Psalm 10 is really the other half of Psalm 9. The two psalms together form an acrostic poem in Hebrew. In English, the two psalms just share the same thoughts about the faithfulness and justice of God Most High.
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 of the cravings of his heart;
he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.
4 In his pride the wicked does not seek him;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
5 His ways are always prosperous;
he is haughty and your laws are far from him;
he sneers at all his enemies.
6 He says to himself, “Nothing will shake me;
I’ll always be happy and never have trouble.”
7 His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats;
trouble and evil are under his tongue.
8 He lies in wait near the villages;
from ambush he murders the innocent,
watching in secret for his victims.
9 He lies in wait like a lion in cover;
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 has forgotten;
he covers his face and never sees.”
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, O God, do see trouble and grief;
you consider it to take it in hand.
The victim commits himself to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man;
call him to account for his wickedness
that would not be found out.
16 The LORD is King for ever and ever;
the nations will perish from his land.
17 You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.
Ain’t gonna study war no more. No more violence. No more curses, lies and threats. Greed and pride and murder and theft, banished. ‘Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.
However, in order for God to remove all evil from the world immediately, He’d have to remove me. As Chesterton once famously answered to the question, “What’s wrong with the world?”,
Dear Sirs, I am. Sincerely yours, G. K. Chesterton
So, let’s go slowly, and God, first of all, have mercy on me, a sinner. Then, create in me a clean heart and start scrubbing the rest of the world clean, too. One soul at a time. Yes, I want God to defend the fatherless and listen to the cry of the afflicted. We just all need to remember that sometimes we ARE the perpetrators rather than the victims.
May all of us terrify and be terrified no more.
What I learned: God’s got a big job. I thank Him for the times he’s rescued me, and others, from myself. And I pray that He will break my arm, or anything else that needs to be broken, before He allows me to become like the man described in verses 2-15 of Psalm 10.
Thanks for this. Leave it to Chesterton to turn an issue inside-out and expose it for what it really is.