Give ear to my words, O LORD;give heed to my sighing.
Listen to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.
This plea from the opening of Psalm 5 is a common one amongst the Psalms. Often the Psalms speak from the experience of suffering and of feeling abandoned by God. Sometimes they can be quite strident in demanding that God act according to God's character, to stop the wicked from prospering and the righteous from suffering. It is not at all uncommon for a psalmist to call God to task.
I have those moments, more than I'd like to admit, when God seems distant or absent altogether. But I don't often react emotionally toward God. I rarely shake my fist at God or demand that God act as God should act. Perhaps that is because I am such a thoroughly modern person. God does not seem that involved in day to day life. I don't need God for the sun to shine or the rain to fall. God is so distant from much of life that it almost seems normal for God to be distant in my own life.
It is hard to get angry at someone who doesn't have a lot to do with your world and your life. I can believe in God without really expecting anything of God. But it is hard to be in relationship with a God who isn't real enough to shake a fist at or say a "Thank you" to.
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