One of the great struggles of any belief system is the problem of evil. Everyone must wrestle with this question, not just Jesus-followers. Even the Atheist must answer the question. That is because it is in the center of every human heart. We may be able to give a good, well reasoned explanation for why evil happens, and why the LORD doesn’t show up, but when you are in the middle of a struggle, these logical answers don’t satisfy the deep longing of our hearts. We don’t want an explanation, we want action.
This tension between the substance of our faith, that the LORD is present with us upholding His plan, and our feelings of separation continue to rise in the life of the believer. Our feelings often don’t match our stated and deeply held beliefs. So what do we do when we feel the LORD is far away? How do we handle this seeming disconnect between faith and feeling?
For many people feelings become the driving factor in their lives. When negative feelings become overwhelming, faith seems to go out the window. Feelings become the primary guidance system of their lives. But feelings are just one data input for our lives. We have the Word, godly counsel, prayer, our five senses, and feelings. Each has a place in our decision making and self-regulating. Feelings should not be elevated to the top.
Our Psalm for today highlights this tension between feelings and faith. The writer feels as though the LORD disappears when difficulties arise. When the writer wants action, the LORD is nowhere to be found. The evil person keeps on going the wrong direction, doing the wrong things. He brags about the evil he is doing. He seems to be getting away with impunity. The evil person doesn’t even have the LORD on his radar screen.
And what bugs me more is that the evil man seems to get smooth sailing while those who serve the LORD seemingly hit storm after storm. It doesn’t seem fair. The arrogance of the evil man doesn’t get punished. In fact, it seems to get rewarded with earthly prosperity. So he pats himself on the back and says that he is invincible.
Now just in case you might be tempted to side with the evil person, the writer outlines the treachery of this evil enemy. They aren’t just passively sitting around taking advantage of the opportunities that come their way. They are actively looking for victims. They know what they are doing is wrong and they still do it. They ambush their victims. And they pick out the weakest, the most vulnerable, and mercilessly take advantage of them. And then he has the guts to flaunt his evil, saying that the LORD doesn’t even notice what he is doing.
No wonder the writer calls out to the LORD, begging for intervention. He wants justice, and he wants it now. And this is perhaps the most difficult part of the problem of evil. We want evil corrected in other people, but we don’t necessarily want it corrected in us. We want justice at the expense of the person doing wrong to us, but we don’t necessarily want justice at our expense. We want the evil in others stopped, but we want the evil in us to be given a free pass.
It feels as if the power of the LORD sits idly by and does nothing to stop the puny little power of the evil person. It would take no effort at all for the LORD to correct the evil person, and yet He doesn’t seem to exercise that very small amount of energy on our behalf, the most vulnerable. The LORD will punish nations, but seems unwilling to help us. He hears, but He doesn’t seem to act.
It can be hard to keep our feelings from running our lives. But in the middle of a crisis, we must keep our heads. We must anchor ourselves in the LORD. Justice will not happen in this life, but this life is only the first frame in a feature length film. And we know the rest of the film is the happy ending for those who trust Him during this first frame.
The Arnold Journey 