The psalmist was quite familiar with the agonizing question as to why bad things happen to good people. In that culture righteousness was understood to lead to blessing and vice-versa. If you were good, good things happened. If you were bad, bad things happened. To work hard to be a good and faithful person, and then for bad things to happen did not add up. This was the quandry which challenged their faith more than anything. Since the New Testament, there has been a shift in that theology. The philosophy that undergirds the New Testament doesn't see quite the same direct correlation as the Old does. It is more comfortable in the abstract. It deals with concepts of faith, hope, and love. Humans don't control God's actions so much with their behavior... but neither is God distant or aloof. In fact, in many ways God's even closer, because he's experienced through the love of each person. So when the psalmist asks why God is standing far off, I would argue he didn't have the same understanding of God as Jesus taught. In good times and bad, God is not far. God is near. God is here.
Readings: 1 Chronicles 15:1-16:36; Romans 1:18-32; Psalm 10:1-15; Proverbs 19:6-7
