Untitled Sermon (2)

Introduction:

Have you ever felt lost in a world filled with problems and confusion? Sometimes it feels like the bad stuff overshadows all the good.

That's where Psalm 10 comes in.

It's like the voice of someone who’s been through what we're going through and knows our struggles, even if it’s the voice of someone who is unknown.

Imagine you're at the edge of a deep valley, shouting out your worries and fears.

- "Why does it seem like you're not here, God?

- Where are you when things get tough?"

It's like throwing a question into the open, hoping for an answer.

Then, from the quiet, you start to hear whispers.

They're voices of people just like you and me, who've been there, done that.

You hear words that reflect their raw feelings, their highs and lows, and words that led them to find hope even when things looked bleak.

Psalm 10 is a transparent Psalm.

A Psalm in which the author doesn’t hold back on expressing the pain and hurt that enemies are causing.

Quite uniquely, the Psalms are like food for the soul – real comfort food that nourishes our lives.

Pslam 10 is like a guiding light, showing the way when everything else is confusing.

Each verse of Psalm 10 is forming a comforting message: you're not alone in your struggles.

Many have faced hard times, asked the same questions, and found comfort in the words of our Psalm today.

And I trust that we will as well. I trust that we will learn that we can rely on God, not only to intervene in our situations but also to give us the freedom to vent, express raw feelings and be angry, before Him, because of the injustice we see or experience.

Psalm 10

“Why, O Lord, do you stand far away?

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

2  In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;

let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.

3  For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul,

and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord.

4  In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him;

all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”

5  His ways prosper at all times;

your judgments are on high, out of his sight;

as for all his foes, he puffs at them.

6  He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved;

throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.”

7  His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;

under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.

8  He sits in ambush in the villages;

in hiding places he murders the innocent.

His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;

9  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.

10  The helpless are crushed, sink down,

and fall by his might.

11  He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,

he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”

12  Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;

forget not the afflicted.

13  Why does the wicked renounce God

and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”?

14  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.

15  Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;

call his wickedness to account till you find none.

16  The Lord is king forever and ever;

the nations perish from his land.

17  O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;

you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear

18  to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,

so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more. “

Picture a small fishing village nestled by the seaside.

The people of the town, mostly fishermen, have faced the mighty waves of the ocean for generations.

They know the sea's moods - its calm days when the sun sparkles off gentle waves, and its raging tempests when storms roll in.

One evening, a young fisherman named Sam set out in his boat, hoping for a big catch.

The weather seemed fair, but within hours, an unforeseen storm began to brew.

The once-calm waters turned ferocious, waves rising high, threatening to swallow Sam's boat whole.

As darkness enveloped the sea, Sam found himself lost amidst the towering waves, with no sense of direction.

Panic gripped his heart.

Just when he was about to give up hope, a faint glimmer in the distance caught his eye.

It was the village lighthouse, standing tall and undeterred by the storm.

Its steady light pierced the gloom, offering a guiding beacon back to the safety of the shore.

Grasping onto this newfound hope, Sam steered his boat towards the light.

No matter how wild the storm raged, that beacon never wavered.

With its guidance, Sam made his way back to the village, exhausted but alive.

The lighthouse, like our Psalm today, stands as a beacon in our darkest times.

It doesn't stop the storm, but it provides a light to guide us through it, reminding us that even in the toughest moments, we're not alone.

Someone has been through it before, and there's a path that leads back to safety.

In moments of pain, suffering, and apparent injustice, it's not uncommon for believers to wonder, "Where is God?"

Psalm 10 is a raw reflection of this very question—a strong reminder that the psalmist, much like us, grappled with God's perceived absence in trying times.

Preposition:

Today, through Psalm 10, we will journey from feeling God's perceived absence to recognizing His ultimate promise of justice.

FCF (Fallen Condition Focus):

In a world marred by sin, we often face the tragic reality of injustice and the subsequent feeling of divine silence, leading to moments of doubt and despair.

Main Point:

God's justice prevails even amidst perceived silence.

1. God’s Justice Prevails When Silence Surrounds Us

Verse 1: "Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?"

There are times in our lives, no matter our background, when we raise our eyes to the heavens and are met with a silence that feels overwhelming.

"Why, O Lord, do you stand far away?

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?"

Such is the heartfelt cry from Psalm 10:1.

In every corner of the world, amidst different traditions and nationalities, this sentiment resonates.

It's a universal experience, this feeling of seeking an answer amidst silence.

Illustration:

Imagine being lost in a vast desert, desperately searching for water.

Every direction appears the same, and the hope of finding a life-saving oasis seems bleak.

This overwhelming feeling of desolation mirrors the psalmist's lament in the opening verses of Psalm 10.

Just as a parched traveller yearns for water, so does our soul cry out for God's presence in moments of despair.

Illustration (Incorporating Job's Story):

Think about the initial suffering of Job, a righteous man who lost everything—his wealth, his health, and his family—in swift, successive tragedies.

Job 2:7-8

“So, Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.”

Sitting in ashes, scraping his sores, Job's bewildering lament mirrors the psalmist's: “Why, O Lord?”

Job’s friends, instead of comforting him, insist that his suffering must be a result of personal sin, deepening his feeling of God's absence.

Just as a desert wanderer yearns for water, Job's soul thirsts for understanding and a sense of God's presence amidst his despair.

Application

During moments of solitude—be it during a morning walk, while journaling, or in quiet meditation—ask yourself,

- "In which areas of my life do I feel God's silence the most?

- How can I seek His presence more actively?"

Maybe one of the best things we can do when we feel distant from God is to connect with His People.

Because sometimes, the best way to bridge the perceived gap of God’s absence is not on your own, but together with others who pursue God passionately.

Because maybe life is not about escaping pain but enduring it. And what better way to endure pain that together with people who love God?

When Silence Surrounds, Seek Shelter in God’s House, His People

2. God’s Justice Prevails despite the Wicked’s Apparent Success

· Verse 2: "In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised."

· Verse 4: "In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, 'There is no God.'"

· Verses 5-7: "His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, 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.' His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity."

Psalm 10 doesn't hold back in revealing the audacity of those who stray from the path of righteousness.

On the surface, it can often seem like those who do wrong thrive, while the virtuous wait in the wings.

Illustration:

Consider a dense fog that obscures everything in sight.

Similarly, the wicked, shrouded in their own pride and arrogance, believe they are invincible, thinking God either can't or won't see their actions.

But just as the morning sun disperses the thickest fog, revealing what's behind, so does God's light of truth shine on the deeds of the wicked, exposing them for what they truly are.

Illustration (Incorporating Job's Story):

Job's friends, especially Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, were quick to offer reductive and at times judgmental explanations for Job's sufferings.

Their brazen confidence in their misguided theology mirrors the arrogance of the wicked in Psalm 10.

They believed in a strict system of justice—good is rewarded and evil is punished.

Which is why, in their view, Job must have sinned to deserve his suffering.

Like the fog that obscures the truth, their misguided counsel only added to Job's agony.

Application:

It’s a hard position to be in, when, as if experiencing God’s perceived absence is not enough, on top of that, those who hurt you, those who are wicked and unrighteous, those who don’t even love God as you do, it is them that seem to prosper and be successful.

But the Bible is not silent about the reality of wickedness.

Instead, we are confronted throughout the Scripture, and perhaps especially in the psalms with an accurate picture of humanity.

Of course, if we were going to look from the widest possible angle, we know that the reality of evil’s existence is a function of our own sinful rebellion against God detailed in the first three chapters of Genesis.

And ever since the 3rd chapter of Genesis, humanity has been plagued by the realities of murder, rape, theft, adultery, sexual immorality, slander and lies.

But specific to the psalms, it was about this psalm in particular that:

Martin Luther once said:

[QUOTE] “There is not, in my judgment, a Psalm which describes the mind, the manners, the works, the words, the feelings, and the fate of the ungodly with so much propriety, fulness, and light, as this Psalm. So that, if in any respect there has not been enough said heretofore, or if there shall be anything wanting in the Psalms that shall follow, we may here find a perfect image and representation of iniquity. This Psalm, therefore, is a type, form, and description of that man, who, though he may be in the sight of himself and of men more excellent than Peter himself, is detestable in the eyes of God.”

Psalm 10 uniquely describes the realities of a person who thinks of himself as smelling like a rose when he is more putrid than the smell of a rotting corpse.

Look at the description of the wicked in verses 2-11

· He is described as arrogant in verse 2

· He is described as greedy in verse 3

· He is prideful in verse 4

Also, in verse 4 it is said of him he does not have God in his thoughts. We talked a little bit about this last week. The sin of forgetting God.

Charles Spurgeon said:

“The only place where God is not is in the thoughts of the wicked. This is a damning accusation; for where the God of heaven is not, the Lord of hell is reigning and raging; and if God be not in our thoughts, our thoughts will bring us to perdition.”

When you look at verse 5 the wicked are seemingly prosperous!

They seem to have everything going for them in this life.

· He has a haughty heart (v6)

· and a defiled and deceitful tongue (v7)

Psalm 10 is all about this kind of fake religious people.

They are not proper atheists; they are PRACTICAL atheists.

Psalm 10 could very easily be about someone who attends church - acknowledges there is a God, but never LIVES like there is one.

They think the God’s rules apply to EVERYONE ELSE BUT THEMSELVES.

They feel bulletproof to God’s judgment of their OWN sin, and blindly live for themselves and their own bottom line and could care less about how it impacts anyone else around them.

They become presumptuous with God’s patience, and they are impenitent to his prodding, and they are as Paul says in Romans storing up WRATH for themselves on the day of judgment - because God DOES see and God DOES keep account.

3. God’s Justice Prevails because of God’s Commitment to Justice

· Verse 12: "Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted."

· Verse 14: "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."

· Verses 16-18: "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."

The closing verses of Psalm 10 reaffirm a belief held close to the hearts of many—a steadfast faith in the eventual triumph of good over evil.

"Arise, O Lord," is not merely a plea; it's confidence in God’s divine justice.

In every movie, song and story, there's a strong belief that good will win in the end, isn’t there?

After a dark night, the morning always comes, pushing away the dark and bringing light.

In the same way, the idea that God’s justice will ultimately prevail gives us comfort, hope and trust.

Illustration:

Imagine a potter meticulously shaping a vessel.

Despite the lump of clay resisting and contorting, the potter remains committed to his purpose.

Similarly, even when the world seems out of shape, filled with injustice and wickedness, God, the divine Potter, is at work, shaping history and individuals for His purposes.

His commitment to justice is as unwavering as the potter's hands.

Illustration (Incorporating Job's Story):

The climax of Job's story is marked by God's majestic response from the whirlwind.

God does not offer a direct explanation for Job's suffering but instead points to the vastness and intricacies of His creation. This divine response reiterates God's unwavering commitment to justice. Like the potter shaping the clay, God shapes the narrative of our lives in ways we might not always comprehend.

Yet, in the end, Job is restored and vindicated, signalling that God's justice, though not always immediate or as we expect, is indeed perfect and sure.

Psalm 10 ends with an extraordinary measure of confidence in God’s commitment to Justice.

There will be no end to his rule and reign.

By contrast, the wicked will perish and will come to understand that they will not be allowed to persist in their wicked ways forever.

Application:

Patience in Adversity: Recognize that justice, though assured, may not always be immediate. When you face injustice, instead of reacting impulsively, take a moment to reflect and approach the situation with patience and wisdom.

One of the primary lessons from the Bible is the concept of God's timing. Unlike humans, who are constrained by the limitations of time, God operates on a divine timetable.

Scriptures like 2 Peter 3:8 remind us, "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

This reinforces the idea that while we might desire swift justice, God's plan and timing are perfect and not always aligned with our immediate expectations.

Throughout the Bible, believers are encouraged to wait on the Lord.

Psalms 27:14 says, "Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD."

This waiting is not passive but is an active period of spiritual growth, reflection, and trust in God's ultimate plan.

The Bible champions the virtues of wisdom and patience over impulsive reactions.

Proverbs 14:29 states, "He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick-tempered exalts folly."

When faced with injustice, it's tempting to respond with immediate emotion, but Biblical teachings encourage believers to seek wisdom and understand the broader picture.

From a Biblical viewpoint, when one encounters injustice, it's a call to deep reflection, reliance on divine wisdom, and patience in the promise that God's justice will prevail.

Even if justice seems delayed by human standards, God's timing is impeccable, and His plan for justice is unwavering.

Application:

In our moments of doubt and despair, we must remember the following:

1. Be Authentic in Prayer: Much like the psalmist, let’s be genuine in our conversations with God. Share your distress, doubts, and hopes.

2. Trust in God's Timing: Recognize that while justice might seem delayed, God has a purpose, and His timing is impeccable.

3. Act Righteously: Inspired by God’s heart for justice, let's be proactive in opposing oppression and evil in our surroundings, reflecting God's love and righteousness in our actions.

Conclusion:

While our journey through life is often marked by experiences of injustice and moments of doubt, Psalm 10 reassures us of God's unwavering commitment to justice.

He isn't a distant observer but an active advocate, shaping the course of history and individual lives towards His divine purpose. In our pain, in our doubts, in our cries—God hears, God sees, and God acts.