HURRY UP, GOD!

One of the disconnects between us and our God has to do with time. The Almighty dwells in eternity and oversees the full picture. We bumble along day by day, indeed often counting the days until our adversaries are displaced and put to ‘shame and confusion’ (v 2). I don’t suppose there has ever been a believer who has not called upon God to ‘hasten,’ to move us quickly past our current woes and into the safe space, the place of contentment that we instinctively sense should be just up ahead. Why does God so often seem to prefer time scales beyond our understanding? Come on, Lord! What’s the delay?

Perhaps I would not dare to type that unless I had just read verse 5. The great thing about the psalmists is that they are never afraid to declare to God precisely how they feel. One reason for the boldness of the writers is that they are, in several respects, in the right place. Their very first words here are a cry to God. They readily acknowledge their own lowliness and God’s greatness. They clearly count themselves among those in verse 4, those on the Lord’s side. It is in this role as God’s servant that the psalmist feels able to ask for God’s support in putting down the adversaries described in verses 2 and 3.