Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 3-104 Sunday 25 May 2003

Psalms on Sundays Reading: Psalm 10 – IS GOD HIDING?

Begin by trying to recognise God’s presence, within you, and within these words.

What Christian has not cried out the sentiments of the first verse of this psalm? And how long was it before it was answered? Sometimes, longer than a lifetime, but not for ever. Here, there is plenty of time for the psalmist to inveigh against the arrogance of the wicked; like the biblical fool, who acts as if there were no God and no consequences, the tyrant’s wickedness begins in his heart, his thoughts (vs 4,6,11).(Ps 14:l, Prov 14:31)

The psalm is organised in two parts. A long first part (vs 1- 13) is about the apparent silence and inactivity of God set against the arrogant and exploitative evil of the wicked who delight in their untouchability. The second, shorter part (vs 14-18) reasserts the goodness and intervention of God. Our God listens; he sees; he acts. The psalm ought to end in the dark, still calling out, because God’s intervention is still in the future. But it doesn’t, and this is not because of an upsurge of wishful thinking but because of a fresh sense of God (v 14) and eternity (v 16).

There is never going to be a totally convincing answer to the question of verse 1, at least not simply in words. There is an answer in action. God’s answer to the question of suffering is a new creation. One of the lessons of this psalm is that praise, a precise and faithful declaration of the character of God, opens a space for God to act.(Ps 50:23; 2Chron 20:21-23)

Reread verse 16, and then listen, if you can, to the ‘Hallelujah chorus’ from Handel’s Messiah.

– Roger Pooley

Copyright Scripture Union, 2003, Encounter with God

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