scriptures. Do you remember in the book of Esther, the antagonist is a man named Haman.

[3:06] And Haman prepares a set of gallows in order that he might hang Mordecai, which is Esther's uncle, if I remember correctly. And God uses Esther to orchestrate events in such a way that it's actually Haman who ends up being hanged on those gallows.

[3:25] Do you remember that story? A more familiar one to you would be Daniel. Do you remember Daniel's enemies? They prepare a den of lions. And they craft a scheme not to serve justice as rulers, but specifically so that they might entrap Daniel in his faithfulness.

[3:49] And as soon as he falls into their trap, he's thrown into this den of lions, but God closes their mouths. And then he orchestrates the events in such a way that the ones who ultimately are destroyed by the lions are the very ones who provided the den to begin with.

[4:07] The way that the book of Daniel describes it is that when they were cast into the den, what hit the ground was their bones. A poetic way of saying they were absolutely destroyed as God opened the mouths of the lions.

[4:23] We know that God works this way. The psalmist knows that God works this way. And as he steps back in the psalm and he observes the wickedness that's happening, and he sees that God isn't doing anything, at least it doesn't seem like he is.

[4:36] And so he cries out in verse 2, in this summary of his prayer, let them be caught, Lord, do what you normally do. Bring justice in a way that I know you're pleased to do against the wicked.

[4:51] The difficulty presented in Psalm 10 is the seeming contradiction of God's righteousness on one hand and his delay of justice on the other hand.

[5:07] The psalmist, and we, if we're honest, often look at these types of situations, and on one side we say we know that God is righteous, we know that God judges the wicked, we know that God is not pleased by this, but we can't understand why he's not acting.

[5:25] Why is he letting children starve? Why is he letting the vulnerable be abducted and sold into the sex trade around the world? Why do needless murders continue?

[5:38] Why do wars continue to grow? Where is the Lord? We know you're righteous God. Why aren't you doing anything? And while the scriptures do, they help us to find answers to this kind of question, that's not actually the intention of this psalm, funny enough.

[5:58] It presents the problem. It offers no solution. It's not the reason for it. The purpose of Psalm 10, rather, is to give us a model for approaching God in such moments of doubt and confusion.

[6:16] The author is not trying to give you all the answers about that particular question. The author, through the inspiration of God's Spirit, is teaching us how to come to God when we're in a similar place.

[6:31] As he was in this moment. The song is straightforward, actually. There's three straightforward elements to the prayer here that teach us how we might appropriately ask God, why?

[6:48] Why? So let's just walk through them quickly. The first thing I want you to see is the psalmist concern. Notice the psalmist concern. We find it enumerated in verses 3 through 11.

[7:04] I won't read them all again now. We'll walk through them together. But what we see is that the first thing that the psalm teaches us to do is actually to bring our concerns. We might even call them complaints.

[7:15] Bring our complaints to the Lord. Foolish is the one who says it's inappropriate to ever ask God, why?

[7:26] That's foolish. It's certainly not biblical. God invites us, actually, to cast our anxieties upon him, for he cares for us, Peter says.

[7:39] And there is certainly a sinful way that we might go about doing that. But the thing itself, bringing our concerns, bringing our complaints, bringing our cares to the Lord, the thing itself is good and right.

[7:55] Notice that more than half of this psalm, which was meant to be repeated as an act of worship among God's people, half of it is committed to the psalmist expressing his confusion and his concerns and his complaints.

[8:13] How could we come to a psalm like this and ever say, it's never appropriate to ask God why he's not doing something or where is he in a particular situation? This was meant to be repeated in worship.

[8:26] And more than half of the psalm is a complaint, a concern. As he observed the injustices performed by the wicked, the psalmist voiced four particular complaints about the wicked to the Lord.

[8:42] First, he expresses his confusion about their pride. Look with me at verse 2. In arrogance, the wicked hotly pursue the poor.

[8:52] Verse 3. For the wicked boast of the desires of his soul, the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. Verse 4. In the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek him.

[9:06] All his thoughts are there is no God. It's the wicked's pride that drives his pursuit of the poor and it's his pride that drives his blasphemy against the Lord.

[9:21] And there's two dimensions to his pride. First, there is this horizontal dimension. In which he considers himself superior to the weak. His injustices here, as they are recalled by the psalmist, they're always aimed, if you notice, at the vulnerable.

[9:41] Why does the wicked always aim, in this context, his injustices toward the vulnerable? Because he believes in his arrogance that he is superior to them.

[9:52] That they are inferior people. Therefore, he is justified in coming against them and in abusing them. You say, well, how does this work out in our lives around us?

[10:07] Well, you don't have to look very far. You pick up a newspaper and you'll probably see just about every day a number of occasions where this is happening all around us.

[10:19] This week, we'll celebrate the independence of our nation. A wonderful celebration. Andy mentioned the other day, it's his favorite, right? Is that what you mentioned recently?

[10:32] Favorite holiday of the year. It's exciting. Julie and the girls and I are planning to go to Washington, D.C. for a few days in September. And I always love going there. It's one of my favorite places to visit because there's so much about our nation, our independence, and the boldness and courage of those who have gone before us that is worth celebrating.

[10:53] You know, we would do well this week that in the midst of our celebrations, we would recognize and stop and give attention to our nation's history in regards to this very wickedness that's described here.

[11:10] Does this not describe the nature of the chattel slavery of which many in our nation were guilty for so long? The strong oppressing the weak, believing that black people were less than human?

[11:29] Wasn't that the argument? That on one hand, we can write in our declaration of independence that all people are created equal, but we get the right to choose who is a person and who is not a full person?

[11:43] And that was the argument. What is that if it's not what's being described in Psalm 10? The powerful, the strong, taking advantage of the vulnerable and the weak in order that they might build themselves up.

[11:58] Advocates of abortion make a similar argument. They espouse a similar kind of reasoning that an unborn child is something less than a full human with an equal right to life.

[12:13] The strong taking advantage of the weak, aiming their injustices at the vulnerable. There's a horizontal dimension to this pride that we are better.

[12:28] There is something superior in us than in them. That's how the wicked one thinks. Then there's this vertical dimension to the pride, isn't there? So that the wicked, we're told, renounces the Lord, refuses to seek him, and then mockingly declares, there is no God.

[12:50] There is no God to judge me. That's what they say. So there's this horizontal pride. Then there's this vertical pride in the two are not unrelated. Psalmist complains that the wicked not only pursue the poor and renounce the Lord, but they go so far as to boast in their evil deeds.

[13:08] That's what he says in verse three. The wicked boast of the desires of his soul. He believes his desires are justified. There is this Darwinian-like worldview in these individuals that believe only the strongest should and will survive.

[13:29] They boast in predatorial behavior, seeing a desire to win at all cost as a virtue. It is a prevalent, although perhaps sometimes masked, worldview of our day.

[13:49] That all you need to do is follow your heart, choose your dream, and don't stop at anything to get there. Let no one get in your way.

[14:00] Let no relationship stand in the way of your autonomy and your freedom and your dream and your pursuit. We only need to look at even the candidates for this year's presidential election to see how this wickedness is trumpeted as a virtue.

[14:23] The wicked have an unmitigated pride, and the psalmist can't understand why God hasn't intervened. Do you feel that?

[14:35] Do you feel the raw emotion of this prayer as he witnesses this? And he says, Lord, why aren't you doing something about this? So there's their pride.

[14:46] Then there's their prosperity. Verse five. His ways prosper at all times. Your judgments are on high out of his sight. As for all his foes, he puffs at them.

[14:58] He says in his heart, I shall not be moved throughout all generations. I shall not meet adversity. So that in addition to their pride, the psalmist struggles to understand their prosperity, which increases their arrogance even more.

[15:14] This is precisely what drove another psalmist named Asaph to nearly abandon the faith altogether. Flip over to Psalm 73, would you? It'll be a few years before we get to this one, so we might as well look at it now.

[15:28] Psalm 73. This prayer of Asaph, truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart, but as for me, my feet had almost stumbled.

[15:44] My steps had nearly slipped. Why, Asaph? For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

[15:54] That sounds similar, doesn't it? They have no pains until death. Their bodies are fat and sleek. I didn't know those two things worked together. They have lots to eat.

[16:05] They're wealthy. They are not in trouble as others are. They are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore, pride is their necklace. Violence covers them as a garment.

[16:17] Their eyes swell out through fatness. Their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice. Loftily, they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth.

[16:32] Therefore, his people turn back to them and find no fault in him. Do you see what Asaph is saying there? That these people, if we can follow the same theme as the political environment of our nation right now, these same people, they see this wickedness that's happening, and they just assume, we can't do anything about it.

[16:51] We might as well support it so that the people of God say, we can find no fault in these wicked people. Verse 11, and they say, how can God know?

[17:03] Is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the wicked, always at ease. They increase in riches. And what did this cause Asaph to believe?

[17:13] Verse 13, all in vain have I kept my heart clean. All in vain it feels that I've lived in holiness and in righteousness.

[17:29] Asaph knew what the psalmist of Psalm 10 was talking about. We can all relate to this confusion on some level. Why does God allow the wicked not only to continue in their sin, but prosper in it?

[17:45] The way of the world is such that the unrighteous increase in power, the crooked gain tremendous wealth, the corrupt are celebrated when they should be incarcerated.

[17:57] The struggle for a believer then is that we expect God to punish these people when in fact they continue to prosper. And we step back like the psalmist so very often, if you're paying attention, and you just say, Lord, where are you?

[18:12] Why? Then there's their plans that frustrate the psalmist. Verse 7, his mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression.

[18:23] Under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. He sits in ambush in the villages and hiding places. He murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless.

[18:34] 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 him into his net. It's the plans of the wicked.

[18:47] Have you noticed how often sins of the tongue have been at the forefront of the injustices described in the first few psalms? It feels like almost every psalm, doesn't it?

[18:58] There is some cry against the words of the wicked, the lies of the wicked, the slanders of the wicked, the cursing of the wicked.

[19:14] It's not that the wicked occasionally bend the truth to win. The psalmist says their mouths are full of it. They're full of cursing. They're full of deceit.

[19:25] They're full of oppression. These sins of speech are actually crucial to their schemes. They know that if they do not engage in this level of deceit and manipulation, they will not achieve the goals for which they desire.

[19:48] And so it's crucial. So that where you find a liar, you are sure to find an oppressive scheme shortly after. He who has an ear, let him hear.

[20:04] Plans of the wicked are marked by stealth. Like a lion hurting her prey, they wait in the shadows until the weak are most vulnerable. And when the time is right, they take advantage of the most helpless of people.

[20:19] How many stories have we heard in recent days about abusers, quote, grooming their prey? Of thieves baiting those, sometimes in elaborate schemes, in order to steal from them.

[20:40] Of the powerful, manipulating people that they just plan to use to advance their own desires, and they're going to leave them in the dust. This is our world.

[20:53] It's always been our world since sin came in. Then there's the product of all of this that frustrates the psalmist, verse 10.

[21:05] The helpless are crushed. They sink down. They fall by the might of the wicked. And then he says in his heart, God is forgotten.

[21:17] He's hidden his face. He will never see it. The psalmist laments the products of the pride and prosperity and plans of the wicked.

[21:28] All of it leads to the helpless being crushed and the wicked increasing in their arrogance. They say God has forgotten and hidden his face so that the wicked will continue to succeed in their schemes.

[21:44] No one to hold them to account. So now we come to this point in the psalm and we think, okay, now we understand that opening question a little better.

[21:55] Not only is he confused about what seems like a contradiction in God's righteousness and God's action, but we get to this particular verse and we think, you know, maybe the psalmist has heard this declaration of the wicked in verse 11 that God doesn't see and that he's distant and that he doesn't care and that he's not going to judge and now even the faithful are starting to wonder, maybe they're right.

[22:23] Maybe he doesn't see. Has God actually hidden his face? Where is he? Why hasn't he intervened? Now the point of all of this is to say that though it is never right to charge God with an injustice, the psalmist is not doing that.

[22:42] It's never right to charge God with an injustice, but that doesn't mean it's wrong to bring your cares and your concerns and your complaints to him in prayer. Psalm 10 is a model for us that when we too look around and see things like this, that it is okay to go to the Lord and pour out your heart to him and your confusions to him and your doubts and your frustrations to him.

[23:06] Lord, why? Why is it this way? We have the model. So we see the psalmist concern. Secondly, we see the psalmist prayer. The psalmist prayer.

[23:17] Look with me at verse 12. Arise, O Lord, O God, lift up your hand. Forget not the afflicted, Lord. Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart that you will not call to account?

[23:31] You do see. You note mischief and vexation and you note it so that you may take it into your hands for judgment. So to you, the helpless commits himself and you have been the helper of the fatherless.

[23:45] So, Lord, break the arm of the wicked and evildoer. Call his wickedness to account till there's no more left. So he moves from the passion, the emotion of the question itself to a passionate, emotive, prayer to the Lord to act.

[24:07] We've seen his concern. Now we recognize what he does and what he does not do. Psalm 10, at this point, brings us to a proverbial fork in the road.

[24:19] One leads to the dismantling of one's faith, determining that if there is a God, there must be some injustice in him.

[24:30] The other path, however, is the model of faith that trusts the Lord even when his ways are difficult to comprehend. And the psalmist here chooses to walk in faith, doesn't he?

[24:44] Asaph was nearly about to abandon the faith. Perhaps the psalmist in Psalm 10 was as well, but neither one of them do that.

[24:56] They trust the Lord. They model faith. The psalmist doesn't accuse God. He doesn't doubt God's goodness. Instead, he casts his cares on the Lord. He pleads with him to act according to his righteous character.

[25:11] Habakkuk had a similar predicament, didn't he? Faith was his answer from God when he prayed a similar prayer. Habakkuk 2, 4, the righteous shall live by faith.

[25:28] So that while the wicked live in skepticism, the righteous continue in faith even when they don't have all the answers. Rather than believe the words of the wicked in verse 11, the psalmist responds with what he knows to be true of God, doesn't he?

[25:47] He doesn't know the reason for God's delay, but he affirms that God does indeed see our works. He keeps a record of our deeds, and in time, he will judge all of us.

[26:01] That's his affirmation here, isn't it? God will be a helper to the fatherless, those who have no one else to care for them. psalmist knows that God's heart beats for the oppressed, and his prayer warns the wicked regarding their judgment.

[26:21] He says, you may think you're getting by with it, but God sees you. He's keeping a record of everything you do, and one day you will stand before him, and you will give an account for your sin.

[26:41] Proverbs 5, 21, a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all of his paths. Proverbs 15, 3, my dad quoted this to me so often, growing up, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch over the evil and the good.

[27:03] God, he does see. He sees you. He sees your works. He knows your heart. He knows your thought, and it may seem like things are working out for you just fine right now, but all of us are going to stand before him one day.

[27:18] All of us. So the psalmist knows that judgment will eventually come, but his prayer desires that God will bring it now, doesn't it? Wait no longer, God.

[27:31] Break the power of the wicked now. Judge the wicked until there's no unrighteousness left. We know this is ultimately going to be fulfilled in the final judgment, but that doesn't mean that we cannot or should not pray for it now.

[27:50] It doesn't mean that we shouldn't act against the wicked now. If God cares for the afflicted, and he does, then so should his people.

[28:04] And that care should be expressed in our prayers first, praying for God to act, and then that care should be expressed in real advocacy for the vulnerable and the weak.

[28:18] The scripture makes this clear. God himself says to Israel through Isaiah, wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your deeds from before your eyes, and what will that result in?

[28:30] You will cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.

[28:44] Yes, God is the judge, but he expects his people to advocate for the vulnerable. That's our responsibility, church. We must do this.

[28:56] As James makes very clear, religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

[29:09] Part of our responsibility as God's people, as his church, is to live in holiness and then to help the afflicted. That's why we love people like Andy and Amy who have committed themselves to adoption.

[29:25] That's why we love what, what, foster care. I was losing it. I was losing, starting to lose my mind. We love it.

[29:37] We love what Kristen does for a living. She helps children who are parentless or at least in situations where their parents are not good. They're in affliction and they're oppressed and she helps.

[29:47] That is, that is very Christian. It's very Christian. It's why we advocate for the right to life for the unborn. It's why we want to support organizations that are helping crisis pregnancy issues.

[30:03] It's why we want to support organizations that are helping the homeless and helping supply needs. This is the heartbeat of God. It should be our heartbeat as well. the model given to us after we voice our concerns to God.

[30:19] It's good and right to pray that he act according to his righteous character. And while we trust his purposes, we should seek for his work to be accomplished in the here and now.

[30:31] And how do you think he's going to accomplish that? He's going to accomplish it through his people. Through his people. We see the psalmist concerned.

[30:43] We see the psalmist prayer. Finally, we see the psalmist praise. We see his praise. Verse 16. The Lord is king forever and ever.

[30:56] The nations perish from his land. O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted. You will strengthen the 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.

[31:14] Psalm 10 ends with a moment of worship. A declaration of confidence that God will act as the psalmist has prayed. But what's interesting about it is that this conclusion does not follow a resolution.

[31:32] It does not follow an explanation to the question that he asked. In verse 1. Do you remember how he opened? Why, Lord? Why are you distant?

[31:45] Where are you in times of trouble? And God never gives an answer. He doesn't offer an explanation. He doesn't usually. God more often deals in promises than he does in explanations.

[32:00] The psalmist clings to the promises of God and that's why he prays the way that he does and he worships the way that he does. But this worship and this confidence it doesn't follow an explanation and I think that's important for us to see.

[32:12] The faithful are not without their questions. Neither is their faith crippled by those questions. Faith doesn't come from having all the answers.

[32:26] Faith is trusting God especially when you don't have all the answers. That's what faith is. And we find it modeled here.

[32:38] Despite the emotion of the question at hand the faithful can genuinely worship. You can have real confidence that God is present and that he is doing what is right and what is good according to his purposes.

[32:57] Perhaps this is challenging for you. Perhaps the most challenging thing for you is to genuinely worship to express confidence in the Lord when you actually do have doubts and confusion about his ways.

[33:11] The problem of evil is a common it's a common issue for everybody to grapple with. There are people that we pray for regularly that the reason that they are reluctant to trust the Lord is because they don't actually believe he's good.

[33:26] They look at the problem of evil and they say there is injustice in God and we'd be lying to say that there's never a time where we're like confused like the psalmist is confused and in those moments it's difficult isn't it?

[33:40] It's difficult to engage authentically in worship on a Sunday morning to have confidence in your evangelism when you know that this issue is not only in your mind but it's probably in the minds of others around you and it's difficult to be genuine.

[33:54] What the psalm teaches us here is that you actually can be genuine in both your worship and your confidence and the key to both of these things is in personal communion with God.

[34:11] That's the key. You say that sounds too simple it doesn't sound like that could work. It's the key. This is the model of Psalm 10.

[34:26] This is why it's so important. It is in the regular study of the Bible and prayer that we don't convince ourselves that things are okay but that the Holy Spirit strengthens our hearts in His power despite the fact that we don't have a lot of answers.

[34:50] Isn't that what the psalmist says? He worships the Lord and then he says in verse 17 you hear the desire of the afflicted you will strengthen their heart.

[35:02] I can't strengthen your heart but He will strengthen your heart and how does He do it? By the Spirit through His Word in the prayer closet Derek Kidner says however distant may be the day of justice one promise is not delayed you will strengthen their heart.

[35:28] This is what Asaph discovered in Psalm 73 flip back to it we'll just read the whole thing Psalm 73 look this time at verse 16 after Asaph makes his complaint and he tells us where he had come notice what he does when I thought to understand this it seemed to me a wearisome task I kept trying to come up with a solution with answers and I couldn't do it and now I'm burdened by it so what does he do?

[35:59] He doesn't abandon his faith verse 17 until I went into the sanctuary of God then I discerned their end not their present then I discerned their end truly you set them in slippery places you make them fall to ruin hell they are destroyed in a moment swept away utterly by terrors like a dream when one awakes oh Lord when you rouse yourself you despise them as phantoms when my soul was embittered when I was pricked in heart I was brutish and ignorant I was like a beast towards you nevertheless I am continually with you you hold my right hand in my questions and doubts and confusions you guide me with your counsel and afterward you will receive me to glory whom have I in heaven but you Lord there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you my flesh my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever for behold those who are far from you shall perish you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you but for me it's good to be near to God

[37:16] I have made the Lord my refuge that I may tell of all your words isn't that wonderful what does Asaph do he goes to the Lord and what does the Lord do he strengthens his heart it's what Habakkuk discovered as well Habakkuk 3 17 though the fig tree should not blossom nor fruit be on the vines the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herds in the stalls by the way that's exactly what was happening to Habakkuk and the people of Israel at that time their life was absolutely destroyed what does he say though all of that be yet I will rejoice in the Lord I will take joy in the God of my salvation because God the Lord is my strength your strength does not come from having it all together and being able to answer every question that you're ever asked about theology and existence that's not where your strength comes from it comes from your communion with

[38:27] God if you're struggling with this question bring your concern to the Lord but bring it to him in private prayerful communion study the word pray sincerely to him he will do this work in you it's his promise he will do it he will strengthen your heart the best place to take your doubts and confusion is to the throne room of God there he will meet you and he will strengthen your heart as no explanation will ever do now to close I want us to consider the implications of the gospel on this question okay just think about how does this relate to the gospel regarding the question of why God allows evil to continue we may never have a fully satisfying answer this side of heaven don't expect that there's ever going to come a day where finally you just got it all figured out his ways are not our ways we're not going to comprehend it like that but there are some affirmations that we can make that may bring us some peace one affirmation is that

[39:43] God is indeed righteous this is what Abraham says as he converses with God about the destruction of Sodom I know it's right because you are right you are righteous another affirmation is that he is always working for his glory and the good of his people that's Romans 8 isn't it all things are working together for the good not all things are good all things are working together for the good of his people we may be conformed to the image of Christ that we may trust the Lord and bring him glory another affirmation would be that God delays his justice to give the wicked time for repentance it's clear that's Romans 2 do you not know that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance another affirmation would be that

[40:49] God's delays allow the wicked to store up wrath for their coming judgment again that's Romans 2 God desires to lead them to repentance but he also allows them to keep storing up wrath so that day of judgment will be very very clear another affirmation would be that if God were to act in immediate judgment whenever some wickedness took place it would result in the immediate damnation of all people not just the most wicked among us all of these things are true all of these things can bring us a measure of peace it doesn't mean that they completely satisfy all of our questions about it but they are affirmations that we can and should make as we think about it but to comprehend God's heart in all of this we have to look to the cross God does not stand distanced from our suffering he does not even stand close to it and peer and observe what we deal with

[41:58] God in his great love instead enters our suffering he becomes a man taking on flesh Jesus Christ the son of God subjecting himself to the severest of oppressions he leaves the throne room of heaven to be born on a stable floor every part of his life was threatened from its very beginning from its very conception every part of his life was a struggle in his ministry the son of God said foxes have holes birds have nests the son of man has nowhere even to lay his head and then of course is ultimately seen at the cross not only does God enter our brokenness but he suffers at our hand those whom he created he allows to nail him to a tree why so that he might take the wrath of

[43:10] God's judgment in their place he said I don't understand everything there is to know about why God does things the way that he does and I can often pray Psalm 10 as a legitimate prayer of my heart because I don't understand all the time but I cannot logically conclude that something in God is unloving if I turn my attention to the cross of Christ the very condescension of Christ that he would even come to be a man is speaking measureless about his love but to see that he lays down his life even to the point of death even the death of the cross there I can see God's heart there I can understand his love and though we can't always comprehend how he works because of the cross we cannot logically and reasonably charge him as being unloving but there's one more step to the gospel that helps us with this after

[44:21] Jesus his resurrection from the dead what happens he ascends doesn't he he ascends to the exalted position in heaven he is Lord to which every man woman boy and girl will have to give an account for their deeds in this life part of the gospel message is the good news that Jesus the exalted Lord and Savior will judge the earth and he will make all things new we don't often see that now but we can rest assured that because of the death and resurrection and exaltation of Jesus the final judgments coming even so come Lord Jesus we pray Psalm 10 it truly is a helpful model for how to ask God why in our confusion we should bring our concerns to

[45:25] God we should pray for him to act and then we should be his instrument of action if he so wills and we should trust that he is doing what's right but in the end we must ultimately look to the cross there we find mercy for our wickedness and hope for our justice