A Study in Psalms - Vol. II; No. 5

A Study in Psalms- Psalm 10

Psalm 10

¹Why, O LORD, do You stand far off?
Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?

²In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises.
³He boasts of the cravings of his heart;
he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.
⁴In his pride the wicked does not seek Him;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
⁵His ways are always prosperous;
he is haughty and Your laws are far from him;
he sneers at all his enemies.
⁶He says to himself, "Nothing will shake me;
I'll always be happy and never have trouble."
⁷His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats;
trouble and evil are under his tongue.
⁸He lies in wait near the villages;
from ambush he murders the innocent,
watching in secret for his victims.
⁹He lies in wait like a lion in cover;
he lies in wait to catch the helpless;
he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.

¹⁰His victims are crushed, they collapse;
they fall under his strength.
¹¹He says to himself, "God has forgotten;
He covers His face and never sees."

¹²Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God.
Do not forget the helpless.
¹³Why does the wicked man revile God?
Why does he say to himself,
"He won't call me to account"?

¹⁴But You, O God, do see trouble and grief;
You consider it to take it in hand.
The victim commits himself to You;
You are the helper of the fatherless.
¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked and evil man;
call him to account for his wickedness
that would not be found out.

¹⁶The LORD is King for ever and ever;
the nations will perish from his land.
¹⁷You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted;
You encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
¹⁸defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
in order that man, who is of the earth,
may terrify no more.

Psalm 10 forms an interesting contrast with Psalm 9. Both psalms are prayers of David in the midst of affliction; in this way, they are similar. However, in Psalm 9, David shows confidence through affliction; in this psalm, David thinks (at first) that God has forsaken him. As in so many psalms, David opens this psalm in despair, but closes in hope and faith in God's salvation.

A major theme in this psalm is the prosperity of the wicked and the affliction of the righteous. Nowhere in the Bible is worldly success tied to God's favor, though men often tie the two together. "This whole Psalm may serve for an ample confutation of the error of those, who make the worldly success of great undertakers an argument of the goodness of their cause; as also for the consolation and confirmation of those, who suffer though it be much and long."[Footnote #21]

The psalm begins with David questioning God concerning God's apparent lack of action in an unjust situation (v. 1). Then David enumerates the evils of the prosperous wicked men whom David wants God to judge (v. 2-11). Next, David prays directly for God to take action (v. 12-15). Finally, David through faith sees the answer to his prayer and recognizes God's sovereignty in the situation and His defense of the weak (v. 16-18).

David Questions God

¹Why, O LORD, do You stand far off?
Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?

David begins by questioning God's lack of apparent action against the wickedness he sees around him. His inquiries are not so much in unbelief as in frustration. David has problems reconciling God's seeming lack of concern with God's righteous character. It is not new that God's people at times feel abandoned by God. God's greatest saints have experienced this; thus, they are our example. We all, at one time or another, cry out to God: "Why, O LORD, do You stand far off...[and] hide Yourself in times of trouble?" Such statements, however, come from our limited understanding of God's ways and from our viewing the situation as the world would. We think, "If I had as much power as God does, I would intervene right away."

There are at least two answers to David's questions. First, God at times does not intervene in order to give the wicked an opportunity to repent of their actions and turn to Him. God is patient with men in their evil because He desires to show mercy. It is inconsistent, even hypocritical, for us to demand God's judgment on the wicked around us, while we certainly do not mind the Lord "standing far off" when we sin.

A second reason that God seemingly "hides" Himself in times of trouble is that He allows, even sends, affliction in our lives for our good. As the writer of Hebrews says: "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." (Heb. 12:11). Indeed, "God's corrections are instructions, His lashes our lessons, His scourges our schoolmasters, His chastisements our admonitions!"[Footnote #22] Our chastening by God is much different, in means and ends, than that which the ungodly experience. "[God] tries the righteous as gold is tried in the furnace, but He punishes the wicked. The one is corrected, the other is destroyed. Both may suffer; but the one for his present and eternal good, the other as the prelude to everlasting ruin."[Footnote #23]

The Sins of the Wicked

²In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises.
³He boasts of the cravings of his heart;
he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.
⁴In his pride the wicked does not seek Him;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
⁵His ways are always prosperous;
he is haughty and your laws are far from him;
he sneers at all his enemies.
⁶He says to himself, "Nothing will shake me;
I'll always be happy and never have trouble."
⁷His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats;
trouble and evil are under his tongue.
⁸He lies in wait near the villages;
from ambush he murders the innocent,
watching in secret for his victims.
⁹He lies in wait like a lion in cover;
he lies in wait to catch the helpless;
he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
¹⁰His victims are crushed, they collapse;
they fall under his strength.
¹¹He says to himself, "God has forgotten;
He covers His face and never sees."

David goes on to enumerate specifically the sins of his adversaries. These evils are familiar; the ways of the wicked have not changed. Their sins are the same, repeated over and over again, age after age:

1. Arrogance and oppression of the weak (v. 2) - Those who oppress the weak demonstrate their own weakness and magnify their own wickedness. Note that the oppression is a result of prideful arrogance. The oppressor sees himself as god, and thus, freely oppresses the weak, not fearing judgment.

2. Pride in evil desires (v. 3) - Pride in itself is sinful;[Footnote #24] pride in evil, even more so. We see this so much today: people "boasting of the cravings of their hearts." They boast of desires to get drunk, desires to have sex, desires to "tell someone off", etc. God personally has given us guidance concerning the only things we are to boast about: "This is what the LORD says: `Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD'" (Jer. 9:23-24).

3. Approval of sin (v. 3) - The wicked man shows his approval of evil when "he blesses the greedy". Greediness, or covetousness, is sin, prohibited in the Ten Commandments. Also, to approve of other's sin, or worse to bless it, is the culmination of wickedness. Paul illustrates this when he ends his section in Romans concerning the extent of man's wickedness by saying: "Although [the wicked] know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them" (Rom. 1:32).

4. Reviling the LORD (v. 3) - The previous evils of boasting in and approval of sin lead to this one. Those who love sin naturally hate the Lord, who is holy.

5. Irreligiousness through pride (v. 4) - Very often, it is pride that keeps men from seeking God. "It is hard to pray with a stiff neck and an unbending knee."[Footnote #25] They set themselves up as god, so find no need to seek the True and Living God. "And how can men be expected to come to a saving knowledge of divine things, when they will not seek to be informed?... No honest inquirer after truth has ever perished. The personal history of every infidel gives the clue to his skepticism. It is a fact that the history of the world has not yet told us of one calm, praying, unprejudiced rejecter of Gospel doctrine and Gospel mercy."[Footnote #26]

6. Denial of God's providence (v. 5,6) - Again, an evil based on pride. In his pride, the wicked man sees God's law and judgments as "far from him." He denies God's work in his life. He sees himself as invincible, saying: "Nothing will shake me; I'll always be happy and never have trouble." This attitude comes from the fact that "his ways are always prosperous." "Prosperity begets presumption, and he who has been long accustomed to see his designs succeed, begins to think it impossible they should ever do other wise. The longsuffering of God, instead of leading such an one to repentance, only hardens him in his iniquity. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, he thinks it will not be executed at all."[Footnote #27]

7. An evil tongue (v. 7) - Whereever you find a wicked man, you will find an evil tongue. Often, nothing but evil comes from a wicked man's tongue, thus, "his mouth is full of curses and lies and threats." David says also that "trouble and evil are under his tongue." This metaphorically compares him to a poisonous viper, whose venom is hidden in bags under his tongue and revealed only for the kill.

8. Violence toward the helpless (v. 8-10) - This is further elaboration upon the evil described in verse 2. Here, the oppression of the weak has turned to violence toward the helpless. Moreover, this violence is performed in a cowardly manner, through "lying in wait" and "ambush".

9. Practical atheism (v. 11) - The last evil that David points out is atheism--not absolute atheism (denying the existence of God), but practical atheism (denying the fact that God cares for and is active in His creation). The wicked man says: "God has forgotten", making Him "a maimed Deity, without an eye of providence, or an arm of power."[Footnote #28] The wicked man's lack of faith contributes to his evil deeds. He lives in sin in great part due to his lack of awareness of God's presence. Who would sin in God's visible presence? Faith is a great deterrence.

David's Cry for Justice

¹²Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God.
Do not forget the helpless.
¹³Why does the wicked man revile God?
Why does he say to himself,
"He won't call me to account"?
¹⁴But You, O God, do see trouble and grief;
You consider it to take it in hand.
The victim commits himself to You;
You are the helper of the fatherless.
¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked and evil man;
call him to account for his wickedness
that would not be found out.

Given all this, it's no wonder that David lifts up his cry to God. He calls God to action, saying: "Arise, LORD!" Then, David, because of his faith, expresses that he does not understand the ways of the wicked. He asks: "Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, `He won't call me to account?'"

The wicked, in saying that God will not call them to account, err tragically. They mistake God's patience. "God forbears punishing, therefore men forbear repentance."[Footnote #29] "Because the Lord continues to spare them, therefore they go on to provoke him. As he adds to their lives, so they add to their lusts... Because justice seems to wink, men suppose her blind."[Footnote #30] The truth is that, as David points out, God does "see trouble and grief" and He "consider[s] it to take it in hand." In God's timing, justice will be carried out.

God's patience is to the detriment of the victim. The victim's recourse is to "commit himself" to God, who is the "helper of the fatherless." God has special care for the helpless, special love for the unloved, if they would but turn to Him. Often their helplessness is their very source of mercy; for in their helplessness, they turn to God, whereas, in success, they may not have. "When we consider what a friend the poor and the orphan have in God, it is not wonderful that they rise from the dunghill and sit among princes. Their very hardships are a good school for them. Their very helplessness makes them fit objects of divine compassion."[Footnote #31]

The Lord is King

Despite the atheism of the wicked, the Lord does continue to reign. David realizes this fact, not through visible circumstances, but through his faith. The evil ways of the wicked men will only last for a time. All the kings of the earth have perished (or will soon perish), but "the LORD is King for ever and ever."

David also realizes the mistake he made in v. 1, when he thought that God was unconcerned with the unjust situation. Though God's intervention is not obvious at times, God is in fact at work in times of trouble. David through experience recognized that God hears "the desire of the afflicted" and defends "the fatherless and the oppressed." God holds in sovereign balance His patience toward the wicked with His mercy on the helpless.

Ultimately, the Lord will return to reign visibly on earth, "in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more." The oppressors are "of the earth", not of the Spirit. Their desires, ambitions and hope are tied to the terrestrial, and so these things will die with this earth. The Lord, who is "King for ever and ever", is not of the earth, but of heaven. As King, He will come to rescue His subjects on earth and bring them home.

And so, Lord, we wait anxiously for that day. Come quickly to rescue us from those of the earth. We praise You for Your care of the helpless, those who have no advocate in this world. Comfort them, encourage them, draw them to You. Show them, by Your Spirit, that they are Your children. In Jesus' name we pray these things, Amen.

(Our study in the Psalms will continue in the next issue)