Why standest Thou afar off, O Lord?
A theological difficulty, a haughty impiety, an earnest prayer
I. A theological difficulty.
“Why standest Thou afar off, O Lord?” Some great enormity was now under the eyes of David. We know not what. He had witnessed many such scenes. They have a tendency to suggest that God is indifferent. Even Christ felt this. “Why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Why does not God interfere? We cannot fully answer the question, but we may consider--
1. That God respects that freedom of action with which He has endowed man.
2. The sufferings which the wicked inflict upon the good are often disciplinary. Faith rests itself deeper.
3. There will be a period of retribution, “For all these things God will bring thee into judgment.”
II. A haughty impiety. “The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor. See this impiety--
1. In its conduct towards men. It is cruel--“persecutes.” It is fraudulent--“his mouth is full of deceit and fraud,” both in speech--“under his tongue,” etc., and practice--“he sitteth in the lurking places,” etc.
2. In its conduct towards God.
There is here--
1. An expressed contempt for the Eternal. “For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire,” etc.
2. A practical disregard for the Eternal, “God is not in all his thoughts.” He is without God.
3. An awful calumny on the Eternal. “He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten me.” Haughty impiety indeed.
III. An earnest prayer. Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up Thine hand. He desires--
1. A merciful interposition on behalf of the good. “Forget not the humble.” Piety ever breathes its prayers to heaven for such.
2. A righteous interposition against the wicked. “Break Thou the arm,” etc. “Seek out his wickedness,” etc. We cannot justify this part of David’s prayers, which were often as imperfect as many parts of his conduct.
IV. An exultant faith. “The Lord is King forever and ever.” David believed--
1. In the perpetuity of God’s Kingdom.
2. In His attention to human entreaties. “Lord, Thou hast heard the desire of the humble.”
3. In His vindication of the right. “To judge the fatherless,” etc. The wicked man is in an especial sense “the man of the earth.” Sprung from, living by and for it, and it only. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Man’s cry for a solution of the felt distance of his Maker
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.)