The paradoxical nature of the Psalms as prayers is demonstrated in the psalmists’ responses to God’s silence. In other words, the psalmists respond to God’s absence as well as to God’s presence. Enemies and sinful nature are often named as the main causes of distress,1 but God’s silence seems to be repeatedly portrayed as the source of the psalmists’ most profound anguish. Worst of all is when God “hides His face” and refuses to acknowledge the prayers and offerings of His people (Pss 27:9; 30:7; 102:2). This is understood as a sign of God’s absence (in contrast to Num 6:24-26), to which the individual and community respond with lament, confession, and humble petitions (Pss 13; 22; 30:7-10; 74; 89:38-52). The absence of God is felt like intense thirst in a dry, weary land (Pss 42:1, 2; 63:1) and as mortal anguish and agony (Pss 6:2, 3; 102:1-7). Yet, unlike some modern opinions, in the Psalms God’s absence is not understood as God’s nonexistence, but rather as God’s disapproval and rejection of His people. The psalmists thus express their perplexity at God’s silence by negative petitions for God not to hide (Pss 27:9; 55:1; 69:17), be silent (Pss 28:1; 39:12), forget (Pss 10:12; 74:19, 23), forsake (Pss 27:9; 38:21; 71:9, 18), rebuke (Pss 6:1; 38:1), delay (Pss 40:17; 70:5), and sleep (Ps 44:23), and positive petitions to awake (Pss 35:23; 44:23; 59:4, 5), arise (Pss 7:6; 9:19; 10:12), and listen (Pss 17:1, 6; 31:2; 39:12).
It is not only personal suffering that troubles the psalmists, but also, if not more, God’s seeming lack of attention to His servants’ suffering. The searching questions “Why”2 or “How long?”3 are both humble pleas and daring reminders to God to act. Prolonged periods of distress with no apparent help on the way are felt by the psalmists like God’s unresponsiveness that provokes a sense of isolation and despair. The psalmists feel removed from God, and by extent also from their friends and family (Pss 42; 43; 88:8; 102:6-7). A variety of images portray physical, social, and spiritual seclusion in which the psalmist is entrapped. For example, the psalmist compares himself to lonely birds. “I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert. I lie awake, and am like a sparrow alone on the housetop” (Ps 102:6-7). The notion of wilderness highlights the sense of isolation. The image of a bird “alone on a housetop” suggests that the bird is outside of its nest, its resting place, and so is suffering. The psalmist cries to God “out of the depths” (Heb. מַעמֲַקּיִם, “deep”) as if being engulfed by mighty waters and “sinking into deep mire” where there is no foothold (Pss 69:2; 130:1). The images depict an oppressive situation from which there is no escape, except by divine intervention. Similar images of anguish are found in certain other psalms (Pss 18:16; 32:6; 46:3; 124:4-5; 144:7). J. Clinton McCann Jr. observes that “what is of paramount importance, however, is the psalmist’s conviction that God is somehow present in the depths, or at least within earshot.”4
It is remarkable that the psalmists resolve not to keep silent in the face of God’s silence. Although they sometimes see God as a primary source of distress (Pss 39:10; 44:9; 60:3; 90:15), “for all their incomprehension, bewilderment and anger, the psalmists do not abandon God.”5 The psalmists know that God is still there, even when He is silent. He is still the same God whom they have heard in the past, and so they are confident that He hears their prayers (Pss 33:11; 48:14; 102:27; 105:8; 106:1). The fact that the psalmists persistently continue praying to God even when He is silent demonstrates their love for God and their awareness of God’s love for them. They know that God will not remain silent forever. In many psalms we encounter “state in which hope despairs, and yet despair hopes at the same time; and all that lives is ‘the groaning that can be uttered,’ wherewith the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us, brooding over the waters shrouded in darkness.”6
From these honest responses to God, we can learn that “when we pray and worship, we are not expected to censure or deny the deepness of our own human pilgrimage.”7 The remarkable underlying assumption of the Psalms is that communication with God must go on regardless of life circumstances. Responses to God in the Psalms unswervingly uphold the potential efficacy of prayer because prayer is directed to the living God. Therefore, even God’s silence is God’s response, His “word,” by which the psalmists were given a repentant heart (Ps 51), transformed to find greater faith (Pss 22, 77), strengthened in their commitment to God (Ps 13), and inspired to reconsider the greatness of God’s wisdom and their own folly (Ps 73). When we pray the Psalms, we assume the persistence, boldness, courage, and hope of the psalmists. They guide us like a spiritual coach, encouraging us to continue on our spiritual journey, and comforting us that we are not alone, because other people like us walked the dark (and peaceful) paths ahead of us and were triumphant by the grace of God who heard them.
Although God’s silence in the Psalms is mostly the cause of perplexity and lament, sometimes it is welcomed as the prelude to God’s presence. “For God alone my soul waits in silence” (Ps 62:1, 5, RSV). “I have calmed and quieted my soul” (Ps 131:2). The Psalms thus teach us to embrace God’s silence with reverence and peace, and make it the silence of faith and hope-filled waiting. Praying the Psalms thus helps us embrace the paradoxical nature of prayer, in which we experience God as both near and far, present and hidden. In Ps 62 the psalmist prays to God who is silent (vv. 1, 5), and remembers God who has spoken (v. 11). Yet the truth that God is his refuge and mighty rock never changes, and he trusts God at all times (vv. 7-8).
Biblical faith often implies uncertainty and suspense as much as confidence and assertion. Sometimes uncertainty and suspense come from the vast difference between God, who is the sovereign Creator (Pss 96:5; 115:15), and human beings, who are mortal creatures (Pss 78:39; 102:11; 144:4). God knows every human movement and thought (Ps 139), but God’s thoughts are inconceivable to people (Pss 40:5; 92:5; 139:17). Yet, uncertainty is never about God, His loving and righteous character and trustworthiness. The psalmists may be uncertain about the future, but appeal nevertheless to God’s unfailing love and faithfulness (Pss 36:5; 89:2; 136). Prayer is thus commitment that we make in love, trust, and hope.
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1 For example, Pss 17:13; 19:13; 25:7, 18; 42:10; 51:9; 55:3; 56:2; 64:2; 69:5; 71:4; 79:9; 82:4; 90:8; 94:3, 13.
2 Pss 10:1; 22:1; 42:9; 43:2; 44:23; 74:1; 88:14.
3 Pss 6:3; 13:1; 35:17; 79:5; 80:4; 89:46; 90:13.
4 McCann, The Book of Psalms, 86.
5 Phillip S. Johnston, “The Psalms and Distress,” in Interpreting the Psalms: Issues and Approaches, ed. David Firth and Phillip S. Johnston (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 74.
6 Martin Luther, quoted in J. J. Stewart Perowne, The Book of Psalms, vol. 1 (Andover, MA: Warren F. Draper, 1898; repr. as Commentary on the Psalms, 2 vols. in 1, Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1989), 156, quoted in Mays, The Lord Reigns, 57.
7 Walter Brueggemann, Praying the Psalms: Engaging Scripture and the Life of the Spirit, 2nd ed. (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2007), 14.