Finding Eternal Perspective in Times of Suffering

Lord, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide in times of trouble? —Psalm 10:1

I’ll never forget years ago at my brother’s funeral when one speaker said, “It’s not wrong to ask God why, as long as we ask not with a clenched fist but with a searching heart.”

I think David has a searching heart at the begin- ning of Psalm 10. He looks at the pain and evil in the world and wonders why God seems so far away.

But halfway through the psalm he moves from an earthly perspective to an eternal one. He says, “But you yourself have seen trouble and grief, observing it in order to take the matter into your hands” (v. 14). Then he goes on to say, “Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble; you will strengthen their hearts. You will listen carefully” (v. 17).

From our earthly perspective, we sometimes wonder why certain things happen. But God will never let our pain and suffering go on longer than needed. Would you ask God to give you an eternal perspective today?