When God Sleeps

In stark contrast to the “inferential belief” in God, mentioned by A.W. Tozer in his book The Pursuit of God.  

Have you ever been going through troublous times in your life and it seemed that God had fallen asleep at the wheel? You believe in the sovereignty of God, His loving control of all things, you believe all that the Scriptures say about God’s deliverance of Israel and the early Christians, and you have personally experienced His help at other times but, for some reason, now He is silent. How do we reconcile these truths? Why does God not act on your behalf? This is the question the psalmist is asking in Psalm 44. We feel his frustration in verse 23, “Awake! Why do you sleep, O Lord?” (KJV) Of course, we know that the Bible teaches that God does not sleep or slumber. The psalmist knows this as well. Why then does the writer ask this of God? Doesn’t this seem like excessively strong language to use with God? Well, the strong language is a key factor in the interpretation of this psalm. It seems that the background of this psalm is that the armies of Israel had just suffered a severe defeat in battle. The writer is recounting the history of God’s mighty acts of power on Israel’s behalf. He is trying to understand their recent defeat at the hands of their enemies. Why has God brought this upon them? Why did He not deliver them? Why did He not hear their prayers and defeat their enemies? In other words, if God was with them then, why is He not with them now? 

Are you facing a pressing time in your life and while you have prayed and sought the Lord, He seems to be strongly distant and silent? The subject matter of this psalm is a helpful follow up to our study of Psalms 42 & 43 concerning spiritual depression. Traveling through times of Divine silence are some of the darkest and dismal moments of our lives.