Psalm 10, pt 1
The Evil of the Wicked
David was a man often under assault by evil. Surely he was a target because he had been singled out by God as a special servant and had been given many blessings both spiritual and physical from the time he was very young. Satan was not blind to the fact that he was an important link in the lineage of the Christ.
But not every attack was met with an immediate outpouring of the help of God as had been the case when he encountered the lion, the bear and the Philistine. God allowed, as He often does with His people, the attack to go on for a while. The time of his renegade life as he sought to stay clear of Saul went on for years, a reminder to all of God’s people across the ages that just because the deliverance of God is not always swift, it is always sure and may not come in the ways we think. Sometimes His help is Grace to live in a time of suffering and then be delivered to the Life to Come.
Ps 10:1-11
1 Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
Short answer: Because the Lord uses trouble to strengthen and mature His people. And, sometimes, He is giving His enemies enough rope to hang themselves.
2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
Here is another of those imprecatory moments that the Christian may observe but needs to be careful. His attitude toward his enemies is a bit different than that of David, or at least should be.
David cataloged the attitudes of his enemies as justification for his desire that they be destroyed. These qualities are consistent in those who attack the people of God. Some of this was used by Paul in Romans chapter 3 to describe the general condition of mankind.
3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.
4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
5 His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.
One of the consistent things in wickedness is a foolish, unreasonable and profound sense of confidence and all the while he is warring against the King of Heaven.
7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
See Rom 3:14.
8 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.
9 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.
10 He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.
And, for all his bravado, he preys on the poor, not on the strong. He is convinced that God will not judge him and he could not be more wrong.
11 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it
No one was ever more mistaken.
— April 12, 2020