Godly Resilience

Understanding that God sees is hard to achieve, but essential

Read Psalm 10:1-11, “

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[a] and renounces the Lord. 4 In the pride of his face[b] the wicked does not seek him;[c] 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.”

​This Psalm that we face today, is a Psalm that is attributed to king David by some, but is not directly introduced as such. But as the Psalm is read through, it is easy to find it’s type as very close to being David’s way of writing.

The moment that we set out to please God, is the moment that we will face opposition. We come to face another Psalm that tries to draw in the loose cords, and the weak flailing arms, into a centralized dynamite volition decision, to stand firm in faith.

Just like in other Psalms, we see, those who are against the Psalmist here, or possibly David, we see that they are for some reason set against the godly. A couple weeks ago we looked at the topic, “Providential Enmity”, and this is what we see here again. Can you answer the question as to:

a. why is it, that those who are wicked, so vehemently oppose and try to take out, the godly? If they were really wanting to just freely do what they want, you would think that they would just ignore the righteous. But they don’t. So, again, “what is it” that causes that enmity? Of course, there are some things we know to be factual, some are situational, but in cases, or whatever the case it is, we know that some things are only known to God, as to why people do things and why the wicked are providentially set out to destroy good people. You can possibly explain the reality, and say that it’s because of sin, but can you explain the why behind it? I doubt it.

Getting to the place of understanding that God see’s enables you to walk:

a. without succumbing to the lies that are in the boasts that proud people make.

b. without succumbing to the temptation to become proud. If you believe the lies, you become proud as well.

c. with assurance and confidence in the truth.

What We Need To Avoid

Read Psalm 10:12-15,

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.

​This is a very difficult thing. So many around us, compromise, to smooth out the situations, and thus, convictions about what is essential in life get’s lost, or diminished. It can be a very strong temptation, but we need to take notice, that God sees and takes notice. We need to:

a. pray about the situation and ask God to intervene and trust that he will intervene at some point that he deems the right time.

i. This will keep us from and enabling us to avoid sliding into a state that says, “this must just be the situation and I must just surrender to that there is nothing going to change, or that there will be not result, or that there is not purpose in this” and then become unwilling to involve yourself in God’s work, or purpose.

b. We should care about those who God cares for, seeking wisdom to help the right people and those in legitimate need like the fatherless, we should have a merciful attitude.

Trusting God To Work

Read Psalm 10:16-18,

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.

We need to, like the Psalmist, to have an outlook of faith. We need to see that God is eternally existing as the supreme being, and being divinely sovereign and transcendent and eminent. Being good, being true and God of mercy, of justice and love. The Psalmist here ends with words founded in faith, stating that God will do what is good. and that he will bring justice to the prayer of this Psalmist, just like it says in Luke 18:1-8.

Verse 16b states that the nations will perish from the land. A clearer explanation of this verse denotes that God will cause “sinful and wicked” nations to perish from his land. Most likely denoting the type of people who the Psalmist is praying to God about, that God would act, for the sake of the innocent, for the Psalmists own sake and for the sake of the godly. That God would act, that he would save and that he would bring about a deliverance. We as well should have such resilience to see God bring about his purpose and work, and have faith that if we are concerned, that it is his grace and faith in our hearts that enable us to be able to partner with God while we live, and have the attitude that “for such a time as this” we are here to see God’s glory at work, and to be part of it, and to worship him, and bow our lives at his feet in awe.

God bless.