We’re going to look at Psalm 10, which is “A Song of Confidence in God’s Triumph Over Evil.”
With a title like that, I know it’s going to be a good Psalm, so let’s start:
1 “Why do you stand afar off, O Lord?
Why do you hide in times of trouble?”
Well…that didn’t start off quite as strong as you’d expect. Matter of fact, as we keep reading, the Psalmist doesn’t sound at all confident in the first several verses, except for some few very brief words about “let them be caught in the plots they have devised” (2) and “Your judgments are far above, out of His sight” (5). Other then that, it’s pretty sad.
In verse 8 he portrays in a sinister tone the wicked and their intentions:
“He sits in the lurking places of the
villages;
In the secret places he murders the
innocent;
His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless.
9 He lies in wait secretly, as a lion in his den;
He lies in wait to catch the poor;
He catches the poor when he draws him
into his net.
10 So he crouches, he lies low,
That the helpless may fall by his
strength.
11 He has said in his heart,
‘God has forgotten;
He hides His face;
He will never see.’”
Things sound pretty dark. To me, this sounds a lot like the world we’re living in today. And for many, this may sound like something you’ve experienced. In the heart of the wicked, they believe that God has forsaken us. They grow ignorant and indifferent, they even hold God and His people in contempt. Let’s pick up in verse 13:
“Why do the wicked renounce God?
He has said in his heart,
‘You will not require an account.’
14 But you have seen, for you observe
trouble and grief,
To repay it by Your hand.
The helpless commits himself to You;
You are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and the
evil man;
Seek out his wickedness until You find
none.
16 The LORD is King forever and ever;
The nations have perished out of His land.
17 LORD, You have the desire of the humble;
You will prepare their heart;
You will cause Your ear to hear,
18 To do justice to the fatherless and oppressed,
That the man of the earth may oppress
no more.”
Wow. Did you catch that? There’s some Tehom (Hebrew for deep) stuff in here. Verse 14 says that He has seen. In fact, God has seen everything. Nothing escapes His attention. The wicked might not know that…but the righteous do.
That’s what sticks out to me so much in this Psalm! The oppressor rejects God. But the one being oppressed commits himself to God.
Imagine the faith? You are being oppressed, hurt, and neglected. Your abuser tells you that God has forgotten you. That He can’t see what’s happening and cannot help. But You have committed yourself to God. In faith, you trust that He sees, that He hears, and that He will help. There are many great examples in the Bible of this.
One that jumps to my mind right away is found in II Kings 6:14-17.
Elisha was surrounded by an army, all might have seemed lost, but Elisha saw as God sees. He saw with faith that there was a mightier army there to deliver them. We can have that same faith. We can have that same foresight.
Another thing is in verse 17, it says that “You will prepare their heart.”
I think it’s speaking of the benefit of trials. Peter talks about this in 1 Peter 1:6-9. Through trials, our faith is made stronger and found to be genuine and much more precious than gold.
We can have confidence in God. We can have confidence that He will triumph over evil. Even if it seems like like He stands afar off now, we can have faith that He will draw near to us and rescue us just in time.
He will triumph.