Man's Cry for a Solution of the Felt Distance of His Maker
Psalm 10:1-18
Why stand you afar off, O LORD? why hide you yourself in times of trouble?…


There are many other passages which express the same sentiment (Jeremiah 14:8). This cry implies —

1. That the distance is unnatural; and

2. Undesirable. Hence the question, How can this distance be explained? There are three sources to which alone we can look for light.

I. HUMAN PHILOSOPHY. It may theorise thus —

1. That God is too great to allow of close connection with Him. This is the Epicurean view. But no true thinker can accept it.

2. That the cause of the felt distance is God's method of agency. This is mediatory and uniform; not direct, but indirect. He stands concealed behind the machinery of the universe. But this no satisfactory explanation. He acts mediatorially in heaven, and yet all there feel His presence. And there is uniformity in heaven also, but neither does that hinder the realisation of His presence.

II. SPECULATIVE THEOLOGY. This says that man by sin has offended God, and hence God has in anger withdrawn from men, and will not return until His wrath is appeased by sacrifice. But this explanation fails —

1. Because inconsistent with the immutability of the Divine character. He cannot pass from love to anger, from the placid to the furious. It is impossible.

2. And inconsistent also with the moral excellence of God. Can what is unamiable with man be right with God? I trow not.

III. DIVINE REVELATION. It teaches that we by our sin have departed from God. The sinner is the prodigal son. Now,

1. This is a satisfactory solution. When we have sinned we feel God distant from us, and, moreover, indignant with us. So He appears to the sinful mind. In reality God is near him and loves him infinitely. But the Bible often presents God as He appears to the mind, as it speaks of natural objects as they appear to our senses. And

2. It is a vital solution. Knowing the cause is indispensable to its removal. And this the Bible teaches.

(J. Parker, D. D.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?

WEB: Why do you stand far off, Yahweh? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?




A Theological Difficulty, a Haughty Impiety, an Earnest Prayer
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