Daily Lesson for Tuesday 30th of January 2024
Read Psalms 42:1-3, Psalms 63:1, Psalms 69:1-3, and Psalms 102:1-7. What causes great pain to the psalmist?
Not only does personal and communal sufferings trouble the psalmist but also, if not more, God’s seeming lack of attention to His servants’ hardships. God’s absence is felt like intense thirst in a dry land (Psalms 42:1-3, Psalms 63:1) and mortal anguish (Psalms 102:2-4). The psalmist feels removed from God and compares himself to lonely birds. “I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert. I lie awake, and am like a sparrow alone on the housetop” (Psalms 102:6-7, NKJV).
The mention of wilderness highlights the sense of isolation from God. A bird “alone on a housetop” is outside of its nest, its resting place. The psalmist cries to God “out of the depths,” as if being engulfed by mighty waters and sinking into a “deep mire” (Psalms 69:1-3, Psalms 130:1). These images depict an oppressive situation from which there is no escape, except by divine intervention.
Read Psalms 10:12, Psalms 22:1, Psalms 27:9, and Psalms 39:12. How does the psalmist respond to God’s apparent absence?
It is remarkable that the psalmists resolve not to keep silent in the face of God’s silence. The psalmists unswervingly believe in prayer because prayer is directed to the living and gracious God. God is still there, even when He is apparently absent. He is still the same God who heard them in the past, and so, they are confident that He hears them now.
The occasions of God’s silence cause the psalmists to examine themselves and to seek God, but with confession and humble petitions. They know that God will not remain silent forever. The Psalms demonstrate that communication with God must go on, regardless of life’s circumstances.
What can we learn from the psalmists’ responses to God’s apparent absence? How do you respond to times when God does seem silent? What sustains your faith?

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