Psalm 10
This Psalm is built around two prayers, one voicing deep dismay at God’s seeming absence (1), and the other calling on God to step up and step into chasm of injustice (12).
1 Why, LORD, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
who are caught in the schemes he devises.
3 He boasts about the cravings of his heart;
he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.
4 In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
5 His ways are always prosperous;
your laws are rejected by him;
he sneers at all his enemies.
6 He says to himself, ‘Nothing will ever shake me.’
He swears, ‘No one will ever do me harm.’
7 His mouth is full of lies and threats;
trouble and evil are under his tongue.
8 He lies in wait near the villages;
from ambush he murders the innocent.
His eyes watch in secret for his victims;
9 like a lion in cover he lies in wait.
He lies in wait to catch the helpless;
he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
10 His victims are crushed, they collapse;
they fall under his strength.
11 He says to himself, ‘God will never notice;
he covers his face and never sees.’
The wicked one strides forward in confidence for he is convinced he will not be convicted and condemned for his wicked conduct.
We see this in the repeated phrase in vv6&11, “He says to himself.” The wicked one persuades himself that God is distant and disinterested, that God is absent and has abandoned his world. Notice that when the wicked one speaks, he never uses the covenant name of God, YHWH, or as it is translated LORD. The wicked one does not not the name let alone know the One who bears it.
The International Labour Organistion estimates that there could be as many as 50 million people in modern slavery. The most vulnerable are coerced and conned by the wicked, surrendering their rights and hopes for false promises of freedom.
The wicked ones this Psalm talks about here have taken advantage of the weak (2), innocent (8), victims (8), helpless (9), afflicted (12), fatherless and oppressed (18). They have taken their hope. They have taken their lives and futures.
This all stems from a heart that confidently believes there is no justice.
And this is why the Psalmist cries out at the beginning wondering where the justice is. Yet it is still a call to the LORD, because the Psalmist (and we!) know God’s name and we know him. And this leads us into our second prayer.
12 Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God.
Do not forget the helpless.
13 Why does the wicked man revile God?
Why does he say to himself,
‘He won’t call me to account’?
14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked man;
call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
that would not otherwise be found out.
16 The LORD is King for ever and ever;
the nations will perish from his land.
17 You, LORD, hear the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that mere earthly mortals
will never again strike terror.
Twice the weak and vulnerable are described as “the fatherless” (14&18).
They have no earthly father who will stand are their shield, vouching for them and giving them victory.
But here’s the truth that undergirds the Psalmist’s prayer. God will step into the void. He will be the Heavenly Father for the fatherless. He will defend and protect. He will break the power of the wicked ones (15).
He is the one who heard the weak and wounded (17). Here is an echo to Exodus 2.23-25. God heard the cries of his people. The ones he had made a covenant with. He is the Faithful Father. He knew the wicked one who had put them in back-breaking and hope-sapping slavery. In fact, the LORD calls Israel his Son. And rescued them and righteously judged Egypt.
Our Heavenly Father hears the voices of his people who are subject to the schemes of the wicked ones (v2 and Eph 6.12). And in his care for the weak, he protects those who have been adopted into his family through faith in his only begotten Son, Jesus.
Glory be to the Father, who has hears the cries of the fatherless.
Glory be to the Son, who through his weakness has defeated the wicked one.
Glory be to the Spirit, who encourages the heart of the downcast and downtrodden.