Questioning God

If you believe as I do that God is sovereign and nothing on earth happens without His permission then how do we respond when it appears that wickedness is triumphing over righteousness? How do we respond when we do everything right, yet everything seems to be going wrong? There are a few of ways to respond. One is to develop a fatalistic attitude and unemotionally throw up our hands and say “Oh well…whatever God wants.” But this attitude glorifies God just about as much as a child honors his parents if he throws up his hands and says, “Oh well…if you really want me to clean my room I’ll do it.” And since the chief purpose of man is to glorify God (by enjoying Him forever), we can determine that response is inadequate. Another response would be to get angry at God and begin questioning His authority, plans and purposes. You see these responses every day in the form of “why does God let bad things happen” or “How could a good God allow death and suffering.” These often come from people angry at God for some reason or another, and with no desire to see God glorified in their lives. And since as a Christian my goal is to glorify God…I can deduce that this response also falls short of that fulfilling that purpose.

So where’s the middle ground? Or better yet, what is the correct response to times when everything seems to be going wrong, when our emotions are leaving us in a state of depression thinking that God has let us down?

I direct your attention to the Psalmist – King David. As you read through the Psalms it becomes quite evident that David knew and trusted in the sovereignty of God. He knew that God was in control. But also you will see in the Psalms (and through a study of David’s life) that there were times when David was in a state of despair, times when he felt God had left him. Psalm 13 a prayer from one of these times and provides much for us to learn.

David begins Psalm 13 with a series of questions:

How long, O Lord?
Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide Your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

It’s quite obvious that David is feeling all alone, that the Sovereign God of the universe has set aside His sovereignty for a minute, even though he knows this isn’t true. But note to whom David is addressing his inquiries…the Lord! This is not a gripe session to his wive(s) or counselors. Instead he is taking his feelings to God, and in a way questioning God.

But at the same time as he levels these questions against God, David also recognizes that his very life, yeah even his very satisfaction comes from God, for immediately following his questions he pleads:

Consider and hear me, O Lord my God!
Enlighten my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death
Lest my enemy say “I have prevailed against him”
Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

Despite the feeling of abandonment, David looks to God for the deliverance that he knows God alone can give. In a nutshell David is saying “Without God, I die. Without God there is no victory.” And in what seems like a dramatic shift from the way his prayer started with expressions of despair David ends with words of praise and delight in the God he trusts in.

But I have trusted in Your mercy
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation
I will sing to the Lord because He has dealt bountifully with me.

So how can we learn from the prayer of David? When we find ourselves in the pits of despair, 1. Take our feelings of despair and lay them out before the Lord, 2. Recognizing our dependence on Him and desiring our satisfaction from Him alone and 3. Rejoice and delight in God, His mercy, His salvation and the many ways He has dealt bountifully with us.