PSALM 10

PSALM 10

 

This psalm is a lament over the apparent aloofness of God and affluence of the ungodly. The great Protestant Reformer Martin Luther said of this psalm: "There is not, in my judgment, a psalm which describes the mind, the manners, the works, the words, the feelings, and the fate of the ungodly with so much propriety, fullness, and light, as this psalm." Some believe this psalm is a continuation of Psalm 9, since it continues the same acrostic pattern, starting each stanza with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

 

Psalm 10:1

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?" (Psalm 10:1 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Whether we overcome trouble or it overcomes us is determined by whether we succumb to our perception that God is far off and hidden in times of trouble or stand on God’s promise that He is our refuge and a very present help in times of trouble. (Psalm 9:9; 46:1)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Nothing is more troubling than the thought that God is truant in times of trouble.

 

Psalm 10:2

 

BIBLE TEXT: "The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined." (Psalm 10:2 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Persecution is produced by pride, for to put others under your heel you must first put your nose in the air.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: God will pitch the foes of His Daniels into their own lion’s den and hang the haters of His Mordecais upon their own gallows. (Daniel 6:3-24; Esther 7:10)

 

Psalm 10:3

 

BIBLE TEXT: "For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth." (Psalm 10:3 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The wicked do not just boast of their bad deeds, but also of their bad desires. Furthermore, they admire the covetous, especially if they are affluent, despite God’s abhorrence of covetousness.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Is there any sin that flies more successfully under the radar of the contemporary church than covetousness?

 

What better example of boasting in one’s bad deeds and desires is there than present-day Gay Pride Parades?

 

Psalm 10:4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts." (Psalm 10:4 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The proud, who believe they have no need of God, never seek God. Instead, they turn their nose up at God.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The only place an omnipresent God cannot be found is in the thoughts of the wicked.

 

Psalm 10:5-6

 

BIBLE TEXT: "His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity." (Psalm 10:5-6 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The sinner is puffed up and puffs at all adversaries and adversities, unmindful of the fact that God could snuff out his life like a puff of smoke at any second.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The judgment of Heaven hangs unnoticeably over the heads of every earthling whose downturned eyes are fixated on this fallen world.

 

Psalm 10:7

 

BIBLE TEXT: "His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity." (Psalm 10:7 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Many people’s minds are poisoned by others’ poisonous mouths.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: As we need to keep ourselves beyond the striking distance of poisonous vipers, we also need to keep ourselves beyond the earshot of poisonous voices.

 

Psalm 10:8-10

 

BIBLE TEXT: "He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor. He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones." (Psalm 10:8-10 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Though conceited, the wicked are cowardly in their cruelty, always committing their crimes covertly against those most easily captured and crushed.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The reason the wicked pick on the weak is because the weak are vulnerable prey and the wicked villainous poltroons.

 

Psalm 10:11

 

BIBLE TEXT: "He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it." (Psalm 10:11 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The sinner is foolishly figuring on the forgetfulness of an all knowing God and brazenly banking on the blindness of an all seeing God.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: There is scarcely a greater barrier to sin than one’s belief in an omniscience and omnipresent God.

 

Psalm 10:12

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble." (Psalm 10:12 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The psalmist, having prosecuted his case against the wicked, now proceeds to appeal to God to arise in judgment on behalf of the afflicted.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: When God lifts up His hand to punish the wicked, those preyed upon by the wicked will lift up their hands in praise to God. 

 

Psalm 10:13

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it." (Psalm 10:13 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is only those who dismiss the possibility of the judgment of God who dare to be contemptuous toward God.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: It is those who are convinced that they’re unaccountable to God who are most irreverent toward God and unrestrained in their sin against God.

 

Psalm 10:14-15

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless. Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none." (Psalm 10:14-15 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: God will not only eventually breakout against the wicked, but also break the arms of the wicked, bringing an end to all their wickedness.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: It’s not just one’s confidence that increases, the more one walks out on the thin ice of a frozen pond, but also one’s peril. Likewise, the sinner does not understand that the more complacent he gets in his sin against God the closer he gets to the judgment of his sin by God.

 

Psalms 10:16-18

 

BIBLE TEXT: "The Lord is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land. Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress." (Psalm 10:16-18 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: This psalm ends in an eruption of praise over God’s eternal throne and eventual tranquility on earth, when all sinners will have perished and all the prayers of the saints will have been answered.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Remember, God is always in control, no matter how out of control things may appear to be.