Skip to main content
Psalmlog Logo
Read

Psalm 115:2

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God, now?”

1Not to us, LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for your loving kindness, and for your truth’s sake.
2Why should the nations say, “Where is their God, now?”
3But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases.
4Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →
← Psalm 115:1Psalm 115:3 →
Notice

The nations’ taunt makes faith a matter of public scorn, and the prayer brings that scorn before the God whose name is being questioned.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What difference do you notice between the nations’ taunt and the prayer that repeats it to God?

Write on this

When have you heard someone treat apparent divine absence as evidence against faith?

Write on this

What would you want to say to God after reading the nations’ words?

Write on this
Connect

Where else Scripture says this

10 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 42:3My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”Both repeat a taunt about God’s whereabouts; Psalm 42 names the tears that accompany hearing it day and night.
Psalm 79:10Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let it be known among the nations, before our eyes, that vengeance for your servants’ blood is being poured …Both protest the nations’ taunt about God’s whereabouts; Psalm 79 adds a plea for vengeance for the blood of God’s servants.
Joel 2:17Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare your people, LORD, and don’t give your heritage to …Both bring the nations’ questioning of God’s whereabouts into prayer; Joel places that plea on the lips of weeping priests.
Psalm 42:10As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”Both report others questioning God’s whereabouts; Psalm 42 describes the adversaries’ repeated reproach as a sword in the bones.
2 Kings 2:14He took Elijah’s mantle that fell from him, and struck the waters, and said, “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” When he also had struck the waters, they …Both contain a question about where God is, though Elisha asks while striking the waters rather than taunting God’s people.
Exodus 32:12Why should the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth’? Turn …Both appeal to God with concern for what outsiders will say about him and his treatment of his people.
Numbers 14:15–16Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying,Both raise concern about what the nations will say; Numbers connects their speech with the possible death of God’s people.
Deuteronomy 32:26–27I said that I would scatter them afar. I would make their memory to cease from among men;The shared ground is limited: both concern God and a people; the supplied Deuteronomy line describes scattering without mentioning outsiders’ taunts.
Micah 7:10Then my enemy will see it, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will see her. Now she will be trodden down like the …Both report a taunt about God’s whereabouts; Micah adds the enemy’s coming shame and trampling like street mire.
2 Kings 19:10–19“Tell Hezekiah king of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.Both feature outsiders challenging trust in God; the Assyrian message targets Hezekiah’s confidence that Jerusalem will escape capture.
Where this verse fits

Doubt. feeling distant from God. injustice and anger.

What the Bible says about doubt →What the Bible says about doubt →What the Bible says about anger →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read Psalm 115:2 aloud as a prayer

prayeroncelight
Encouragement

The nations’ taunt is heard within a prayer for God’s glory. Their words do not decide where God is or limit what he can do.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 115:2. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 115 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).