John K. Jenkins Sr - Attitudes That Cause God To Hide

10 is a Psalm. It's not crystal clear who wrote it; it is often attached to Psalm 9. It is sometimes believed to have been written by David; however, it is not clearly articulated who the writer is . What he seems to be doing in this 10th Psalm is drawing a contrast between a righteous person and the wicked. As a matter of fact, he is raising a question with God that perhaps highlights how a righteous person feels while observing a wicked person who seems to be doing well . Let me see if I can run that back and give it to you again, because let me put it in terminology that I know you'll better understand. Here you are trying to serve God , love God, worship God, and obey God, and your Hooptie ain't doing nothing. You act like it doesn 't want to go, but your neighbor, who doesn 't go to church, doesn 't read the Bible, and isn 't singing in any choir, has a brand-new car looking shiny in their driveway , while your Hooptie is broken down and raggedy, and you're hoping it's going to start when you go outside. He is seeking to draw a contrast between the wicked and the righteous, and a part of his dilemma and his question is, "Why is it, God, that you are standing afar off , and why do you hide in times of trouble?" Now, I don't know where you are, but in my life, the last thing I want is for God to feel like he has to stand off from being close to me . Oh, y'all don't care about that ? All right, all right, this is going to be a tough crowd here today; I can tell that right now. I don't want to be in a posture where God says he's going to stand off away from me, and I don't want to be in a position where God is hiding in a corner , dodging from responding to me. That 's got to be a terrible situation; it's got to be a painful posture to be in. A troubling situation is to need God but can't find him, to want him to step into your life , but he's not only standing away from you; he has decided to hide himself from you. The question is raised today : what would cause God to stand afar off or to hide from us ? The text says , "Why do you hide in times of trouble?" If I need God in a needy time in my life, I need him when I'm in trouble. Is anybody here ever been in trouble in their life? Has anybody here ever had circumstances that you could not change or do something about , but you needed help from God to make a difference in your situation? If you haven't lived to that point yet, just keep on living; I promise you it's coming somewhere down the line. The interpretation of this passage draws this contrast, but I also believe that when it talks about the distinction between the wicked and the righteous , it is also indicating some components in life that can cause God to take a step back from being close to you. I thought I would dialogue about it very closely. Now, perhaps you're not concerned about it, but I want to make sure that you never get to a posture where you need God and can't get close to him. He gives us an overarching theme; there are several things in this 10th Psalm, several issues that he raises, but I want to focus on the thread of one element that I think separates God from people, and that is the component of pride. Somebody say "pride" back at me. Pride-it's arrogance, that thing where you think you are better than other people , and you need to be treated specially because you're different. Yes, you are special , and you are different, but it is a pride and arrogance that God does not like. As a matter of fact, the scripture says in James that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. The NIV version states that God opposes the plans of the proud but gives grace to the humble. I want to talk to you about this because, whether you know it or not , there are components in your life that might reflect some pride . Look at them; they're listed right here in the text. Look at the first one; it's in verse two. He says, "The wicked in his pride," and here it is: number one, "persecutes the poor." A proud person thinks and believes that they got to where they are by their own doing -by their own education, their own know-how, their own connections, their own abilities, their own giftedness. They got to where they are in life by their own strengths and abilities, and they fail to recognize that wherever you are in life, you got there by the mercy and grace of an Almighty God. But yet the proud persecute the poor; the proud inflame the poor. That 's what the Hebrew word there means ; it means to be inflamed. It means to cause the poor to look up at the wicked in their prosperity , inflaming their hearts . What causes that ? When the poor look at those who are doing well and are not honoring God or serving God or loving God, it causes a passion to inflame in their hearts.