Why Do You Hide Yourself? (Psalm 10)

Announcements

Be aware that there is a quarterly business meeting on January 2nd, I know we’re still quite some time away from that, but I always try to announce meetings way in advance so that we’re all well aware of it when the time comes.

In just under a month, we have some special services coming up. I want you to be aware of these dates, so you don’t miss anything. On December 22nd and 29th, we don’t have our typical Wednesday evening Bible Study & Prayer times. In lieu of our normal services, we’ll instead of the following special events:

Christmas Eve, Carols and Lessons at 7pm in the Auditorium; we’ll follow the service with a dessert social in the Activity Room. We’re asking that everyone bring one dessert to share—that can be whatever you’d like it to be, it could be a dozen cookies, your grandmother’s apple pie, or really anything that you’d like to bring.

New Year’s Eve, we’ll have our annual celebration from 7pm-12am. This isn’t really a service, it’s purely a fellowship opportunity. We’ll have tons of food for everyone to enjoy and board games in the Activity Room. We’ll show the ball drop on the screens in the Auditorium. It’s very casual, and you don’t have to stay the whole time if you don’t want. Feel free to come and enjoy food and then leave if you need to, or stick around the whole night.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Sermon

Introduction

This evening’s message is a continuation of our series through the book of Psalms and as you know through our series so far, many of the psalms were written by David and a handful of certain authors. Psalm 10, however, doesn’t fit that pattern, it wasn’t written with a superscription, which makes it difficult to determine the exact background of the text. However, if you remember two weeks ago, I mentioned when we were working through Psalm 9 that many scholars believe that Psalms 9 and 10 were originally connected as corresponding psalms. If that’s the case, then we could rightly say that David wrote Psalm 10 as well, but there’s a bit of uncertainty because Psalm 10 doesn’t carry a superscription like Psalm 9 does.

Because of the lack of superscription, we can’t really postulate the time, the circumstances of life, or even the exact details of the text, because we simply don’t have them; but, not having these details actually allows the text to be applicable in a more generic sense. Much like some of our previous psalms, when a psalm is very specific, the application tends to be very specific; but when a psalm is more general, the application is a little more general.

What we see in Psalm 10 is the anonymous psalmist complaining about the wickedness of the wicked. And he starts this complaint by asking the LORD why God seems to hide himself in times of trouble. I think, we can already see how relatable this is. The psalmist spends the first half complaining about the wicked, but then in the second half of the text, he prays for the LORD to relieve his people. The psalm ultimately ends with praise to the LORD. Let’s read together Psalm 10.

Psalm 10 ESV

1 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.

As we study this passage together, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) The Psalmist’s Complaint of the Wicked, vs. 1-11 and (2) The psalmist’s prayer for God to appear, vs. 12-18. Both sections of this psalm ultimately drive at one point. That though the wicked seem to prosper now and oppress the people, true prosperity is found in God and he will relieve his people from wicked oppression.

Prayer for Illumination

The Psalmist’s complaint of the wicked (1-11)

Psalm 10 starts with a question to God. “Why, O LORD, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?”

These are clearly rhetorical in nature, because the psalmist doesn’t necessarily expect God to respond to him, but the rhetorical nature of the questions and the questions themselves reflect the psalmist’s heart and current life situation.

The life situation itself will be expounded on through the text, but the heart of the psalmist is seen in the first verse. In a time during which the wicked seem to prosper and in which the righteous are oppressed, the psalmist cries out, “where are you Lord?” “Why are you not here?”

These are all questions that we relate to because as I’ve often said in this series, sometimes life is simply difficult and hard; and in those times of great difficulty, when those who are living wickedly seem to prosper, our mind and our heart tend to think in similar ways to how the Psalmist thinks in this verse. “Why are you not here God?” “Where are you Lord?”

These statements or questions express the desperate nature of the psalmist, that after witnessing all this wickedness, he can’t help but to cry out to the LORD.

Allen Ross, “The fact that the wicked may triumph caused the psalmist to ask why the Lord was hiding himself from the trouble. The question is a bold expression of the true feelings of oppressed people who cry out for help.”

After making this initial proclamatory question, the psalmist then turns to describing the character of those that are oppressing others.

Starting in Vs. 2 all the way to Vs. 7, he describes these people as arrogant, wicked, prideful, and full of cursing and deceit.

Vs. 2 calls them arrogant and wicked people who “hotly pursue the poor.”

Vs. 3 calls them boastful people who boast about all the things that they’ve obtained, they’re greedy for gain, and they’ve renounced the LORD.

Vs. 4 tells us that out of the pridefulness, they refuse to seek God and all they think is that “there is no God.”

Vs. 5 shows us that they don’t even consider the judgments of God, because he’s so focused on his own prosperity. In haughtiness, he puffs at his foes.

Vs. 6 tells us that he is so haughty, prideful, and stubborn that he doesn’t even think he’ll meet adversity.

Vs. 7 tells us that his mouth is filled with cursing, lies, and oppression. That under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.

We can draw further conclusions from these verses, that this person epitomizes everything that we think of when we think of the wicked. Prideful, cunning, mischievous, selfish, and oppressive.

I can’t help but to think of a villain from a comic book or movie—in fact, when I was studying through this passage, the image put forth of this wicked person reminded me of Lex Luthor from Superman.

Someone who seems to have it all, is intelligent and cunning, and that walks all over those who get in his way.

The psalmist describes someone who cares only for himself and is willing to hurt others to get what he wants; in context, those that are being hurt and oppressed are God’s people and they’re described as the afflicted (17), the fatherless and the oppressed (18).

Interspersed in the psalmist’s description of the wicked, we see one brief statement about what the psalmist is hoping for the LORD to do:

Vs. 2, “Let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.”

Again, iterating the point that these wicked oppressors are acting mischievously. They have come up with schemes probably to continue in the oppression of the people around them; to continue gaining the desires of their souls.

But the psalmist doesn’t stop at just describing the character of those that oppress others. Vss. 8-11 describe the actions of those wicked people that oppress others.

In a similar manner to how he describes their character, the psalmist uses vss. 8-11 to show us how this person acts; and the psalmist utilizes vivid imagery to show us this:

Vs. 8 says that this wicked person “sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent.

Vs. 9 says that the wicked person “lurks in ambush like a lion; he lurks that he may seize the poor; he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.”

Vs. 10 tells us the “helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might.”

Vs. 11 is the wicked person making the claim that God doesn’t care that he’s wicked, God has forgotten, God isn’t watching, and God won’t see him acting wickedly.

Again, let me point out the vivid imagery that the psalmist utilizes to make his case against the actions of the wicked.

The psalmist describes the wicked like a lion, which in our modern-day Western context, I don’t think we appreciate what exactly this looks like. A few years ago, there was an uproar against a dentist who went to Africa and shot and killed a lion. In the United States, people were upset that this person would dare go out in the wild and kill such a majestic animal. The reality is, that the people who actually live in Africa are deathly afraid of lions. And if you were to ask them what they thought of a person killing a lion, they would’ve thought of this as a good thing.

Lions stalk their prey. The National Geographic, writes that “Lions are fierce predators that often stalk their prey before attacking. Their attacks cause prey to panic and disperse, allowing the lions to isolate and attack a weaker or slower [animal].”

That imagery from National Geographic helps us to understand how these wicked people are acting.

They’re described as people who are waiting to do evil things towards others and those that fall victim to them are crushed by their might—they are the ones waiting to do harm towards others because they only care for themselves and their own delight. They are the ones that won’t hesitate to run over other people because what they desire is of more importance to them than others. In this way, they are like lions who are fierce predators that stalk their prayer before attacking. Again, I can’t help but to think of certain villains in comic books and movies who are utterly manipulative seeking their own power, control, and desires—people like Lex Luthor in Superman, Presidents Snow and Coin in the Hunger Games, or like Sauron in the Lord of the Rings.

The result of their evil and wickedness is that they genuinely believe that God doesn’t care that they’re acting wickedly, that God has forgotten, that God has hidden his face from them and won’t see what they’re doing.

Matthew Henry describes these wicked people like this: “The sinner proudly glories in his power and success. Wicked people will not seek after God, that is, will not call upon him. They live without prayer, and that is living without God. They have many thoughts, many objects and devices, but think not of the Lord in any of them; they have no submission to his will, nor aim for his glory. The cause of this is pride.”

What the psalmist describes is one who is so caught up in his own sin, his own wickedness, and his own evil that he doesn’t care to know God, he doesn’t care if God sees him, in fact, he’s certain that God doesn’t see him. And because of this, he continues in wickedness hurting those that are around him. Now that the psalmist has expressed his thoughts and feelings about the wicked and God’s apparent lack of action, he then turns his attention to prayer. And the psalmist prays specifically for the LORD to respond, to appear, and to bring relief to the people. Let’s re-read Vs. 12-18:

The Psalmist’s prayer for God to appear (12-18)

Psalm 10:12–18 ESV

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.

In the last seven verses, the psalmist turns his attention to prayer. And this prayer is something that I think we can all relate to when we find ourselves in similar situations. He appeals to the LORD to essentially take vengeance, to appear, and as he prays this prayer, he turns to simple praise.

Vs. 12-15 shows us the prayer for the LORD to appear and take vengeance—and we’ve discussed this type of prayer before in light of some of the other psalms. We call these sorts of prayers, imprecatory prayers, and the idea behind those prayers is that God would come and bring judgment on those that are wicked.

Our discussion concerning these types of prayers was their legitimacy in view of Jesus’ command to love our enemies.

Our eventual conclusion when we discussed imprecatory prayers was that these sorts of prayers would be a last resort when someone absolutely refuses to repent and these sorts of prayers wouldn’t be for our own benefit, but actually for theirs.

Or in other words, the only time that these types of prayers is acceptable is when the person that we’re praying for is in complete unrepentant sin and the only why that they might get out of that sin is for God to do something drastic in their lives.

Much like, the wicked that David described in Vs. 1-11.

The psalmist is crying out for the LORD to take action against those who are wickedly evil. People who were intentionally harming others for their own gain; and David has utilized this familiar formatting through the psalms that we know he wrote.

The psalmist starts this prayer by calling on the LORD, then he expresses the hardship or difficulty that he’s facing, he relies completely on God’s character for a response, and then he simply praises the LORD; which by now, this pattern should be familiar to us all because David’s been utilizing it frequently through his psalms.

Vs. 12, “Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted.” The psalmist calls on God to not forget the afflicted. I do want to clarify that when the Bible speaks of forgetting and remembering in light of God, it isn’t forgetting and remembering in the same way that we think of those words. When we talk about us forgetting something, it’s very much that we didn’t remember it; but God knows all things, he doesn’t actually forget anything. When the Bible speaks about forgetting and remembering in light of God, it’s a request for God to think about that thing again. In Psalm 10:12, the psalmist is calling on God to think about the afflicted and to lift up his hand. Or in other words, the Psalmist is asking God to think about the afflicted and do something about it.

Vs. 13, the psalmist continues by pointing out the wicked’s renouncing of God. Remember Vs. 1-11 was very clear that the wicked thinks that there is no God and due to the lack of God, he believes that he’s free to do whatever he pleases because this God will not see his sins. In the psalmist’s prayer in Vs. 13, he cries out “why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, ‘You will not call to account?’” And this verse sets up the next two verses. The wicked believes that God will not hold him accountable.

But, Vs. 14-15 says, “God [does] see” and “[God notes] mischief and vexation.” That God will take it into his hands. The psalmist writes that God does care for the helpless and that he has been a helper to the fatherless regardless of what the wicked believe or think. While the wicked think that they’re getting away with the various sins that they’ve committed including harming those that are weaker and poorer, the truth is that God will hold them accountable. “Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none” is the psalmist, again, crying out to the LORD to take action against the wicked.

All of which, might sound harsh—for the LORD to take vengeance and break the arm of the wicked. For the LORD to hold them accountable for every single evil deed, but remember, this sort of prayer is a last resort.

It isn’t something that you pray as soon as someone cuts you off as your driving down the road. It isn’t something that should be spoken if your food at the restaurant comes out burnt or cold.

This is a last resort prayer in which ultimately, the person is completely unrepentant; and this sort of prayer exists only for those that need to experience great judgment in order to repent from their sins.

And truthfully, I think if we’re all honest, we can all think of someone like this—a politician, a world leader, maybe a friend, or perhaps a co-worker or family member. We all know people who act in truly wicked ways that should experience judgment for their sinful behavior.

But again, this prayer isn’t one necessarily for the benefit of the person praying, but for the benefit of the person being prayed about. If your prayer is that someone will suffer because of the suffering they caused you, then you’ve missed Jesus’ point about loving your enemies. However, if your prayer is that they might experience God’s righteous judgment against their sins so that they repent, then it’s perfectly acceptable to pray in this manner.

The psalmist prays for the LORD’s actions against the wickedness of these unbelievers and in vss. 16-18, he ends this psalm by praising the LORD for who he is and what the LORD does.

I think it’s vitally important for us to remind ourselves of who God is and what he does in all our prayers. We don’t pray just to make requests, part of our prayers need to simply be praise of the Almighty. And that’s precisely how the end of this psalm ends.

Vs. 16, reminds us of who the LORD is. “The LORD is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land.” And you can see a contrast between the LORD who is king forever and ever, and the nations that perish.

This is, of course, tying the entire psalm together. The word translated as nations really has the idea of pagan people—those that refuse to believe.

And in light of the rest of the psalm, it’s clear that those who refuse to believe have the opinion of themselves that they are in completely control. That they can continue acting in wickedness because God isn’t watching them and even if God is real, he clearly doesn’t care that they’re acting in evil ways.

But the psalmist ends this psalm with a reminder that the the evil, the wicked, those that refuse to believe will perish, but God will remain king forever and ever.

We could say this in another way—we live in a world in which it seems as if the wicked prosper, the evil rules, and those that reject God seem to have all that they want; but the key word is seems. They seem to have all these different things, but the reality is that God is still King and God still reigns.

And as the God who is still the king, who still reigns, Vs. 17-18, reminds us of what the LORD does. “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.”

Vs. 17, the King still hears those who are afflicted and he provides strength in their hearts—providing strength in their hearts is the idea of providing comfort and encouragement.

In some ways, it’s part of the purpose of what the church is to do for one another, to help each other find comfort and encouragement as a family of God. Psalm 10, reminds us that it is the King who still hears the afflicted and it is the King that still provides strength.

When you consider this with the ideology of a king, there’s actually great encouragement in that sense. When you think of a king, the king reigns and controls the whole kingdom. Even the best of kings isn’t capable for providing comfort and encouragement to all his people, in fact, in most scenarios, most of the people didn’t really even know the king. But God is a King who reigns forever and ever and he listens to those who are afflicted and he provides strength in their hearts.

Compared to humanly kings, God is a far better King who truly cares for his own people.

The King inclines his ear to do justice to those who are fatherless and oppressed—we touched base on the LORD hearing the afflicted, but the idea here of the King inclining his ear to do justice for the fatherless and oppressed is more specific.

Not only does the king hear those who are afflicted and provides them with strength, he listens intently at the fatherless and oppressed in order to do justice.

Some would say that God has a special place in his heart for those that are fatherless and oppressed, but I would actually push back on that. I would argue that the point isn’t so much that they are fatherless, but that they are oppressed.

James 1 speaks of true religion being the care of widows and orphans, but that doesn’t mean that that’s the only things that Christians should focus their intention on. In fact, I would argue that the primary point isn’t that they are widows and orphans.

In biblical times, those who were widowed and orphaned were treated poorly with contempt. They clearly didn’t have family to help take care of them, and in biblical times, there wasn’t really a government system meant to help those who were widowed and orphaned.

Most times, widows and orphans would be stuck to beg on the sides of the road, and people took advantage of them. The point here isn’t so much that they are fatherless, but that they were of a group of people that were frequently taken advantage of, that people manipulated and oppressed for their own gain.

What the psalmist is saying is that God intentionally listens to those who come to him in their need, he hears those that can’t offer him anything. He seeks to help those who are oppressed by seeking their justice.

The Bible frequently talks about the idea of God’s justice. That God is a God of justice who only acts justly; and thus all his judgments are always good and right.

What the psalmist says in Vs. 17-18 is that this God who always only acts justly cares for those that are oppressed and dejected by man. And this God who always only acts justly, seeks justice for those who have been unjustly treated by man.

And the King does this so that those who are “of the earth may strike terror no more.”

The God who only acts justly, who strengthens the hearts of the afflicted; the LORD who is king forever and ever does all this so that those who are his have no reason to fear those who aren’t his.

Those who are God’s can rest in him knowing that those who aren’t his can’t harm them forever because God still reigns, God hears the afflicted, God strengthens their hearts, and he seeks to do justice for the oppressed.

In our remaining time, I want us to look at specific application for this passage—and I want us to look at this application in three different ways. The first way that I want us to look at this passage, is to put ourselves in the shoes of someone who is wicked and evil, then I want us to put ourselves in the shoes of someone who has been afflicted, who has experienced great pain and suffering at the hands of others, and for us to see the hope that is provided by God for those who are afflicted, downtrodden, and harmed. And third, I want us put ourselves in the position of the one writing this psalm—I want us to learn from this psalm the same manner of prayer that the psalmist utilizes.

Application

First, let’s start by putting ourselves in the shoes of the one who is wicked, which isn’t a very big stretch because we’re all wicked prior to our salvation and depending on how far you are in your own progressive sanctification, you might still do quite a few evil and wicked deeds.

Perhaps as we studied through this psalm, you found yourself relating more with the wicked, evil one than you did anyone else. Perhaps, as we read this psalm, you realized that the description of the wicked fits the way you live your life:

You’re the one who arrogantly pursues the poor. You’re the one who devised schemes to harm people. you’re the one who are greedy for gain and renounces the LORD. Maybe you’re the one who refuses to believe because you’re so caught up in your own sin and desires.

Maybe you don’t care if you hurt other people, you crush the helpless and you seize the poor. You’re like the lion preparing to crush his prey.

That is how the world lives—people living according to the world are more concerned with themselves than they are of those around them.

Perhaps, you also believe like the wicked in Psalm 10 that God isn’t watching, he’s forgotten you, he won’t see your sin.

Let me remind you of what this passage says. While you are living in your wickedness, God does see. While you are hurting other people, God is keeping you accountable. When you think your sins won’t find you out, God knows your sins and he will hold you accountable.

You may not experience judgment for your sins on this side of eternity, but God through His Word is firm that there is coming a day of judgment.

And if you haven’t repented from your sins and believed in his Son, Jesus; there is no hope for you, just a confident expectation of judgment.

Because of this, my hope and my prayer, and your application for this passage is simple: repent, call on the name of Jesus, and be saved.

Be sure that your sins will find you out, but God because of his great grace and mercy has provided salvation through his Son, you simply must repent and believe.

Repent from your sins, believe in Jesus, and be saved.

Second, let’s put ourselves in the shoes of the one who has been afflicted—Multiple times through the psalm the psalmist speaks of the evil people who afflict those around them.

Interspersed in this psalm, we get a pretty descriptive idea of what he means by afflicted:

The poor in Vs. 2 is being pursued by the wicked.

The wicked person in Vs 7 is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression, which means that those being afflicted are receiving cursing, deceit, oppression, and mischief.

The wicked in Vs. 8 is ambushing people and murdering the innocent, which means that those being afflicted are experiencing ambushes and murders.

Vs. 9 tells us that the afflicted are being seized and tormented by the wicked, Vs. 10 the helpless are crushed by the wicked’s might.

These are the people who fall victim to the wicked. They’re the ones who experience shame, hurt, pain, torment, and even death. These are the ones who are on the receiving end of the wicked’s cursing, deceit, oppression, and mischief.

Quite frankly, we all experience these types of issues in our lives. We all experience affliction of some sort as part of our earthly lives.

What I want you to see in Psalm 10, is that even though the bulk of the passage is directed at the wicked, the psalmist continues to appeal towards hope for the afflicted.

Even though it may seem as if God is standing far off and hiding himself in times of trouble; even though the wicked seem to be prospering and winning, the truth is that God is still reigning and he is still in control.

When the psalmist switches from his reflection of the wicked to his prayer, there’s no question in his mind that God will do the things that he’s praying for. He’s certain that God will do these things because he’s certain of God’s character.

Which means that we can be certain that God will do these things as well:

God will not forget the afflicted

God will hold the wicked accountable

God will judge the evildoers.

We can be confident that God is:

The King who reigns forever and ever,

The LORD who hears the desires of the afflicted, and strengthens hearts

The one who intentionally hears the fatherless and the oppressed in order to do justice.

And ultimately, what this means is that despite our present situation, if we face extreme opposition and affliction, we can have hope in God through Jesus, because those who are wicked won’t get away with it forever, and those who are afflicted are cared for by God who is the King forever and ever.

Your application then is also simple:

Just like the psalmist relies on his knowledge of who God is to provide hope and comfort, so should you. But here’s the thing, your knowledge of who God is is completely dependent on how much time and effort you take to understand the Word of God.

If you never bother to read the Word of God and study the Word of God for yourself, you’re completely dependent hearing what other people say about God, reading what other people write about God, and you’re relying on what you feel God is like.

The problem is, that if you’re relying on a person, you’re relying on someone that’s just as fallible as you are—they can make mistakes, and people can be wrong. And if you’re relying on what you feel God is like, the Bible teaches us that our heart is deceitful, thus, what we can feel is wrong,

If you’re relying purely on what people say and write or what you feel, you can very literally have a wrong idea of who God is.

The only infallible work that you can rely on is the Word of God. Thus, if you want to learn who God is then you really need to turn to his Word.

As you study God’s Word for yourself, your knowledge of God will grow; and just like the psalmist who knows who God is and relies on God to provide hope and comfort, so can you.

That way, when you face affliction from the wicked, you can still have hope and comfort because you know who God is and you know his character.

You know that the apparent success of wicked people won’t always last

That God ultimately is still in control.

And you can be strengthened in that knowledge, you can have hope and you can have comfort in him.

Learn who God is according to his Word and find comfort, strength, and hope in Him.

Lastly, let’s consider this passage from the lens of the psalmist who wrote this prayer—most if not all the psalms are very clearly prayers that have been written for the musical worship of Israel. Psalm 10 is no different, you can see it as a prayer. And because it’s a prayer that’s been divinely breathed out by God, it teaches us how we can pray when we face tremendous affliction. It’s very simple and it follows the pattern that we’ve seen through the other psalms. When faced with great affliction:

Call out to the LORD authentically

Make your request known to the LORD

But don’t just make requests, praise the LORD by reflecting on who he is and what he does.

It is perfectly acceptable to make requests and it’s perfectly alright to express frustration, depression, and even anger in our prayers; but we always must remember, that in doing so, there is a right way in doing so.

And the psalmist shows us the proper way of doing so.

Be authentic

Be truthful and honest

But always remember that you’re praying to God, you are not God.

So show reverence, show honor, show respect, and show love.

And continuously remind yourself of who he is.

Put simply, Psalm 10 teaches us that (1) the wicked will be held accountable, so they need to repent and believe; (2) the afflicted will not always suffer, so they need to learn who God is according to his Word and find hope, strength, and comfort in Him; and (3) believers who are afflicted can cry out to the LORD authentically and make their requests known to God; but they must ultimately remember that God is God and they are not—thus, be reverent, show honor and respect, and love the LORD.

Psalm 10 shows us that even when life seems unfair and the even when it appears that the wicked will always prosper—God is still in control, and because he is in control, we need to rely on him, hope in him, and praise him for who he is.

Prayer Requests

Bill Stiver is having surgery sometime between now and Christmas

Pray for the Steiner family who has recently experienced a great loss in the family

Caleb Miller - Medical Issues

Alan Wisor - Medical Issues

Pray for the remaining renovation work—we currently need $4,800 to finish all the projects.

Pray for Philipsburg and the surrounding areas; that we’ll be used by God to continue making mature believers of Jesus Christ.