Sixteen verses that ask God why and how long, and show where the questions lead, with the full text and a printable sheet.
Many psalms put questions to God. Why do you stand far off. How long will you hide your face. Has his loving kindness vanished forever. The writers do not soften these or apologise for them, and they are addressed to God rather than about him. Psalm 73 goes further and admits the writer nearly lost his footing when he saw the wicked doing well.
The verses are grouped by the kind of question: why, how long, and doubt about whether God is good at all. The last group shows where some of these psalms turn, without pretending every one of them does. Tick any that help and print them on one sheet.
Direct questions, addressed to God, about his silence or distance.
Why do you stand far off, LORD?Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
Why do you stand far off, why do you hide yourself in times of trouble. The psalm opens with the question and no introduction.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me. Jesus cries these words from the cross in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34.
LORD, why do you reject my soul?Why do you hide your face from me?
LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?
Why do you reject my soul, why do you hide your face. Psalm 88 ends in darkness with no turn at all.
I will ask God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me?Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
The writer asks God, my rock, why have you forgotten me. He calls God his rock in the same breath as the complaint.
For a doubt that comes from waiting. These verses ask when, not whether.
How long, LORD?Will you forget me forever?How long will you hide your face from me?
How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
How long, Lord, will you forget me forever. The question how long is asked four times in the first two verses.
How long, LORD?Will you hide yourself forever?Will your wrath burn like fire?
How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?
How long, Lord, will you hide yourself forever. The psalm has spent many verses on God's promise to David before it asks this.
My eyes fail for your word.I say, “When will you comfort me?”
Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me?
My eyes fail for your word. When will you comfort me. The longest psalm still has room for this question.
For doubt that goes deeper than a delay: whether faith was worth it, and whether God has changed.
But as for me, my feet were almost gone.My steps had nearly slipped.
But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
My feet were almost gone, my steps had nearly slipped. The heading attributes the psalm to Asaph, and the next verse names the cause: envy of the arrogant.
Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain,and washed my hands in innocence,
Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain. The writer says out loud that keeping faith may have been pointless.
Has his loving kindness vanished forever?Does his promise fail for generations?
Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?
Has his loving kindness vanished forever, does his promise fail. These are the questions of someone who once relied on both.
My tears have been my food day and night,while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
Tears day and night, while others keep asking, where is your God. The doubt here comes from outside as well as within.
Several of these psalms change direction partway through. The questions are not withdrawn, but something else is added.
until I entered God’s sanctuary,and considered their latter end.
Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
The turn in Psalm 73 comes when the writer enters God's sanctuary. Until then, he says in the verse before, it was too painful to understand.
I will remember the LORD’s deeds;for I will remember your wonders of old.
I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.
I will remember the Lord's deeds. After three verses of questions, the writer turns to memory.
But I trust in your loving kindness.My heart rejoices in your salvation.
But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
But I trust in your loving kindness. Psalm 13 moves from how long to trust in six verses without explaining how.
Our fathers trusted in you.They trusted, and you delivered them.
Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
Our fathers trusted in you, and you delivered them. The psalm that begins with forsaken looks back to those who were answered.
My flesh and my heart fails,but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart. The failure is admitted in the same line as the trust.
Not every questioning psalm resolves. Psalm 88 ends with the writer saying his friends have been put into darkness, and nothing follows. Psalm 89 asks where God's former loving kindnesses have gone and closes with a short blessing that does not answer the question. Both were kept in the book as they are.
Psalm 13, Psalm 22 and Psalm 77 are the clearest. Each is built around direct questions to God, and each changes direction before it ends.
Psalm 73. The writer says his steps nearly slipped, that keeping his heart clean seemed to be in vain, and describes how that changed.
Psalm 22:1, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me. Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 record him saying it.
Psalm 13:1 asks it twice in one verse. Psalm 89:46 and Psalm 94:3 ask the same question.
Psalm 42:3 records others asking the writer, where is your God, and Psalm 10:1 asks why God stands far off.
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