Psalms 10
Psalms 10:1-18 (NLT)
1 O LORD, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I am in trouble?
2 The wicked arrogantly hunt down the poor. Let them be caught in the evil they plan for others.
3 For they brag about their evil desires; they praise the greedy and curse the LORD.
4 The wicked are too proud to seek God. They seem to think that God is dead.
5 Yet they succeed in everything they do. They do not see your punishment awaiting them. They sneer at all their enemies.
6 They think, “Nothing bad will ever happen to us! We will be free of trouble forever!”
7 Their mouths are full of cursing, lies, and threats. Trouble and evil are on the tips of their tongues.
8 They lurk in ambush in the villages, waiting to murder innocent people. They are always searching for helpless victims.
9 Like lions crouched in hiding, they wait to pounce on the helpless. Like hunters they capture the helpless and drag them away in nets.
10 Their helpless victims are crushed; they fall beneath the strength of the wicked.
11 The wicked think, “God isn’t watching us! He has closed his eyes and won’t even see what we do!”
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.”
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.
15 Break the arms of these wicked, evil people! Go after them until the last one is destroyed.
16 The LORD is king forever and ever! The godless nations will vanish from the land.
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.
Strangely there is comfort to be found in knowing that the trends so dominant in our society today are nothing new. The prevalence of the massive programs that prey on the innocent for monetary gain was the subject of David’s concerns thousands of years ago. That they seemed to be getting by with something would not last forever. The justice of God would ultimately prevail. The only thing established in their implemented scheming was the evil source of their wicked motives. Their apparently unpunished actions only aligned them with those on a path to destruction. The present day’s injustice would not persist forever, and the God of righteousness would remove them from the land as their ability to inflict harm would be no more.
As prayers to this end were effective at the time of this Psalm, they continue in their effect even today. Those who would set themselves up as higher than everyone else in their seats of influence are really just mere people who will be severely punished for their inflictions on the helpless. God sees every little harm done and has a special place of judgment for all who use the innocent for their own gain.
Comfort to be known in this is that the God we serve and worship with whole-hearted love and passion is a just God who will make right everything, no matter how incredibly injustice its present state. All will be made right by Him, and devotion to His ways is securing a place that all those in their self-righteousness will wish they had chosen one day. Living for the Lord is not invalidated by delayed judgment. There is, though, the grace and mercy of God that is providing time for even the most wickedly guilty to repent and truly escape their inevitable condemnation. God’s love even extends to those in unimaginable transgression. (2 Peter 3:9) How good it is to know that this God of mercy will not only preserve us from evil intents but also keep us from joining them in ways that would lead to destruction. His grace not only delivers from our own failed past, but puts us on a path of ever-increasing brightness in righteousness.
The dominance of evil today will not persist forever. The same God of mercy and love is the God of justice. We can gain great comfort and confidence in drawing near to Him.