A difficult tension

I’m writing a Bible study connected to Sanctity of Human Life Sunday (and I’m bordering on being late). This has been a tough one for me, and not just because of the topic itself.

The passage that I’m addressing in the study, Psalm 10, is a beast. The first verse is an echo of the human heart whenever we’re confronted with injustice—”Where are you, God? What are you doing?” It’s the question we cannot help but ask, not just those of us who have been born again, but all of us who are image bearers of God (even if we do not understand the heart behind why we ask it). 

That, in itself, is the tension. That is the pain of this psalm—we all know injustice. We all know it is real. We have seen it and many of us have experienced it in profound ways. And our experiences can lead us to despair. To assume that God really isn’t at work in the world.

That he doesn’t care.

But as tempting as it can be, we must never lose our grip on the hope that we have. God is at work. God does care. He has shown his commitment to justice time and again, most powerfully on the cross as Jesus bore the full weight of the punishment our sins deserved for us. And because we know that he has acted justly, and that he does act justly, we know that there is a time coming when the injustices we see and experience—the ones that make our hearts cry out—will be addressed. When justice will be done, and every tear will be wiped away from every eye. 

That is the hope that we have. That is the hope that has been promised to us by the one who is the just and the justifier. And it is our motivator for speaking on behalf of those who are pursued by the unjust in this world.