That question comes to the fore when things aren’t going our way, especially when it seems that things should be going our way!
And that can happen when memory of victorious past victories subsides, or it doesn’t. Because if it doesn’t, then we remember how we have been helped before. The psalmist recalls the things1 “heard with our ears… what deeds you have performed”- all wondrous deeds through which the enemy was overthrown.
The memories of God’s benefits are so great. ”4 You command victories for Jacob. 5 Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down our assailants.7 “You have saved us from our foes and have put to confusion those who hate us.”
Even harsh realities were softened when punished was soothed with relief, for when 2 “you afflicted the peoples, but you set them free.”
It thus becomes difficult, indeed puzzling, to understand why at some other time, those victories are withheld, why triumph can turn to disaster.
9 “Yet you have rejected and abased us and have not gone out with our armies.10 you have made us turn back from the foes, and our enemies have gotten spoil.
Yes., in the psalmist’s situation, things get too bad to countenance. Rejection, abasement, defeat and disillusionment were real.
11 You have made us like sheep for the slaughter and have scattered us among the nations,
Oh God, through to verse 16, you are being accused of your wrongdoing in letting your people experience shame and disgrace. Are you asleep?
Or are you trying to wake us up to the reality of the real gap between us and you?
Now I read the holy man writing his claim [our claim] to what you do not owe us, because we have been O so good”
18 Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way.
I wonder. I wonder how many times we focus so much on the maltreatment we receive that we are blind to see the maltreatment that we mete out. Or when we ponder on how much we have been abused without considering that there might even be a tinge of abuse in the way we conduct our relationships.
We even think that if we were in the wrong, God would (or should) have pointed that out.20 If we had forgotten the name of our God, or spread our hands to a strange god, 21 would God not discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.”
Maybe that’s why. BINGO! He sees our hidden flaws that we refuse to acknowledge, keeping ourselves in denial and believing we’re doing right, We can’t bear to face the truth and keep the wool over our eyes. And if we suffer misfortune, it must to be that God has fallen asleep on us.
Well God, we know that we don’t deserve your mercy for all the wretched things you know about us that we cannot yet bear to face head on.
Born in sin, and shaped in iniquity, indeed. We are in trouble.
Help us please, and don’t let us think that you have fallen asleep n us.
26 Rise up, come to our help. Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.