John Calvin Commentary Psalms 73:11

"And they say, How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?" — Psalms 73:11 (ASV)

And they say, How doth God know? Some commentators maintain that the Prophet here returns to the ungodly and relates the scoffs and blasphemies with which they incite themselves to commit sin; but I cannot approve of this.

David rather explains what he had stated in the preceding verse: that the faithful fall into evil thoughts and wicked imaginations when the short-lived prosperity of the ungodly dazzles their eyes. He tells us that they then begin to call into question whether there is knowledge in God.

Among worldly people, this madness is too common. Ovid says this in one of his verses:

“Sollicitor nullos esse putare deos;”
“I am tempted to think that there are no gods.”

It was, indeed, a pagan poet who spoke in this manner. But as we know that poets express the common thoughts of people and the language that generally prevails in their minds, it is certain that he spoke, as it were, representing the great mass of humankind when he frankly confessed that as soon as any adversity happens, people forget all knowledge of God.

They not only doubt whether there is a God, but they even enter into debate with and rebuke Him. What else is the meaning of that complaint we find in the ancient Latin Poet:

“Nec Saturnius haec oculis pater adspicit aequis:”

“Nor does the great god, the son of Saturn, regard these things with impartial eyes.” Does this not mean that the woman, of whom he speaks there, accuses her god Jupiter of unrighteousness because she was not treated in the way she desired? It is therefore too common among unbelievers to deny that God cares for and governs the world, and to maintain that all is the result of chance.

But David here informs us that even true believers stumble in this regard: not that they burst forth into this blasphemy, but because they are unable to immediately keep their minds under restraint when God seems to stop performing His duties. Jeremiah's expostulation is well known:

Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee; yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? (Jeremiah 12:1)

It appears from that passage that even the godly are tempted to doubt the Providence of God, but at the same time, doubts on this subject do not take deep root in their hearts. For Jeremiah, at the outset, protests the contrary; and by doing so, puts, as it were, a bridle on himself.

Yet they do not always so quickly anticipate the snares of Satan as to avoid asking, under the influence of a doubting spirit, how it can happen—if God really cares for the world—that He does not remedy the great confusion that prevails in it?

Of those who impiously speak foolishly against God by denying His Providence, there are two kinds.

Some openly pour out their blasphemies, asserting that God, delighting in ease and pleasure, cares about nothing but leaves the government of all things to chance. Others, although they keep their thoughts on this subject to themselves and are silent before others, secretly continue to fret against God and to accuse Him of injustice or indolence by conniving at wickedness, neglecting the godly, and allowing all things to be engulfed in confusion and go to ruin.

But the people of God, before these perverse and detestable thoughts take deep root in their hearts, unburden themselves to God. Their only desire is to acquiesce in His secret judgments, the reasons for which are hidden from them.

The meaning of this passage, therefore, is that not only do the wicked—when they see things in the world so full of disorder—conceive only of a blind government, which they attribute to fortune or chance; but even true believers themselves are shaken, so as to doubt the Providence of God. Furthermore, unless they were wonderfully preserved by His hand, they would be completely swallowed up in this abyss.