Psalms 10

Psalms 10:1

Psalm 10: Public Enemy Number OneHere the psalmist employs an acrostic based on the second half of the Hebrew alphabet to describe the supreme villain. Since this “Public Enemy Number One” seems to be the very embodiment of sin, we naturally link him with the “Man of Sin” who will arise at the beginning of the seven-year Tribulation Period. This “son of perdition” will oppose and exalt himself against every so-called god or object of worship. Taking his seat in the temple of God in Jerusalem, he will proclaim himself to be God (2Th_2:3-4). Those who refuse to worship him will suffer economic sanctions, persecution and even death. The Silence of God (10:1)As the Psalm opens we find the question that comes to all of us sooner or later: Why does the LORD remain silent while the innocent suffer and the wicked reign unchallenged? It is mysteries like this that call our faith into action, that encourage us to trust when we cannot understand, and that challenge us to endure to the end. The Prayer of the Oppressed (10:2)In their insufferable arrogance, wicked men relentlessly hunt down the helpless saints. What could be more fitting for them than to suffer the very fate they had devised for the righteous? The Profile of the Enemy (10:3-11)10:3, 4 It is typical for the wicked to boast about all the things he plans to do. In his mad craze to get rich he blasphemes and renounces the LORD, for to worship gold is to repudiate God. His lifestyle is one of self-sufficiency. He feels no need for God and lives as if He never existed. 10:5, 6 Everything seems to go his way; somehow he escapes the troubles that dog the rest of mankind. The guidelines which God has established for His own people are far beyond the wicked man; he cannot understand spiritual truths or divine principles. He sneers at all his enemies with utter contempt; nothing is ever going to disturb his security, he thinks. As long as he lives he will enjoy a trouble-free existence. 10:7, 8 Whenever he is around, you can expect the air to be blue with profanity. If he’s not deceiving someone, he’s probably browbeating someone else! He never seems to talk about anything constructive; it’s always about crime and destruction. Like the other gangsters, he waits in unpatrolled, lurking places to ambush the innocent; when they walk past, he guns them down. He is always on the lookout for the unsuspecting and the helpless. 10:9-11 Like a lion in his den, he is poised ready to pounce on his prey. Like a hunter, he lures the victims into his net, whether of blackmail, extortion, bribery, servitude, or death. The unfortunate victim is overwhelmedfelled by the enormous power of the criminal. In his despair he feels that God has forgotten him, that He is looking in another direction and will never see the predicament of His child. The Cry of the Faithful (10:12-18)10:12, 13 But now it is time for the LORD to act by lifting His hand in judgment on the oppressor and in mercy on the afflicted. Why should the forces of evil be allowed to continue in their godlessness and irreligion? Why should they be encouraged to think that God will never demand an account for their crimes? 10:14, 15 God does see. He keeps a careful score of every act of injustice and wrong, so that He can repay in full in a coming day. So it is not in vain that the helpless commits himself to God. Has God not proved Himself to be the orphan’s friend? The Lord will hear the cry of the faithful by breaking the arm of the wicked and by exposing his wickedness until every last vestige is punished. 10:16 That day of vengeance will arrive when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our LORD and of His Christ. Then the wicked and persecuting nations will have perished, as foretold by Isaiah: Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced; they shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you shall perish. You shall seek them and not find themthose who contended with you. Those who war against you shall be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing. For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, “Fear not, I will help you” (Isa_41:11-13). 10:17, 18 We can be fully assured that the LORD will hear and answer the prayers of the humble. He will give them grace for every trial and will bend low to see that justice is the lot of the fatherless and the oppressed. The day is coming, praise God, when the man of the earth will oppress the poor and defenseless no more!