Sundays in the Psalms (10)

Trusting God When the Silence is Deafening

Bible Passage: Ps 10:1–18

The cause of Christ often seems to falter and suffer defeat.

But the kingdom of God is marching forward, inevitably and triumphantly.

Sin and iniquity may gain the advantage temporarily, giving the appearance that God is indifferent toward these injustices.

But such temporary losses should never be interpreted as God’s ultimate defeat.

God will have the last word.

His eternal kingdom cannot fail; it will prevail!

In Psalm 10 David saw the many injustices and what seemed to be the indifference of God toward sinful mankind.

It draws our attention to the disconnect between the suffering of the righteous and the flourishing of the wicked, expressing a heartfelt demand for divine intervention and reassurance that God indeed sees and cares about the plight of the oppressed.

The success of sin brought debilitating discouragement and despair to David. But as he shifted his focus from the earthly to the eternal, his anxiety turned to assurance, his confusion to confidence, and his perplexity to praise.

No superscription is recorded for this psalm, possibly because it was originally joined to Psalm 9.

If so, the title for Psalm 9 also applies to Psalm 10, identifying David as the author.

So lets dive in a see how David trusted God even when His silence was deafening.

I. David’s Perplexity with God’s Silence

(1–11)

1. God’s Lack of Response (1)

Surrounded by the triumph of the wicked, David was utterly confused so he asks two questions:

a. Why remove yourself?

(1a)

David knew that God was there and that God knows what is going on. that is why he asked the question.

(God this is not like you…..)

b. Why hide yourself? (1b)

Not only did David feel like God was just a spectator but it seemed to David that God was actually hiding from it all.

Job felt the same way: Job 23:1-10

Job 23:1–10 KJV 1900

Then Job answered and said, Even to day is my complaint bitter: My stroke is heavier than my groaning. Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat! I would order my cause before him, And fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which he would answer me, And understand what he would say unto me. Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me. There the righteous might dispute with him; So should I be delivered for ever from my judge. Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; And backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: He hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: But he knoweth the way that I take: When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

In the world in which we now live, there are going to be times when God is silent.

There are going to be seasons when he seems not to care.

There are going to be days when we cannot find him except by the eyes of faith.

Psalm 9:1 has a helpful word when evil seems to have won the day:

Psalm 9:1 KJV 1900

I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.

We will trust God even when we cannot find him.

Adoniram Judson was the great Baptist missionary to Burma, now Myanmar. He lost his first wife Ann to spotted fever and cerebral meningitis in 1826. Shortly thereafter he lost his little daughter Maria. On October 29, 1829, on the third anniversary of Ann’s death, he wrote, “God is to me the Great Unknown. I believe in him, but I find him not” (Anderson, To the Golden Shore, 391).

Keep believing even when you cannot find him.

2. God’s Lack of Reproof (2–11)

Verses 2–11 catalog the attitudes and actions of the “wicked” (vv. 2, 3, 4, 13, 15).

We discover they have big mouths, are filled with arrogance, and care only about getting their way.

There is no place for God in their lives, and they have no concern whatsoever for the innocent victims of their evil agendas and deeds.

a. Toward the Prideful Heart (2–6)

The problem for the psalmist was the ego-driven pride of the wicked.

Pictured as a haughty hunter stalking his prey, the wicked pursued the harm of the righteous as a sport, driven by their arrogance.

As the wicked man set a trap for the righteous, he found himself caught in the schemes he was devising, in essence, hung by his own rope.

With pride he boasted of the cravings of his heart, boasting about his evil desires.

His heart was so inverted and perverted that he blessed the greedy and reviled the Lord.

Furthermore, the wicked did not seek God because his heart was so desperately depraved.

In all his thoughts, meaning the entirety of his thinking, there was no room for God.

His mind was thoroughly godless, void of all divine perspective and absolute truth.

From a human perspective, what was so confusing about this dilemma was that the ways of the wicked were always prosperous.

The wicked appeared to have the blessing of God, while the righteous were being destroyed by the plots of the wicked.

The wicked man was haughty, not humble; thus, God’s laws were far from him.

Truth and obedience had no part in his life.

Full of sinful self-assurance and utterly self-deceived, he said to himself, Nothing will shake me; I’ll always be happy and never have trouble.

The wicked felt nothing could affect his sense of self-security and self-sufficiency, but in reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

He did not realize that he was without real knowledge (cp. John 9:39–41

John 9:39–41 KJV 1900

And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

b. Toward the Perverse Mouth (7)

For out of the heart doth the mouth speak

Spewing out of his wicked heart was perverse speech, full of curses and lies and threats.

The following are three destructive weapons of the tongue:

curses, words which seek to bring down evil powers upon people;

lies, meaning false testimony and slander;

and threats, or intimidations toward others.

c. Toward the Plundering Hands (8–10)

Driven to harm others, the wicked, David declared,

Psalm 10:8 KJV 1900

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.

Lurking in the shadows, he looked for opportunities to prey on others.

v.9 Like a stalking animal, the wicked waited

Psalm 10:9 (KJV 1900)

He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: He lieth in wait to catch the poor:…

v.9b-10

Like a cunning hunter or skilled fisherman, he caught the helpless and dragged them off in his net. Ps.10:10

Psalm 10:10 KJV 1900

He croucheth, and humbleth himself, That the poor may fall by his strong ones.

Without the defense of God, his victims would be crushed and then fall under his strength.

d. Toward the Profane Mind (11)

Because the Lord did not rescue them, the wicked wrongly concluded that God has forgotten; and that he covers his face and never sees.

But to the contrary, God does see and remember, as the wicked would discover.

II. David’s Plea to God for Help

(12–15)

With a passionate appeal the psalmist cried out, Arise, O Lord! ,

1. Remember the weak (12 - 14)

This was a battle cry (Num. 10:35) that sought to rally God to come and fight the wicked.

Do not forget the humble, he appealed, but remember their desperate condition.

Realizing the utter insanity of moral rebellion against God, he reasoned,

Why does the wicked man revile God?

There was no reasonable explanation for this, yet he continued in his blasphemy. How insane!

Why did the unbelieving wicked say, He won’t call me to account?

No logical explanation could be given for this but the foolishness of sin.

Restoring an accurate picture of God, the psalmist exclaimed,

Psalm 10:14 (KJV 1900)

Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, …

He knew that nothing escapes the Lord’s omniscient gaze.

Still addressing God, he stated,

“To requite it with thy hand: The poor committeth himself unto thee; Thou art the helper of the fatherless..

God would surely act and judge sin!

2. Reject the wicked (15)

Reassured of God’s righteous rule, the psalmist called out, Ps. 10:15

Psalm 10:15 KJV 1900

Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: Seek out his wickedness till thou find none.

, or, destroy the power of the godless that they may no longer oppress the godly.

In other words, call the wicked to account for his wickedness.

III. David’s Praise For God

(16–18)

1. For God’s majesty (16)

With dramatic declaration of God’s eternal reign, the psalmist affirmed, The Lord is King for ever and ever.

a. He reigns forever (16a)

Psalm 10:16 (KJV 1900)

The Lord is King for ever and ever:…

Regardless of what is happening in the world, regardless of who is in charge

The Lord is King for ever and ever!!!!

b. He removes foes (16b)

…The heathen are perished out of his land.

Knowing that his prayer had been heard,

he expressed confidence that the heathens would perish out of his land,

meaning God would defeat and destroy evil aggressors who rose up against God’s people.

2. For God’s mercy (17–18)

With bold confidence, the psalmist affirmed that

a. He hears the oppressed (17)

Psalm 10:17 KJV 1900

Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: Thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:

You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted who cry to be rescued from the oppression of the ungodly.

b. He helps the orphaned (18)

Psalm 10:18 KJV 1900

To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may no more oppress.

God hears and will answer, defending the fatherless and the oppressed who have suffered vicious, violent attacks unjustly at the hands of the wicked.

God would act in order that man, who is of the earth, depraved and evil as he is, might terrify the godly no more.

One day God will put an end to such terror and triumph over all evil.

Just read the end of this book; we win!!

The babe will play with the asp

and the Lion will lay with the Lamb

What a blessed hope!

Closing

In order to endure persecution by the wicked, the believer must stay focused on God.

When surrounded by unbelief and the ungodly, it is easy for us to become distracted and lose sight of the inevitable triumph of God’s invincible kingdom.

In the midst of an evil world, the righteous must remain focused upon those things above where Christ is seated, not upon the unstable things of this earth (Col. 3:2

Colossians 3:2 KJV 1900

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

God’s people must remain faithful to him, resisting the lure to become squeezed into the world’s mold (Rom. 12:2

Romans 12:2 KJV 1900

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The truth is that this globe is a world under divine judgment (Rom. 1:18

Romans 1:18 KJV 1900

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

One day it will fall into the hands of the living God.

So believers should find their greatest joy in God himself rather than in the passing pleasures of worldly pursuits.

Seeing and savoring God is the greatest fulfillment in life and the greatest antidote to the lure of sin.

Steven Lawson, Psalms 1–75, ed. Max Anders, Holman Old Testament Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2004), 11:60.

John G. Butler, Psalms, Analytical Bible Expositor, (Clinton, IA: LBC Publications, 2012), 6:59–60.

J. Josh Smith and Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Psalms 1–50, eds. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2022), 76.