I’ve heard some Christians say that they never question God.
I’m glad the psalmists didn’t take that approach.
Psalm 10 begins with the bold questions, “Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1 NIV)
I’ve pondered those questions a lot, lately. Just this morning I awoke to the news that the Russians had fired a cluster bomb into a train station where people were evacuating. As of this writing there are at least 50 dead.
Where are you, Lord?
A few days ago, the face of an adorable four-year-old boy showed up in my Twitter feed. His name was Sasha. He was separated from his mother when the boat they were in capsized as they tried to cross a river near Kyiv.
They found his body some weeks later.
He hadn’t drowned.
Four-year-old Sasha died of a gunshot wound.
Why are you silent, Lord?
The evening news shows pictures of hastily dug mass graves in Mariupol. Drone videos show body bags lined up, waiting for burial. Other photos show victims lying in the street where they were gunned down.
God, why do you stand far off?
These stories are the fodder from which doubts arise. Not a few people have abandoned faith because they could not resolve the question of God’s silence in the face of tragedy.
For his part, the psalmist chooses to affirm God in the midst of his circumstances: “But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand” (Psalm 10:14 NIV).
For my part, I struggle. I question.
And I affirm.
But I have something the psalmist didn’t.
I can look at the events of Holy Week for an answer.
A time when God was silent.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
And when he wasn’t.
“He is risen!”