Psalm 83

In many ways, the worse position to be in is to think that God is silent, that He is unaware of what is going on or doesn’t care or has chosen not to intervene. And one thing that has caused the Psalmist to think these things and might be tempting for us to think too is when evil people/our enemies seem to prosper. How can God seemingly let them get away with it? They are blatantly defying God, plotting evil, doing wrong and conspiring with others who do evil too especially against God’s people or God’s cause, not just us as an individual. It’s a situation that leads us to prayer which is what the Psalmist does. He prays that God will engage with these evil people as He has dealt with evil people in the past, namely to bring judgement on them or give them what they deserve. He then uses aspects of creation to lend analogy to how God should act: be a storm, be a fire, make them like chaff he says. And he ends with the most noble thought, do this God so they recognize who you are as opposed to the Psalmist promoting his comfort or revenge. It is God’s honor that he is concerned with.

Well although situations can make it seem like God is silent or even worse, absent, we can be comforted to know that He never is. He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. We can know that He is always on His throne regardless of how it may appear. The challenge of faith is to believe without seeing, to know what is true regardless of how things appear. Let’s not give into the discouragement and doubt that makes us think that God is inactive and trust that He is always doing exactly what is right and what our faith and actions make possible for Him to do!