We know that all of life for a Christian is not peachy. Sometimes family members get cancer, sometimes parents don't serve the Lord and are hypocritical, sometimes the leadership in the church you're serving in neglects you, sometimes the person you voted for isn't elected, sometimes people reject the message you are preaching, and sometimes the girl turns you down.

But in those times, is it OK to ask God to fix the situation? I think David answers that in Psalm 10. At this time in David's life, he was hated by his father-in-law, Saul (who just so happened to be the king of an incredibly powerful nation, Israel). Saul was trying to kill David, and had pursued him on a few occasions. He was making David's life a terrible one to live. Here is what David asked of God during this rough patch (Psalm 10):

¹²Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand;
   forget not the afflicted.

¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
   call his wickedness to account till you find none.

In these two cases, David specifically asks God to fix the situation. In the example of verse 12, I believe David is referring to himself. He is the one who is being afflicted by Saul and his men. He cried to God to not forget him and deliver him from his situation.

Verse 15 shows that David took his request a bit further. Not only did he ask God not to forget him and deliver him, but he also asked God to punish his oppressors. This is where it gets a little fishy for me. I'm not sure I'd have the guts to ask God to punish those who have been oppressing me. But David did.

I am learning that bad times are a part of life, even the Christian life. My tendency is that in knowing bad times are part of life, that means I shouldn't ask God to remove me from the bad situation I'm in. Not so according to David. Yes, we should definitely learn from dry times spiritually, or struggles financially, or tough times while being tempted (we should even be joyful in those times--James 1) but that does not mean we should not ask God to change the situation.

All that being said, we must praise God no matter what He decides to do in our situations in response to our prayers. There is a strong temptation to make the answer to the prayer our reward instead of making God our reward. It is a slight difference in semantics, but a huge difference spiritually. One is an idol, and one is biblical.

Since God is our reward, we can praise Him when He delivers us from our problems, and we can praise Him when He leaves us in our problems. Either way, we can praise God from whom all blessings flow. And either way, we can rightly continue to ask Him for deliverance.

Jacob