And, How Close the Helpless Are to Help
Scripture: Psalm 10:1-18
Date: November 2, 2014
Speaker: Sean Higgins
Some days we have a harder time remembering that God is there. We know that He is there; we can break down the compound word: omni-present. We’ve bought the theology book, read the verses in the footnotes, and put it on the shelf in our library. But sometimes our faith is still as thin as a page.
What should we do at those times when it seems that God is gone? When our faith level is low, when our perspective is shot, how can we regain confidence? What makes these sorts of situations especially rough is that it takes at least a spark of faith to fan into a flame of faith. When we need perspective the most we usually are in the worst position to look for it.
The Bible teaches us not only to pray in these troubled times but also to sing. Learning Psalms will help us to do both. Praying will help us to refocus even if the problems are not immediately resolved.
This is exactly the case in Psalm 10. There is no heading for Psalm 10, perhaps because it was originally the second half of Psalm 9. As I mentioned last week, Psalm 10 does pick up a few letters later with the acrostic pattern started in Psalm 9. While there are notes that hook the two songs together, someone, probably the Choir Director, separated them for sake of singing. We’re going to treat them separately for sake of our study, too.
So there is no heading, which means that no author is named. David probably wrote it, though, not only because of its connection with Psalm 9, but also because every other Psalm save one in Book One (Psalms 1-41) are identified as David’s. There is no mention of setting, though we’ll get a good picture from the content of the Psalm itself about the nature of the problem. Men who do not care about God do not care about how they treat one another. A man with any sort of position or power will use that to abuse the weak. Wickedness inevitably grows from worship of oneself.
In this Psalm David will express his distress, give the anatomy of the wicked, plead for God to come and help, and finish with a celebration of praise. Help is closer to the helpless than they may believe in any given moment.
There are days when life just seems too hard to face, and we don’t always know-know that He is near.
Why, O LORD, do you stand far away?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
(verse 1)
One reason for appreciating the divide between Psalm 10 from Psalm 9 is that the questions in verse 1 of Psalm 10 do not flow from the conclusions in Psalm 9. These questions come from desperation, and aren’t usually the type that follow a declaration such as that at the end of Psalm 9.
David inquires of Yahweh, the LORD, Why do you stand far away? How come the distance seems so great? The second question may be more concerning: Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? How come You leave when things get difficult? It’s as if God is in the last row of the upper deck and when His team gets down He goes to the concession stand. These are questions not only about whether or not God is close, but also about whether or not God is dependable. Even if He was nearby but departed as soon as trials came, what sort of help or comfort would that be?
As an inspired question, we can see that God does not prohibit men from expressing their doubts. In other words, it is not wrong to ask questions. It is wrong to complain about Him and not to ask those questions to God Himself. However out of sorts David felt in the moment, he took his concerns to the LORD of sorting.
More than half of this song contains lines about the wicked. Here, then, is the context of David’s questions. Not only does the ESV make breaks before verse 2 and after verse 11, the nouns and pronouns make it unmistakable. The wicked verse 2, the wicked verse 3, the wicked verse 4, then his ways and he says and his mouth and he sits and his eyes and he lurks and his might and he says. Here is the anatomy of the wicked, a characterizing of his internal and external workings.
Wicked means morally wrong, and then usually harmful. While the Psalter is a book for praising God, it is also a book for distinguishing between the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked (Psalm 1:6).
Three themes echo through these verses about the wicked: his attitude toward the weak, his attitude about himself, and his attitude toward God.
How a man treats others shows his character.
In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.
(verse 2)His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
He sits in ambush in the villages;
in hiding places he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket;
he lurks that he may seize the poor;
he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.
The helpless are crushed, sink down,
and fall by his might.
(verses 7-10)
The following are mostly synonyms: poor (three times), innocent (once), and helpless (twice). These are the weak of society. Some of the following sections of the song will add words such as afflicted (twice), the helpless (once), the fatherless (twice), and the oppressed (once).
Who are these wicked ones? It’s possible thad David is describing common criminals: liars, robbers, murderers. But the scheming and deceiving and oppressing and seizing and crushing may be describing wicked men in positions of authority. They may hold government offices. The innocent are not more stupid, nor are they necessarily more small. David’s lament, therefore, is more of a public problem than a personal one. He observed something wrong in society and not only in a specific neighborhood.
The wicked is in hot pursuit. His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression. Paul uses this verse in his list of head to toe sinfulness in Romans 3 which MacArthur calls “‘hoof’ and ‘mouth’ disease” (MSB). And he’s opening his mouth in his corner office as he talks with his fellow rulers. “Can you believe the poor? Always looking for a handout. What a drain on the important people and programs of our city.” From there he schemes and threatens and intimidates, even if he calls it “law.”
In hiding places he murders the innocent is not overpowering per se, but over-legislating. “Let’s call it ‘cells of tissue’ rather than a person, a ‘fetus’ rather than a baby.” In our own country today these attacks are often targeted at lower income and less powerful persons.
How the wicked man thinks about his position and his security totally fits with a ruler, not merely a rogue.
For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul,
(verse 3a)His ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, but out of his sight;
as for all his foes, he puffs at them.
He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.”
(verses 5-6)
His ways prosper at all times, or at least this is what it sometimes seems to be true from the perspective of the righteous. As for all his foes, he puffs at them. He has enemies, but he blows smoke at the possibility that they could do anything of harm to him, like a snorting bull. He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved. Or we might say, “You can’t touch me.” This is the tagline on his website. Such confidence and complacency is not reasonable, let alone decent. It is deceived. How can he know whether or not he will meet adversity? He is not god, but he is acting like one.
The reason a man can think about himself with such pride, and the reason that he will abuse those he believes to be below him (or at least those on whom he believes he can get away with it), is one and the same. It is because the wicked man does not worship God.
and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the LORD.
In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him;
all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”
(verses 3a-4)He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,
he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”
(verse 11)
Which is it, There is no God or God has forgotten? Is the man an atheist or is he merely acting as if God doesn’t exist, a practical atheist? His thoughts are inconsistent but the effects are the same. He thinks too highly of himself and too lowly of those around him. It is the adult version of “You can’t see me if I don’t look at you.”
The man who believes that God doesn’t exist, or that even if God does exist that God isn’t omniscient, or if God is omniscient that He doesn’t care, will be and act wickedly. If God is ignorant or indifferent, then he can behave however he wants. The wicked believe that they are untroubled (verses 5-6), unseen (verse 11), and unaccountable (verse 11).
When focusing on the things the wicked do it is easy to start looking at things like the wicked do. What I mean is that when we see men who don’t recognize God apparently prospering it is easy to begin thinking that God doesn’t recognize what’s happening. David refocuses and the song changes in verse 12 when he calls on the LORD to act. Verses 1-11 were what his eyes saw, verses 12 and after are what he believes God will do.
Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand;
forget not the afflicted.
Why does the wicked renounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”?
But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless commits himself;
you have been the helper of the fatherless.
Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
call his wickedness to account till you find none.
(verses 12–15)
As he did in Psalm 9, David calls Yahweh to Arise. To lift up your hand is a way to implore God to take up the battle. Even though the wicked thinks that God won’t hold him accountable, it is the opposite. You do see, for you note mischief and vexation that you may take it into your hands. The LORD will get involved; He already is.
David even asks, Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer. Don’t let him continue to use his strength. And call his wickedness to account till you find none. In other words, wring him out with judgement until he’s dry.
It has taken a while to get to this point, but in these final verses of the song David makes his confession of faith.
The LORD is king forever and ever;
the nations perish from his land.
O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
(verses 16–18)
Yahweh does hear the desire of the afflicted. God will strengthen their heart. For the fatherless and the oppressed God is near and dependable in times of trouble. Help for the helpless could not be closer.
In the final line of the song, David uses a Hebrew word that is also found in both Psalms 8 and 9. The word is enosh. It is translated “man” in each song (8:4; 9:19), and here it is part of “man who is of the earth.” But it is different from the words for man that are usually used in the Old Testament (such as adam). Most commentators believe that it emphasizes man in his frailty.
There is dignity and glory for this frail man in Psalm 8:4. But this glory comes when man recognizes his place before God. When man will not be humble before God, man will reek havoc on earth.
A government that refuses to recognize God cannot help but eventually exalt the strong and abuse the weak. There will be no solution, no political system or set of laws that will be truly righteous apart from worship of the true God. Capitalism and democracy will not work with proud men. Persons who will not praise God will inevitably promote themselves and their own interests, perverting justice for others. Science and technology and progress, in the hands of self-worshippers, will destroy men. Humanity without humility is pseudo-humanity, two-dimensional humanity, dead humanity.
This applies to mafias and magistrates and mayors. It applies on the national and local level. Godless men will praise each other, give each other titles, call one another Czar. They will run small business through regulations and restrictions, they will impose economic penalties such as unreasonable taxation to get what they want.
We can complain, which is the method of most Christian men and women. What are we going to do? Sing. No joke. When the Star Spangled Banner goes bad, sing Psalms.
Every Caesar is dead, now. We’re already on our 44th President and most of the previous ones are dead. It really doesn’t take God long. But the wicked won’t be stopped unless we turn to Him.
If you would like to change the outcome of the elections on Tuesday, not to mention of future elections, then one part of a Christian strategy should be to be content with your stuff. I’m not saying to be content with unrighteousness, but with your possessions. If politicians realized that they couldn’t buy us with promises to make other people pay for our stuff (whether they call it insurance or grants or stimuluses) then they would have less motivation to regulate (and extort) the redistribution. Be content. And the only way to do that is to believe that the Lord is near.
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”(Hebrews 13:5–6, ESV)