This is the question I struggle with the most. I've spent a lot of time searching. I've gone to churches, I've gone to youth groups, I've taken university classes, I've sought the council of ministers & professors alike. So I'm fairly convinced that this goes under the "crap nobody can explain satisfactorily" category, even though I feel there ought to be an answer. It's the "where are you when I need you, God?" question.
So, to the text. I'm looking at Psalms 74. I'm not going to type out the whole thing, but I will post many of the verses:
PSA74.1: O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
PSA74.10: O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name forever?
PSA74.11: Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? Pluck it out of thy busom.
PSA74.12: For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
PSA74.13: Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
PSA 74.14: Thou brakes the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
PSA74.15: Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
PSA74.16: The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
PSA74.17: Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
PSA74.18: Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
PSA74.19: O deliver not the soul of thy turtldove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor forever.
PSA74.20: Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
PSA74.21: O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
One very important thing to remember is that the speaker in these verses is Jewish. Historically speaking, the Jews have been hunted, persecuted, and oppressed for much of their history. In these verses, the speaker describes how the enemy has burned all the synagogues, and blasphemed against the Big Man himself, among other things. The first verse asks God, "why hast thou cast us off forever?" The speaker then goes on to describe the destruction his people are experiencing. I think this is a totally valid question, and when I began reading these verses, they immediately peaked my interest. I read eagerly, hoping there would be an answer. There was not. It's simply a plea. An unanswered prayer, really.
Here's the thing: I feel it's not accidental that Psalms comes right after Job. Job was a great guy, and God toyed with him. This God is not particularly concerned with the happiness & well-being of his flock. This God blesses & forsakes people based on rather fickle reasoning. From our standpoint, it's really a crapshoot: will God cradle me in his loving arms, or will he allow Satan (or some other wicked force) to murder my children, wipe out my crops, and give me festering boils? This God really doesn't seem that much different from some of the older Greek Gods that we teach in freshman mythology. Though, granted, he's not eating his children. Is this due, I wonder, to the people who wrote the tome? This is an ancient text; is it possible that the text reflects more the world-view of those who penned it than the God it's supposed to illustrate?
I understand that in Job, there is resolution. God gives Job even more land, grants him more children, etc. But the damage is still done. His 10 original children, who he must've loved as we love our children, are still dead. There is so much suffering, and often at best God is indifferent.
At times I am convinced in the existence of God. I look at my little girl, and I think back to my pregnancy, and I am comforted in the idea of spirit & connectedness. But then I look out at the world, and I doubt the presence of any single, omniscient being watching over the world & answering our prayers. Often God doesn't seem any more reasonable than the weather; at least the weather is predictable. We need to believe there is meaning in our suffering: this is what it comes down to. We need to believe that God has a plan; otherwise, humanity is insufferable.
The answer, of course is in the verses themselves. If you look at verses 12-17, the speaker acknowledges God's creation. Neither are these verses accidental, for if the speaker believes in God's might, God's power, God's omnipotence, then it logically follows that the speaker must accept that God is aware & has his reasons. We are just puny humans; we cannot "breakest the heads of the dragons" (awesome line, by the way), or "cleave the fountain and the flood," so we simply have to accept our lot, have faith in the Almighty, and hope to find salvation in another life.
Sadly, it truly is a cold, cruel world. However, there is one thing to consider before we move on: nothing bars us from creating our own happiness. Nothing stops us from fighting back the workers of iniquity. I think that's a pretty important point: perhaps God is the creator of our universe, but we need to be responsible for creating happiness & goodness for ourselves, and if necessary, smiting the wicked, (which we should really leave up to our justice system or military). God did give us brains, after all, or so it says.
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