God's Absence

Father, you know the state of our hearts and the state of our minds and the state of our wills.

Father, you see us perfectly and you see how much we deceive ourselves and how we are confused about ourselves

and how we are not aware of our deception or our confusion, but think we are wise.

Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would gently but deeply fall upon us

so that we might see ourselves, begin more and more to see ourselves as we really are.

But Father, please do not reveal ourselves to ourselves just in a naked way.

But Father, help us to see ourselves and understand ourselves according to your word

and by the great work that your Son did on the cross for us when he died for us.

So Father, may your Holy Spirit fall upon us,

helping us to see ourselves as we see and hear and understand your word

and draw us to Jesus.

This we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

Why is God absent so often in our lives?

Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

And why is it that not only do many of us experience God's absence as anguish

at many times in our lives,

maybe some of you who are here this morning are experiencing the absence of God

as anguish or as despair,

but why is it that often in church on a Sunday morning

or in small groups throughout the week,

we aren't even sort of allowed to be honest about the fact

that we are experiencing some anguish

because it seems as if God is absent.

And it's even made worse

because it seems that God is absent to us.

But when we come on a Sunday morning

or maybe we meet our good friend at work

or a family member

and God seems to be so present to them,

yet he seems to be so absent to us.

And why, some of you are wondering,

is George even talking about this on a Sunday morning?

I'm asking this question

because those are the two questions

that the psalm that John read

just a few minutes ago,

they, the psalm, God's word,

asks that question.

So it would be very, very helpful to me

and to you

if you open your Bibles right now

and turn to Psalm 10

and let's look at that psalm

and see the question that the psalm asks

and see how it is

that God, in his word,

responds to that question.

And if you've forgotten your Bibles,

there's always some Bibles here

at the front of the church.

I don't know if there's always Bibles

at that door when you enter.

There's something wrong with the mic.

Is it just in my ears?

Just my ears?

Okay.

And that's fine.

And if, or if you come in that door,

there's always some Bibles

that we can give you.

But Psalm 10,

sort of in the middle of the Bible

or you can look it up in the index

and listen again to how the psalm began.

And the psalm began this way.

Why, O Lord, do you stand far away?

Why do you hide yourself

in times of trouble?

That's how the psalm begins.

And it means,

if you accept as I do,

Jesus' understanding and teaching

of the Bible,

which is that the Bible

was ultimately written by God,

it means that God

is giving us permission

to ask this question of him,

to say to him,

why, O Lord,

do you stand far away?

Why do you hide yourself

in times of trouble?

Why are you absent, God?

For some of us,

this is maybe a very,

very profound intellectual question.

For many people in our culture,

one of the main reasons

why they will not believe

in the God of the Bible

is because of the existence

of evil in the world

and God seeming to stand

far away at times of trouble.

For others,

it's not an intellectual question

per se,

but it might be a very

lived question right now

that you're going through

some type of trouble

and God just seems to be hiding

or he seems to be very far away.

And the Bible,

believe it or not,

actually has an awful lot

to say about the absence

and the hiddenness of God.

It's very nuanced

and it's very wise.

And this psalm

isn't going to cover

everything that the Bible

says about it,

but this psalm

raises the question

and one sort of form

or subset

of that type of experience

and question

and addresses it.

And so this,

the very, very first point

this morning is this.

Because this is in the Bible,

this isn't just George

coming at it

from a therapeutic sense,

you know,

because I have a degree

in pastoral counseling,

you know,

100 million years ago

and I'm asking

some type of therapeutic question.

The Bible raises this question.

So here's the very first thing.

True faith can include

asking the living God

honest questions.

True faith can include

asking the living God

honest questions.

You know,

often in life,

stereotypes have,

I mean,

they're always dangerous

stereotypes,

but on the other hand,

often stereotypes

have some truth

in reality.

And, you know,

it's not a big stretch.

Probably many of,

maybe some of us here

feel the same way,

but many of us

have probably come

in contact with people

who say,

don't doubt,

don't even say that,

don't even raise

that question.

What you need to do

is you need to spend

more time in praise.

You need to spend

more time in prayer.

You need to spend

more time in church.

You need to give more money

to God in tithing.

You need to spend

more time with the poor.

Don't even ask

that question.

Don't even let it

into your mind.

Don't even let it

start to come to you

at all.

You just got to

push it away

and keep going forward.

And I've met

people like that.

And maybe at some time

in my life,

I was a person like that.

Maybe it'd be one of

those things that

in heaven,

God's going to replay

those times in my life

that I said something

like that to somebody.

And I,

well,

in heaven,

I'll get over the shame

pretty quickly

because I'm in heaven,

right?

But it probably

would be embarrassing.

And so it's very,

very easy for churches,

often the churches

that seem to be

the most faithful,

to say that you're

not allowed to ask

honest questions.

You're not even allowed

to raise the question

of why God seems

to be absent.

But as we see here

from Psalm 1,

it's in God's word

that true faith

can include

asking the living God

honest questions.

So,

God has said,

we can ask,

why, O Lord,

do you stand far away?

Why do you hide yourself

in times of trouble?

So what is the Bible saying?

Like,

how does it handle it?

Well,

let's look.

Here's how it goes.

In arrogance,

the wicked

hotly pursue the poor,

verse 2,

let them be caught

in the schemes

that they have devised.

For the wicked

boasts of the desires

of the soul,

and the one greedy

for gain curses

and renounces the Lord.

In the pride of his face,

the wicked does not seek him.

All his thoughts are

there is no God.

His ways prosper

at all times.

Your judgments are on high,

out of his sight.

For all his foes,

he puffs at them.

He says in his heart,

I shall not be moved.

Throughout all generations,

I shall not meet adversity.

Let's just stop for a second.

Let's be honest.

This is a very disappointing answer.

Like,

if we're honest with ourselves,

we were hoping

for something better

from God.

God's word.

Now,

that's another type of thing

that we feel

very uncomfortable

acknowledging.

But if we're honest,

this isn't going anywhere

that we want to go

particularly.

In fact,

very quickly,

our eyes glaze over,

our ears glaze over,

our mind glazes over,

and we internally

are saying,

whatever,

to God's word.

Whatever.

Yada, yada, yada, yada.

But you see,

here's actually

one of the very,

very powerful things

about God's word.

Why am I disappointed?

Why am I disappointed

by what's happening?

I'm going to suggest

one of three reasons

why we're disappointed.

The first reason

is because,

especially for those of us

who are suffering,

what were we hoping

that would happen?

we were hoping

that God would do

a miracle

so that when we leave

this church,

our abusive husband,

the abusive boss,

that we would go home

and we would get news

that in Iraq,

ISIS has been completely

and utterly annihilated,

and the survivors

are building churches

and giving money

to the people

whose kids

they beheaded.

And on one hand,

we're hoping that

when something's going to happen,

so that there's a miracle,

and at the same time,

if we're feeling

God's absence,

we would get something

like Prozac

that would come into us

and completely

and utterly

make us feel good.

The other thing

some of us

are maybe hoping

is that God

would give us

a knock-down,

drag-down,

guaranteed,

block-buster,

philosophical answer

so we could refute

Hitchens and Dawkins

and Harris

and our boss

and our nephew

and everybody else,

and we could just say,

you just read that,

that's going to completely

and utterly refute

everything you said.

Ha-ha!

Ha-ha!

Or the third thing

we were hoping

might happen

is secret knowledge,

that God would give us

secret knowledge

about what was going on

so we could be

insiders with God,

and the rest

of the hoi polloi

don't really know

what's going on,

but I'm part

of the Illuminati.

I know what's

really going on.

Now maybe I'm just

vastly more sinful

than the rest of you,

but if when you start

to read verses 2 to 11

you realize

that your mind

is wandering,

it's showing

that you're disappointed

in God,

and the Bible

in a sense

is saying to us,

examine yourself.

Why is it

that you think

that wisdom itself

is not wise?

See, here's

the second point.

When God's word

disappoints me,

I do not have

to kiss my brains

goodbye

or become cynical.

I am being invited

to carefully examine

God's word

and myself.

When God's word

disappoints me,

I do not have

to kiss my brains

goodbye

or become cynical.

I am being invited

to carefully examine

God's word

and myself.

You see,

God's word

examines us.

I can't remember,

it was one of the novels

I read while I was

on holidays,

but somebody said

that, you know,

with Facebook

and Twitter

and all that,

I'm not dumping,

okay,

Facebook and Twitter

and all that stuff,

that in our age,

what we do

is we exhibit ourselves

but don't examine ourselves.

That we like to exhibit

what goes on

but we don't like to examine

what's going on.

And the Bible here,

in fact,

the beginning of God's

answer to this question

and what he's going

to do in our lives

comes from us

recognizing that

we're disappointed

because as soon as

we realize we're

disappointed,

we can start to ask

ourselves the question,

well,

why is it that I'm

disappointed in this answer?

Why am I disappointed

with where God

is going in this?

And then I maybe

start to realize

that maybe I didn't

identify one of the

three reasons.

Maybe your reasons

are a little bit different

but all of us

will probably have

something in common

which is actually

fairly shocking

to understand,

especially for some

of us who are clergy

who have been

Christians for a long

time and it is this,

when I come to God's

word,

I often believe

that I am God

and I want to see

if God's word

meets my standards.

And when it doesn't,

I'm disappointed.

And I never stop,

often don't stop

to think

that I am acting

like I am

over God's word,

not learning

from God's word.

In fact,

actually,

that starts to begin

a little bit

of an insight

into us

as to how hard

it is for God

to actually,

that when God

hears our question,

part of what

he's wanting to do

is make me start

to realize,

one moment,

do I understand?

Can I understand?

Like,

even when God

starts to speak to me,

if I just dismiss

and write off

what he says,

what's going on there?

So,

in fact,

if you think about it

like this,

like one of the fears

that we have,

even maybe with what

I'm saying about

examining God's word

when we're disappointed

by God,

that it's an invitation

for us to examine

God's word

and to have God's word

in a sense examine me,

part of our innate fear

is that God

will crush me

if I do that.

But this passage

of scripture

doesn't crush us.

It doesn't crush us

at all.

In fact,

let's go back

to verse two

and just pay a little

bit of attention,

especially for the

first three verses

about something

very subtle

that goes on.

Now that we've realized

that we're a bit

disappointed with this

and maybe God's

asking me to examine

myself as to

my disappointment

and actually

give God

the benefit

the doubt

that maybe

he has some wisdom

to speak

into my situation.

So let's go back

to verse two.

In arrogance,

the wicked,

and just remember,

I mean,

it's just so you know,

wicked here

doesn't mean

really cool,

I have to have it.

It means like bad.

Okay?

It means like

rancid meat.

One year

when we lived

in our rectory,

Louise and I

went on holidays

and when we came back,

the power had gone out

while we were gone

and it had been out

for several days

and then it came on

and all of the meat

in our freezer

had gone bad.

It was rancid.

I mean,

if you open the freezer up,

it would make you gag

and that's how you have

to understand wicked.

Not really cool,

I got to have it,

I wish I could do it.

So in arrogance,

the wicked

hotly pursue the poor

like a sign

of being evil

and having evil

within us

is that we pursue

the poor

to take advantage

of them

and then the psalmist

says,

let them be caught

in the schemes

that they have devised.

For the wicked

boasts of the desires

of the soul

and the one greedy

for gain

curses

and renounces

the Lord

in the pride

of his face

the wicked

does not seek

God

all his thoughts

are there is

no God.

In the original language,

you see that word

in verse 4,

thoughts,

all his thoughts

are there is no God

and look up to verse 2,

the second part,

let them be caught

in the schemes

that they have devised.

In the original language,

that's the same word.

it's the same word.

It could be translated

as all his schemes

are there is no God.

It's actually

a very, very clever thing

that one of the things

that can happen

to us as individuals,

we might still have

a very, very high IQ

and we might still

be unbelievably good

at using language,

but what characterizes

what's going on

between our two ears

is scheming,

not thinking.

In thinking,

we want to know.

We're curious.

In scheming,

we want to do

something to others

in such a way

that we come out

on top

and it's easy

for us

to have times

in our lives

where we think

we're thinking

and we are thinking,

but it's not thinking,

it's scheming.

And we can be unaware

of the fact

that that's even

going on within us.

And in verse 3,

it's impossible

to be translated

properly into English.

For the wicked

boasts of the desires

of the soul

and the one greedy

for gain

curses and renounces

the Lord.

It's all,

it's idol language

and worship language

and it's as if

that there's a state

of affairs

for what the Bible

is calling wicked

that there's a type

of a worshipping

of the soul,

worshipping of my own soul

and worshipping gain

and it's as if

that there's a way

of me starting

to organize my life

whereby I not only

seek to exalt myself

and worship myself,

but I want to worship

two gods.

I want to worship myself

and I want to worship

prophet

and I believe

that there's such a way

of worshipping

both me

and prophet

that's going to be

good for prophet

and going to be good

for me.

And so it is

that when the prophet

is either just getting

the final word

in the conversation

or getting my way

in my relationship

or getting my way

at work

or making more money

that if I don't get

those things happening

I'm depressed,

I'm anxious,

I'm frustrated

because it's confounding

my idol worship

and even,

and it's impossible

to translate properly

into English

and when it says

and the one for greedy,

sorry,

in verse 3

and the one greedy

for gain curses

and renounces the Lord

it's actually,

it's actually

in the original language

it's actually saying

blesses God

but in a particular context.

It's exactly like

what we do

if you meet somebody

who's stupid

or you know somebody

maybe at work

or in your family

they've done something

really,

really,

really,

really dumb,

okay?

And they come into the room

after they've done

something really,

really dumb

and you say to everybody

look,

here's genius.

Okay?

So it appears

as if you're complimenting

but everybody knows

in that context

you're just rubbing

that person's face in it

and that's what's trying

to be communicated

in verse 3

that there's a way

for us

to so worship

other things

that what we're saying

when we look at God

at all is

oh yeah,

there's God,

look how just he is,

oh,

look how great God is,

ha, ha, ha,

dummy.

And we might think

that we never do that.

I'm going to get to that

in a second

but here's the main thing

about these first three verses.

Remember,

look at verse 1 again,

anguish.

Why, oh Lord,

do you stand far away?

There's anguish.

Why do you hide yourself

in times of trouble?

And now look at verse 4,

in the pride of his face

the wicked does not seek him.

All his thoughts are,

there is no God.

And the person who says that

is happy,

not in anguish.

Here's the point.

I am divided

and confused.

Sometimes I am in anguish

over God's absence

and sometimes I consciously

and unconsciously

organize my world

to keep God absent.

I am in anguish

and I am in anguish

over God's absence

and sometimes I consciously

and unconsciously

organize my world

to keep God absent.

And I am not aware of it.

You doubt it?

When a young man

or a man of any age

is looking at pornography,

does he want God

to show up?

When you're telling a lie,

do you want God

to show up?

When you're slandering

somebody,

do you want God

to show up?

When you're cheating

on your taxes,

do you want God

to show up?

When you're selling

something on Kijiji

and you tell the person

it's been lightly used

and it's two years old

and it's actually heavily used

and it's ten years old,

do you want God

to show up?

When you're overspending

on your credit card

to buy things

because you're feeling depressed,

do you want God

to show up?

When you read a Bible text

and it tells you to tithe

and you don't want to do it,

do you want God

to show up?

You see,

this psalm

is taking us

in a very

startling direction.

You see,

and we'll see it

as we go on,

at no point in time

does this psalm

diminish the fact

that at times

in my life

I experience

God's absence

as anguish.

The psalm

is never going

to deny

that experience

at all.

and it's never

going to deny

that it can be

a very honest

question I ask

in my anguish

about God.

But now the psalm

is starting

to force me

to examine myself

and I realize

that I judge God

to see whether

he's going to meet

my standards.

I realize

that in fact

there's ways

in my world

and in my life

that I organize

my time,

I organize

my career,

I organize

my family,

I organize

my thought life,

that there's things

in my life

that I organize

in such a way

so that God

will be absent.

And I would

experience anguish

if he showed

up in those

times.

So it's actually

not a very simple

question to ask

God.

Why do you

stand far away?

And the Bible

starts to have us

examine ourselves

but not in a way

to crush us

as the psalm

will continue

to go on.

You see,

he's not

blowing off

my question.

He's going

to more

subtly

continue

to probe

my desires.

Let's look

how he continues

to subtly

probe

our desires.

I think we

got up to

verse 4.

Let's look

at verse 5.

And this,

by the way,

is going to be

something very,

very,

very shocking

to us Canadians

in our culture.

The direction

that this psalm

is going to

go is

completely

and utterly

shocking

and counterintuitive.

Here's how it

goes.

Verse 5.

He's now

talking about

the person

who says

there is no

God

and likes it.

It's convenient

for my life

to say

there is no

God.

Verse 5.

His ways

prosper at all

times.

Your judgments

are on high,

out of his

sight.

As for all

his foes,

he puffs at

them,

outruns

them,

blows them

off.

He says

in his

heart,

verse 6,

I shall

not be

moved

throughout

all

generations.

I shall

not meet

adversity.

That's

his motto.

That's

his organizing

principle

of his

life.

That's

how his

religion

is

organized.

That's

how his

spirituality

is

organized.

That's

how her

secular

life is

all

organized

throughout

all

generations.

I shall

not

meet

adversity.

Verse 7.

His mouth

is filled

with cursing

and deceit

and oppression.

Sounds hard.

We'll get to it

in a moment.

Under his

tongue

are mischief

and iniquity.

He sits

in ambush

in the

villages

and hiding

places.

He murders

the innocent.

One moment.

This is the

person who

said there

is no

God?

Verse 8

continues.

His eyes

stealthily

watch for

the helpless.

He lurks

in ambush

like a lion

in his

thicket.

He lurks

that he

may seize

the poor.

He seizes

the poor

when he

draws him

into his

net.

The helpless

are crushed,

sink down,

and fall

by his

might.

He says

in his

heart,

God has

forgotten.

He has

hidden his

face.

He will

never see

it.

His life

is organized

around the

absence of

God.

And surely,

as this text

goes on,

it's way

over the

top.

It's way

over the

top.

One of

the unfortunate

parts about

me being

on holidays

is that I

actually had

very few

conversations

about God

because one

of the main

ways I get

into conversations

about God

is I go to

a Starbucks

to work on

my sermon,

and when you

open your

Bible and

work on a

sermon in a

place like

Starbucks,

it often

provokes

different

conversations.

And there's

this one

conversation

that I had

with a fellow

a couple

of months

ago,

and he

was talking

about how

to be

spiritual,

not

religious,

was vastly

better.

Why is it

better to be

spiritual and

not religious?

Because there's

no God

judging you.

That's what he

said to me.

I'm not saying

that's what he

said to me.

And then he

said,

but it's even

better to

believe in

no God

whatsoever.

In fact,

you can be

spiritual without

any type of

God existing.

It's far

better for

there to

be no

God,

because when

there's no

God,

that's when

prosperity

happens.

That's when

freedom

happens.

That the

more you

cast off

any notion

of your

God,

the more

free you

are,

the more

you will

prosper.

That's what

he said to

me.

And I

said to

him,

well,

what about

the Soviet

Union?

What about

communist China?

What about

Cambodia?

What about

Hitler?

He didn't

believe in

God.

Did that

bring

prosperity?

He said,

no,

no,

you have

to look

at

Sweden.

And I

said,

how come

it's fair

for you to

point out

to me a

Russian

Orthodox

priest with

a $25,000

watch while

he's blessing

tanks about

to invade

the Ukraine

as a

picture of

all people

who worship

Jesus.

And I

can't point

to Mother

Teresa or

a holy

person,

but when I

raise up

something against

your thought,

you're saying,

no,

no,

you're not

allowed to

look at

Hitler and

Stalin and

Mao,

you have

to look at

Sweden.

And his

eyes glazed

over,

he couldn't

understand it

because it's

so deeply

ingrained

in our

culture that

spirituality is

better than

religion.

Why?

Because in

spirituality there's

no judgment.

God's judgments

are out of

sight.

And that when

there is no

God,

there's peace

and prosperity.

But this

describes

something more

like what

happens in

the Soviet

Union.

And it's not

just secular

things.

This describes

in this text

what's happening

in Iraq.

because in

fact,

religion can

be organized

in such a

way to

actually keep

God at a

distance and

to deify

ourselves.

That's what

religion does

as well.

It's what

spirituality

can do.

In fact,

at the

heart of

that in

fact,

what often

appears as

religion and

what often

appears as

Christianity,

what often

appears as

spirituality,

what often

appears as

secular life,

is merely a

worship of

power.

A worship of

my power or

my tribe's

power.

power.

So it is

that a

church can

be organized

in such a

way so

that when a

husband is

abusing his

wife and

the wife

complains,

the wife is

rebuked for

not submitting

to her

husband.

That's a

worship of

power,

not listening

to the

Bible.

And so

it is that

what is it

at the heart

of listening

to Oprah

and what

is at the

heart of

Deepak

Chopra and

what is at

the heart

of Islam

and what

is at the

heart of

so much

things is a

worship of

power.

What is at

the heart

of the

secret is

power.

Dostoevsky

very famously

said, and I

believe it's

never been

refuted

properly, that

if God is

dead, all

things are

permissible.

But what

this psalm is

saying is

something similar

but different.

What this

psalm is saying,

and this is

my next

point, is

that if I

am God, all

things are

permissible and

the weak

cower.

If I am

God, all

things are

permissible and

the weak

cower.

Now you're

saying, George,

that's just not

true of me.

Well, first

of all, I

think it's

what the

Bible say,

not George,

but is it

not true?

See, the

fact of the

matter is

that there's

probably nobody

here in this

room that

has God-like

power.

We're

constrained by,

and we're not

all evil, by

the way, because

remember, we're a

divided type of

person and we do

want to do good

things and stuff

like that.

And we do

sometimes experience

God's absence

as anguish.

But the fact of

the matter is,

if we try to,

let me tell you,

if I try to

just boss my

wife around and

tell her exactly

what she would

do, do you

know how well

that would work

for me?

Months later,

when she speaks

to me again,

after having

very properly

refused to do

every single

thing I tried

to boss her

around to do,

she would help

me to examine

my conscience

in my life.

And so,

you know,

often we have

bosses that

push back,

we have kids

that push back,

we have people

who push back,

but what are

we like in

our thought

life?

How would

it be if

God was to

show up and

on that screen,

I'll use myself,

not you,

and God was

just merely to

say, I don't

know what it

is now,

it's coming up

to 11 o'clock,

11 o'clock,

George,

from 11 o'clock

yesterday to

11 o'clock

today,

I'm just going

to replay

everything that

went through

your mind.

I'm going to

put it up on

that screen so

everybody can hear,

see the images

you were thinking

of and hear what

was going through

your mind,

how you

analyze situations,

what you thought

about.

I'm just going

to do that,

George,

because you know

in your mind,

that's where you

sort of are like

God,

aren't you,

George?

And I'm just

going to replay

all of the things

that you wanted

to do and

didn't want to

do and your

reactions to

other people

and what you

said.

And George,

the congregation

won't just do

like in your own

mind where you

have that telling

thought,

but they still

have to be with

you because

you see,

if I actually,

if all of a

sudden for the

last 24 hours

I just was

every single

thing that went

through my mind

actually happened

in real world,

people would

cower.

And all I would

think all sorts

of things were

permissible for me

and many of

those things

that were

permissible for

me would

lead people

to cower.

And you as

you watch it

all on the

screen would

be horrified.

And I actually

think I had a

pretty good 24

hours.

I had pretty

worse ones than

that.

You see,

this psalm is

trying to bring

to us that

if I am

God,

all things

are permissible

and the

weak cower.

It's trying

to communicate

to me that

I often

consciously and

unconsciously

organize my

way in such

a way to

keep God

far away.

And that I

actually think

that I will

be happier

for much of

my day and

much of my

life if God

is absent.

And that's

who I am.

That's who

you are.

Now, some

of you might

be wondering,

okay, George,

I have my

time.

Does that

mean the

Bible is

saying that,

okay, we

all sin, so

therefore you

can't say

anything to the

abusive husband?

You can't say

anything to the

person who's

kidnapping, part

of a kidnapping

ring of

kidnapping people

in a poor

country and

bringing them

to a rich

country to be

sexual objects

for men or

women?

Are you

saying that

you can't

say anything

about what's

going on right

now in Iraq

and Syria?

Because I'm a

sinner, they're a

sinner, therefore

we're all

sinners, therefore

we can say

nothing.

Is that what

the psalm is

saying?

Not at all.

In fact, the

psalm is very,

very powerfully

working at two

levels at the

same time

without confusing

them.

Let's look how it

continues in

verse 12.

It's not saying

that we merely

say that because

all of us have

this issue in

our lives of

thinking like

we're God, that

we can't say

that there's not

real evil that's

going on that

has to be spoken

against.

Look at verse

12 and

following.

Arise.

Remember, so

verse 11 says,

he says in his

heart, God has

forgotten, he has

hid in his face,

he will never

see it.

Verse 12,

Arise, O

Lord, O God, lift

up your hand, forget

not the afflicted.

Why does the

wicked renounce

God and say in

his heart, you

will not call to

account?

But you do see, for

you note mischief

and vexation, that

you may take it

into your hands.

To you the

helpless commits

himself.

You have been the

helper of the

fatherless.

Break the arm of

the wicked and

evildoer.

Call his wickedness

to account.

Till you find

none.

The Lord is

king forever

and ever.

The nations

perish from

his land.

O Lord, you

hear the desire

of the afflicted.

You will

strengthen their

heart.

You will

incline your

ear to do

justice to the

fatherless and

the oppressed

so that man

who is of the

earth may strike

terror no more.

What's going on

here?

What's going on

here?

Here's what's

going on.

First, my next

point.

Who is the

living God?

He's revealed

here.

Who is the

living God?

Helper of the

helpless.

That's one way we

can pray to him.

When we pray to the

living God, we can

say, helper of the

helpless.

That is your name.

And what is a

fundamental part of

becoming a godly

man or a godly

woman?

I use the

strength that comes

from God to help

the helpless.

Who is the

living God?

Helper of the

helpless.

What is a

fundamental part of

becoming a godly

man or woman?

I use the strength

that comes from

God to help the

helpless.

So what do we

say?

If there is a

man in here who

is abusing his

wife, abusing his

children, you are

doing wrong, you

should stop it.

If you are a

wife in such a

situation, you

should come and

speak to me or

should call the

office.

You need to deal

with that situation

and we will

support you.

What is going on

in Iraq?

That is completely

and utterly

abhorrent to the

living God that

you would kill

children who are

Christians because

they do not

convert to Islam.

That is a

horrible thing.

If you are a

slum landlord,

what you are

doing is pursuing

the poor to

their hurt and

hurting them and

you need to

stop, you need

to repent, it

is wrong.

That is what the

psalm is telling

us that we can

save, that we

should save.

That God gives

us strength, it is

his earth, even

the most mighty

emperor, if you

look at verse

18, even the

most mighty

emperor is an

emperor in God's

earth.

He never

relinquishes

sovereignty.

We are always

but a vassal who

receives from God

and we receive

our strength not

to pursue the

poor or oppress

them, but to

help the helpless.

And here I am

going to be very

politically incorrect

and maybe offend

you.

Who on all the

earth is the most

helpless?

helpless, the

fetus, the

unborn in a

mother's womb.

No person is

more helpless

than a fetus.

And what are we

called to do who

are strength and

have power?

As in the

National Post

this week with an

article by I think

it was Dawkins about