The God Who Sees (Psalm 10)

Psalm 10

The God who Sees

Lord’s Day, April 19, 2026, — Land O’ Lakes Bible Church

i. Introduction

There is an older hymn that you may or may not be familiar with titled, Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul. It has been recently circling around again as it was recently put to a different tune and is worth your finding and listening to. But it starts like this:

Dear Ref-uge of my wea-ry soul, on thee, when sor-rows rise,

On thee, when waves of trou-ble roll, my faint-ing hope relies.

To thee I tell each ris-ing grief, for thou a-lone can heal;

Thy word can bring a sweet re-lief for ev-‘ry pain I feel.

As we think about this opening verse, we need to ponder just how often sorrows rise and the waves of trouble roll. We need to consider how often our souls feel the weariness of these things as grief arises within us.

But not only must we ponder the reality of such grief, there is a need for us to learn to handle this grief rightly. So beloved, I submit to you this morning the answer to such sorrow and troubles and grief is not to simply pull yourself up. It is not simply to endure and press through. The answer to such weary souls is the forgotten prayer of lament.

Lament feels the pages of the Bible more than just in Jeremiah’s book of Lamentations. Lament fills up the Psalter, because so much of our lives are lived in the minor key of sorrow. Lament then allows us to rightly acknowledge this sorrow by turning to God in complaint and question of the sorrows that have risen in our lives, of the waves of trouble crashing upon us, of the rising grief within and tell it to him.

But lament is more than just expressing our complaints to God and asking our questions. Lament moves from this to turning and pleading boldly with God to remove such sorrow, such trouble, such grief from us in light of who He is! In light of his good character. And through this complaint, through this bold plea, lament leads us ultimately to a strengthened trust in God even before our sorrows, our griefs, our troubles have changed in the slightest. For lament leads us to remember who God is as the faithful, covenant keeping God who is a refuge to the weary soul!

And so, this morning, we want to learn how to lament in this way as we turn to the book of Psalms. So please take your Bible and open with me to Psalm 10. Psalm 10. If you are unfamiliar with the Bible, you can take it and open roughly to the middle of the Bible and you will likely land in the book of Psalms. Or, if you want to grab that Red Bible there in your seats, Psalm 10 begins on page #532.

Recap: The book of Psalms is the longest book in the Bible chapter wise in that there are 150 Psalms. Psalms often is considered to have 5 separate books as noted in most of your Bibles. There has been much debate as to whether there is or isn’t a structural arrangement to the Psalms. The only agreed upon arrangement is that Psalms 1 and 2 serve as an introduction to the whole of the Psalms. It begins in Psalm 1 with pointing out the blessed or the happy man being one who delights in the perfect law of God and meditates on it. That this blessed one will flourish as a tree by the water. Then in Psalm 2, we are introduced to the Anointed King of the Lord. A King who will inherit the nations and is to be given full allegiance with the kissing of his hand. A King who points to the Messiah, Jesus! He is the blessed man. He is the Anointed King! And so, the Psalms, the song book of the Bible then teaches us to sing songs in the midst of this life in light of our Great King, King Jesus!

And so, as we turn to Psalm 10 now, may the LORD teach us then how to sing in light of our King even as the wicked seem to prosper among us. Let’s hear the word of the LORD then from Psalm 10…

Main Idea: The prevailing of wickedness before us is astounding, but we need not lose heart as our God forever reigns as the righteous judge and king!

1. Astounded by Wickedness (Psalm 10:1-11)

2. Pleas to God (Psalm 10:12-15)

3. Confidence in God (Psalm 10:16-18)

I. Astounded by Wickedness (Psalm 10:1-11)

Psalm 10 is likely a continuation or close companion of Psalm 9 with David likely then authoring both. In Psalm 9, we saw David write this truth in verse 9:

Psalm 9:9 (ESV)

9 The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

Then here in Psalm 10:1, we read again (V.1) …

David moves from a confidence to the LORD being a stronghold in the time of trouble to this question of him seeming to be far off and hidden. But as we will see as the lament of Psalm 10 continues, there is not a loss of confidence in the LORD. In fact, as it progresses, it strengthens. But before we can see that, we need to feel the weight of the grief and sorrow of David here in why it is God seems to be far off and hidden. Verse 2 …

Just as the rulers had plotted and schemed against the LORD and his Anointed back in Psalm 2, we see here the wicked scheming how to pursue and harass the poor, weak, and humble.

It is then no wonder why the Psalmist, David, asks why O LORD. Why is it God seems to be far off while this wickedness is happening, because it is a perplexing matter that a good God could allow such wickedness to prevail.

A question surely many of us can and maybe even have felt as we live in between the two comings of Christ.

For we know that Christ is the Anointed King who has been established as God’s forever king who is at work making all things new. But at present, there is still so much broken in the world around us.

For we like the Psalmist here in Psalm 10, see the wicked and their seeming to prevail all around us in their pride as they seek to pursue and bring down the poor, the weak, and the humble.

In verses 3-4, the pride of the wicked is considered. There in verse 3, it says the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul. This making their desires an idol. For literally the text could read, the wicked praises (הִלֵּ֣ל)the desires of his soul. Praise that belongs to God alone, praises the desires of one’s heart instead of the LORD.

Furthermore, still there in verse 3, we that the wicked curses (בֵּ֝רֵ֗ךְ), and renounces God. The curse here is literally bless, another play on the words of where the wicked’s allegiance and worship belongs to self rather than the LORD.

If that was not wicked enough, it adds that pride fills their faces as they literally stick their faces up in their air with their noses stuck up high, the very definition for what is meant for one who is stuck up as they refuse to seek God and how their thoughts constantly declare, “there is no God.”

The thoughts of the wicked are filled very little with the things of God and so they act accordingly and are given over too much wickedness and sin. This is why the being true to oneself is a deadly movement. Because focus is turned inward to one’s desires and bellies rather than God and truth as revealed in his Word. And in so doing, one’s thoughts of God will lessen and sin will increase.

The perplexity of this wickedness is not just the arrogance of the wicked, but in that in such wickedness that they seem to prosper. Verse 5…

No wonder the perplexing question of why? How could God allow such prospering of those so vile? For how is it that the Lord does not bring judgment upon them for their wrongdoing rather than them seemingly getting away with it all?

Kids, teenagers, this would be like you if you were to get away with some wrong-doing and then begin to test the boundaries further in seeing how much more you could get away with. That is the heart of this boast. I got away with it, so surely, I won’t get in trouble for these other things, so I will keep doing them.

Considering these thoughts then, the wicked puff at their foes. There in verse 6, the wicked says that they shall not meet adversity in their schemes and pursuit of the poor as they continue to carry out their wickedness.

Then in verse 7, we learn how their tongue and mouth is full of the venom of evil as it is used to destroy and tear down others as it is filled with cursing and deceit.

The wicked lie in wait, seeking to ambush and destroy their prey, the weak and helpless. They are compared to a lion lurking for its next meal. And like a lion, the wicked crush their helpless prey, devouring them with their fangs. All while there in verse 11, declaring that God has forgotten, that he will never see their wickedness.

It is no wonder here then that those of faith would lament the fact that such wickedness exists in God’s world with such boasts against God and his glory.

A lament that we can certainly echo ourselves throughout the ages as Christians. For because of our faith and trust in the goodness of God and the might of God, prevailing wickedness should perplex us.

But even this perplexity of the wicked and their prospering is working for God’s glory and our good.

1. First, let this work for our good as we learn that the perplexities of the wicked are not something new, nor strange to the Church. For the wicked have opposed God’s people through the ages. And despite their schemes, they have not overcome the Lord and his Anointed. For the Lord has continued to sustain and advance his glory despite their best efforts. And he will continue to do so as the gates of hell shall not prevail against the bride of Christ, the church (Matt 16:18).

2. Secondly, let this work for our good at the perplexity of the wicked cause us to hate sin all the more. The perplexity of the wicked and their seeming to prosper as they scheme and ambush and crush the weak, the poor, and the humble should increase our hatred of sin. Hatred of sin for its evil, its cruelty, its destruction. Hatred not just for sin in general, but even the sin that remains within.  

3. Thirdly, let this perplexity work for our good as it warns us against human pride and the continued humbling of ourselves. Consider how in the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul quotes from this Psalm as he continues to show that we all were previously under sin. For in Romans 3:14, Paul quotes from Psalm 10:7. For he says there, “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” This coming as the Apostle Paul shows how even the Jews were under sin, just as the Gentiles. These works of wickedness that we have seen here in verses 2-11 are pictures therefore of the wickedness of our own hearts. Let us take this counsel from the Puritan, Thomas Watson:

a. Christian, though you do not break forth into a flame of scandal, yet you have no cause to boast, for there is much sin raked up in the embers of your nature. You have the root of bitterness in you, and you would bear as hellish fruit as any, if God did not either curb you by his power, or change you by his grace.[1]

Therefore, this works for our good as it kills our human pride, causing us to seek the Lord all the more, giving our thoughts to him as we plead for his aide.

That is point #1, the arrogance of the wicked.

II. Pleas to God (Psalm 10:12-15)

Lament starts with us bringing our complaints and questions to God. Then it moves from this into making bold pleas until the LORD.  We see this as we move into verses 12-15.

Verse 12 makes a bold plea to the LORD to act. To act both for the sake of the afflicted and his own glory. For the plea is asking the Lord to act in bringing an end to the wicked. But the grounds for this plea are tied to the glory of God and his character. Verse 13 makes mention of how God acting will prove the wicked wrong in how they think he will not act. And then in verse 14, the character of God is brought up in that he is indeed a God who sees and notes mischief and acts as he helps the helpless.

Where the wicked back in verse 4, have all their thoughts being driven by the thought that there is no God, the godly are sustained by thoughts on the character of God. For here they remember that God indeed is a God who sees and notes all evil doing. They remember that God is a God who acts, particularly on behalf of the fatherless and helpless who come and take refuge in Him!

The character of God encourages the people of God to plea with the God to act. To act according to his very character. And because these pleas are made in accordance with God’s character, these pleas can be bold pleas in acting God to act in big ways. Look there at verse 15…

The wickedness of the evil resists the goodness of God and assaults his character. And so, a bold plea to ask God to bring an end to such wickedness brings glory to the LORD!

It is then this character of God that allows us to turn to the LORD in making such bold pleas to act. To act in accordance with his character. Including to act against the wicked as they seem to prevail.

Here are then four bold pleas we can be making to the LORD from Psalm 10:

1. First, as wickedness seems to prevail around us, we can echo the bold requests found here in this Psalm. We can boldly ask God to help the helpless, the weak, the meek as the wicked seem to pursue them. Asking God to act according to his very nature, ensured that he will delight in such a bold request. For to act is for God to display precisely who he is!

2. Second, as wickedness seems to prevail around us, we can ask boldly to bring an end to wickedness. To bring an end to the wickedness in our world. To bring an end to the wickedness of how evil men would devour and destroy their fellow image bearers. For God to act and bring an end to the wickedness of strife and disunity. We can boldly ask God to bring an end to the wickedness of abuse. We can boldly ask God to bring an end to the wicked arrogance of blasphemy of those who declare that there is no God. Or that God does not hold one accountable.

3. Third, we can ask the LORD boldly to act in helping us put our own wickedness to death. Asking him to take us through the refining fire of his discipline now so that we are not broken because we continue to dwell in our sin. Boldness that comes in knowing that the Lord disciplines his children as a loving Father! And along that same line, asking the LORD boldly to help us delight more to meditate on his precepts, on his character so that He may be big and our desire for sin and wickedness be small.

4. Fourth, we can even ask the LORD boldly to push back the wickedness by turning wicked hearts to himself. We can boldly be praying for God to break wickedness through gospel advancement. For the gospel is the power of salvation. A message that declares that God’s rule has come in His Anointed King, King Jesus! A rule that when takes root in hearts takes the old man and buries him, and brings them to new life in Jesus. Life that comes as the proud are broken.

Beloved, should we not pray so boldly? Then let us lament by making our complaints and asking our questions to God but let us move from complaint and questions to these kinds of bold pleas for the Lord to act in accordance with his very character!

That is point #2, the pleas to God.

III. Confidence in God (Psalm 10:16-18)

Even though at present, the wicked seem to prosper, we can have confidence that the LORD will indeed break the wicked. That he will indeed bring all wickedness to an end until none is found, because of who he is! Let’s read verses 16-18 again…

The LORD, YHWH is the forever king who has no end. He has no end to his reign. And his reign extends over the nations. And he will stand as the reigning king over them, despite the height of their noses stuck in the air. He will quickly bow them down. For he is a God who hears the desire of the afflicted. He will strengthen them. And he will sustain them as his judgment arises and comes down. Judgment that will come against the wicked and bring justice to the fatherless and the oppressed.

And even at present, while this feels far off, we too can have such confidence of this end! For our confidence lies in the cross and the empty tomb of Jesus!

For if the Father did not withhold his own son from drinking the fullness of his cup of wrath on behalf of his people, how much more can we be certain that he will not withhold that wrath against all who reject the Son?

God is Righteous and because He is so, the wicked will not endure. They will either be humbled in coming to Jesus or they will be crushed and brought to bended knee as they are conquered and judged accordingly by a God full of justice!

Furthermore, we see the reign of God and his triumph in the fact that not only did Jesus die for our sins, but that he rose again conquering sin and the curse of sin, death. A victory that ensures the completion of his work to make all things new again in him. A newness that will wipe away all evil.

Beloved, this is our confidence in the midst of the days that wickedness seems to prevail. Confidence because of who our King is and what has already been done! Therefore, though the wicked will keep scheming and plotting against us, though they will seek to devour us, let us not lose heart! Let us be confident because of who our Redeemer is! A redeemer who has already given the blow to the head of the serpent, who the earth could not hold within. The one who no claim of sin could be made against. And it is in him we stand!

But lest any be among us whose thoughts are full of, “there is no God” or who curse and renounce him, see that you may prosper for a time. You may be tempted to think that God has forgotten your wickedness or unable to judge you, but he does not. For your wrongs will be measured against you as long as you resist God. And if you continue in your wicked ways, you will be broken and be cast in with the devil and the great beast into a lake of fire to be separated from God and his goodness for all eternity in a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth that will never end.

Yet, friend, even now there is the hope of the gospel. For while wrongs are remembered when we are apart from Christ, in Christ those wrongs are cast into the depths of ocean and remembered no more! For though your wickedness was great, the mercy of God is greater in Christ! So come to him and place your hope!

IV. Conclusion

The idea that wickedness could prevail in a world in which God reigns is indeed a perplexing matter. But though it may prevail at present, it will not prevail for long. For the LORD is king over the nations forever and ever! And as the Forever King, he will establish his kingdom in fullness. A Kingdom where justice reigns! A justice that is so pure and so righteous, that the Father did not withhold his own son from suffering from his wrath to atone for the sins of wicked sinners. Therefore, how much more will that just wrath come against all who refuse His Beloved Son and his means of salvation? This is our confidence beloved, that our God is not far away or hiding himself in the midst of wickedness! He is rather working according to his purposes for his glory and our good! Let us then go rejoicing in this Good and Wise God!

Let’s pray!

[1]Thomas Watson. All Things for Good. (Carlisle, PA; Banner of Truth Trust, 2024 (first in 1663)). 45.