Psalm Ten

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/28/2011 8:49 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Psalm 10

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Psalm 10

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 Why do You stand afar off, O LORD? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble? 2  In pride the wicked hotly pursue the afflicted; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised. 3  For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire, And the greedy man curses and spurns the LORD. 4  The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts are, "There is no God." 5  His ways prosper at all times; Your judgments are on high, out of his sight; As for all his adversaries, he snorts at them. 6  He says to himself, "I will not be moved; Throughout all generations I will not be in adversity." 7  His mouth is full of curses and deceit and oppression; Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness. 8  He sits in the lurking places of the villages; In the hiding places he kills the innocent; His eyes stealthily watch for the unfortunate. 9  He lurks in a hiding place as a lion in his lair; He lurks to catch the afflicted; He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net. 10  He crouches, he bows down, And the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones. 11  He says to himself, "God has forgotten; He has hidden His face; He will never see it."

    “12 ¶  Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up Your hand. Do not forget the afflicted. 13  Why has the wicked spurned God? He has said to himself, "You will not require it." 14  You have seen it, for You have beheld mischief and vexation to take it into Your hand. The unfortunate commits himself to You; You have been the helper of the orphan. 15  Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer, Seek out his wickedness until You find none. 16  The LORD is King forever and ever; Nations have perished from His land. 17  O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear 18  To vindicate the orphan and the oppressed, So that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror.”

 

            In the John MacArthur Study Bible there is a note telling that Psalms 9 & 10 used to be one Psalm but now they are split between 9 & 10, and the reason they used to be on is that they are very similar, as they speak of the enemies of Israel.  Psalm nine speaks of those from the outside while psalm 10 speaks of enemies on the inside, those who claim to know God, but don’t and have no fear of God or of the last judgment that will come from God at the end of time as we know it now.  The Bible calls this judgment the “Great White Throne Judgment,” and it is found in Revelations 20:11ff.

 

Questioning God (v. 1):  “1 Why do You stand afar off, O LORD? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?”

            The psalmist is wrestling with the same old question that many people have wrestled with for many years and that is why to the wicked prosper and why do those who follow the Lord become afflicted by the wicked.  Isn’t God going to do something about all of this?  We see this in other parts of the Bible, this same question being asked, for we saw it in the book of Job when we studied Job.  We know that God has a special part of His heart for the orphans and for the widows and yet there are times when they too are afflicted and so the psalmist asks this age old question in verse one.

Rejecting God (vv. 2-13):

We will see four statements in these verses that will express what those rejecting God believe and because of this belief it will determine how they behave in their lives.

 

            “There is no God” (vv.2-4 NASB) “2 In pride the wicked hotly pursue the afflicted; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised. 3  For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire, And the greedy man curses and spurns the LORD. 4  The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts are, "There is no God.’”

            I have mentioned in an earlier SD that Dr. Wiersbe’s commentaries use the King James Bible and I have always used the NASB and in his commentary on this section he wants his readers to see verse four in the NASB because of the statement at the end of verse four:  “There is no God.”

            I have also mentioned that the reason that many people of this age flock to the theory of evolution is that by believing this lie they take God out of the picture and become their own gods doing what they want, not fearing any judgment, well the psalmist is speaking of people who are doing the same kind of thing in his day.

            We see that these evil and wicked people live only for their self, and have no fear of God or what they do to other people as long as it causes gain for them. This sounds all too familiar as we look at the world around us today.

            “I shall not be moved” (v.5-7):  “5 His ways prosper at all times; Your judgments are on high, out of his sight; As for all his adversaries, he snorts at them. 6  He says to himself, "I will not be moved; Throughout all generations I will not be in adversity." 7  His mouth is full of curses and deceit and oppression; Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness.”

            Let us look at two passages of Scripture to help understand these verses above:  “10  For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13  which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. 14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.”  (1Cor. 2:10-16)  This passage shows that unconverted man has no knowledge or understanding of the Word of God, or the ways of God and that is the problem with these people in Psalm 10.

            These people of Psalm 10 misunderstand God, especially that God is longsuffering, and because He is longsuffering they think He will not act at all.  “Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.”   (Eccl. 8:11) 

            One of these days these people will wake up and see that the longsuffering of God is over and then their peace and prosperity will end very suddenly.

            “God will not judge me” (vv. 12-13):  “12 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up Your hand. Do not forget the afflicted. 13 Why has the wicked spurned God? He has said to himself, "You will not require it.’”

“12 Arise, O LORD!  Punish the wicked, O God!  Do not ignore the helpless! 13  Why do the wicked get away with despising God?  They think, “God will never call us to account.’” (NLT)

In these verses we see the psalmist crying out for help to God and we also see three names for God in these verses:  God: Jehovah, the God of the covenant, and El and Elohim, the God of power.  I would like to say here that it would be a wonderful study to know all the names that are used for God throughout the Bible and by knowing this it will enhance our prayer life, for like the psalmist in these verse we could cry out to God by using His names that fit into what we are praying about.

Dr. Wiersbe writes:  “The Lord will keep His covenant promises to His people, and there will be a day of reckoning when sinners will be judged by a righteous God.  ‘Arise, O God’ take us back to Numbers 10:35 and the triumphant march of Israel.”

 

Trusting God (vv.14-18)

The psalmist shows his great trust in God in this last portion of this psalm and has full confidence that God will answer his prayers about the wicked, for he knows that God is on His throne and has everything under control.  Dr. Wiersbe writes, “The Lord may not explain to us why some people seem to get away with their evil deeds, but He does assure us that He will judge sinners and ultimately defend His own.  In this paragraph, the Lord answers all four of the statements of the wicked that are quoted in verses 2-13.”

            God sees what is going on (v. 14):  “14 But you see the trouble and grief they cause.  You take note of it and punish them. The helpless put their trust in you.  You defend the orphans.”

            In verses 8-11 we saw that the wicked boast that God does not know what is going on, but He does see the trouble and the grief that the wicked are causing. 

            God judges sin (v. 15):  “15 Break the arms of these wicked, evil people!  Go after them until the last one is destroyed.”

            This answers the false claim of verses 12-13.  God will answer this prayer, for He is bound by His Word, and although the answer may not come in the timeframe we want it to come God will answer this prayer and God will judge sin.

            God is King (v. 16):  “16 The LORD is king forever and ever!  The godless nations will vanish from the land.”

            The wicked claim that there is no God (vv.1-4) but that is not the truth, for the truth is that God is and He rules over all.

            We know that this prayer was answered for there were many nations that have vanished from their lands since the writing of this psalm, and we know according to the prophecies of the Bible that God will do this in the end times and the reason is that He is King and rules over His kingdom.

            God defends His own people (vv. 17-18):  “17 LORD, you know the hopes of the helpless.  Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. 18 You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them.”

            In verse verses 5-7 the wicked claim that they will not be moved, but God has other plans for them.  God hears the prayers of those who are being persecuted and He see their plight, He also gives strength to their hearts to enable them to go through trials (see Romans 8:28).  He will eventually judge the wicked, those who have abused them.  Paul writes in Philippians 3:20-21 these words, “20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21  who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”  This is a wonderful promise for all believers, especially in times of trouble. 

            Yes God will one day judge all of the wickedness that has gone on during the history of wickedness upon this earth, and God will take His children to be with Him to live forever, and these are two great promises we can hold onto.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I know that the promises of God are true and that one day God will judge the wicked, and when He does that it will not be in the sense of getting even with them, but God is just and His justice will be seen in that day when the White Throne Judgments take place (Revelation 20:11-15).  I believe it is Ezekiel who said that God gets no pleasure from the judgment of the wicked, and I suppose that waiting on God to judge the wicked is a part of learning to be content, knowing that God is in control and will keep His Word.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Continue to learn contentment, knowing that one day all wrongs will be made right by God.

 

 

12/28/2011 10:08:15 AM