Psalm 10
Introduction – We live in a world where, optimistic as we are
called to be, sin and the horrible results of sin, are a living, ongoing
reality. We are tempted at times to
think that God does not care. Quite the
opposite, He teaches us in Psalm 10 how to pray against it and how to complain
properly before Him. “To the
Sanctified Complaint (v1) – In God’s
providence, it sometimes appears from our vantage point as if God is aloof to
our concerns and needs. And yet, here we
see that God has composed a prayer for us in just such times. Spurgeon again – “The refiner is never far from the mouth of the furnace when his gold is
in the fire, and the Son of God is always walking in the midst of the flames
when his holy children are cast into them.”
And there are dozens of reasons that our heavenly Father has placed us
in such flames: past sins, strengthening
of faith, discovering our depravity, life-instruction – these may be why God
appears at times to hide His face. One
obvious reason in this Psalm’s context is to instruct the godly to turn and cry
out to God to put down the wicked.
The Character of the Ungodly (vv2-11) – Part of our
singing to God is to include a long description of what characterizes the
wicked which should increase our hatred of our own sin and drive us to the
choruses of verses like 12, 15, and 17 – “Arise,
O God…Break their arms…cause Your ear to hear…”
Arrogance (vv2-4)
– When a man puts a premium on his own desires, when he thinks that people
ought to be more concerned about him, when he acts hurt because others are not
caring for him first, when he acts in his own behalf at the expense of the poor
or the weak, this man is full of pride, self-exaltation, arrogance. And the more full of
himself he becomes, the less room there is in his life for God.
Prosperity (v5) – One would think
that arrogance would always lead to a great fall. But in this life, sometimes the arrogant brag
all the way to the top. Instead of
experiencing God’s judgment, the wicked man prospers. Prosperity is a means of testing how little a
man trusts in God.
False Security (v6) – Arrogance and great possessions gone to
seed bloom into false security as though such a man were fully insulated from
any harm upon this earth.
Vile Speech (v7) – Not only is the
wicked man a malicious thief; his vain speech is full of vile cursing. And this matters to God as well, so much so
that Paul will quote this verse in Rom 3:14 to describe the nature of all the
ungodly.
Bully-Violence (vv8-10) – Men are supposed to be warriors, and this means that there will
be times of violence in the lives of the righteous. But the wicked man crouches in hiding,
waiting like a lion for the moment to strike out at the weak, the helpless, and
the poor. His violence is never for the
protection of others, but for his own gain alone.
Arrogance (v11) – Pride can be so
subtle, but arrogance truly bookends the man who does not humble himself and
trust the Lord. Instead, he creates a
‘new’ theology where he remembers things God has forgotten and he knows things
God has never known.
Beseeching God to Act (vv12-18) – God’s apparent
toleration of the wicked can bring suspicions to His saints that the boasts
about God not seeing or not caring are true.
It is easy to repeat again the true character of God in some technical
or catechetical fashion, but the words sometimes ring hollow when the empirical
reality of suffering or persecution or unending trials brought on by the wicked
indicate precisely the opposite. What
the psalmist wants is action – and so he prays.
Arise, O Lord (vv12-15) – The wicked say
that God has forgotten and so the humble beseech God to not forget. They know His hand is great and so they call
on Him to lift up His hand and break the arm of the wicked (v15). He is Father to the fatherless and the
strength to the helpless, and He has seen what has befallen us (v14). Sometimes it takes the sustaining trial to
cause us to realize how much we need to depend upon God Almighty. Calvin warns that it is very difficult to
apply these generalities about God to our particular situations, but we are to
learn from the Psalm and the psalmist that this is exactly what he was
doing. It may seem for a time that God
is not taking notice; it is precisely in those times that we should have this
psalm upon our tongue and heart.
Preparing
Hearts and Ears
(vv16-18) – In the midst of the petition, the psalmist does declare the
character of God. The Lord is king and
the (heathen) nations have been put down (v16).
Our prayers for the reformation of the church and for His grace to grant
us to be salt and light once again on this earth are prayers He has prepared in
our hearts and is prepared to hear. Our
prayers that He would remove the wicked from the Supreme and other Federal
Courts and from the Congress, and that the God-hating education system imposed
upon our land would be broken are prayers He has prepared for us to pray and
for Himself hear.
From Wicked To Righteous – The characteristics of
the wicked come far too close to each one of us to simply think that we are not
in that camp; at least not in and of ourselves.
In Romans 3 (where he will quote Psalm 10:7 in Romans 3:14), Paul is
making the point that “all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God.”
To sing this psalm against the wicked requires faith, and that faith
must be in God the Father and in His Son, Jesus. And that faith must be in His finished work
for you upon the cross. And if you have
that faith, it is a faith to sing, for “the
Lord is King forever and ever; the nations have perished out of His land.” And here we remain, safe in the strong arms
of the One who has and will put down all of His enemies.