Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

This Psalm is the first in a while without a title in the original Hebrew (Psalm 1 and Psalm 2).

This could be because it was considered one Psalm together with Psalm 9. We however are taking it as it is as a separate Psalm.

Like Psalm 9 this Psalm is about God’s justice however there is a different focus.

Psalm 9 celebrates God’s justice and Psalm 10 is the recognized need for God’s justice.

The idea of praise for righteous vindication from Psalm 9 is less pronounced.

Psalm 10 is a prayer for God’s help in a time where life gets real.

In it there is a sense that God is absent in world seeping with wickedness.

This overwhelming awareness of the wickedness and the evil and its apparent triumph leads the psalmist to a desperate prayer of faith for deliverance and the need for ultimate justice.

When the injustice of the world and evil seems overwhelming the only hope we have is in God, and His place on the ultimate throne - who calls wickedness to account and gives help and healing to those in a position of dire helplessness.

Honest Protest

Life hits us relentlessly and sometimes with much intensity and ferocity.

If we are honest there are times where the troubles of life and the wickedness surrounding us can overwhelm us.

In that sense of overwhelming trouble and trial we may feel like God is absent, hiding, or has simply turned away from us.

Usually this comes when we are suffering greatly and those who are wicked and do not belong to God continue in life unhindered and unburdened.

The fact that the wicked may triumph or seem to triumph brings pause and questions.

Lord why do you stand so far away?

Why are you hiding in times of trouble.

Why does the Lord remain silent while innocent suffer and wicked go unchallenged?

The Bible doesnt ignore the problem of evil in the world, it identifies it as SIN and it identifies men as sinful.

The Bible also details the remedy of SIN and evil in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and the promise of the eradication of SIN and evil in His Second Coming.

Many who have walked away from faith point to the prevalence of evil as the number one reason why.

We need to come to a point where we can deal with these questions honestly.

We are not the first ones to ask them.

In times like these it feels as though God stands afar off.

This question in verse has the interpretation that God has abandoned or turned away from us.

That He is aloof and without care for what is happening and what we are going through.

The psalmists has asked it and this Psalm also points to the time when Jesus is on the cross and Jesus speaks these words.

The Psalmist then asks the question why do you hide in times of trouble.

Why are you absent from the troublesome times.

You are gone in times of calamity - this has the sense of a drought.

A drought is a sign of judgment and the Psalmist is expressing that it is as though he is being punished and under the judgment of God who has hidden His face from Him.

C.S. Lewis wrote this quote after his wife was taken by cancer, “Meanwhile where is God?

This is one of the most disquieting symptoms.

When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him…you will be – or so it feels – welcomed with open arms.

But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find?

A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside.

After that, silence.

You may as well turn away.

The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become.”

The concern and anxiety over what amounts to the inactivity of God.

To hide in times of trouble - times of trouble is a rare word in the Hebrew used only here and Psalm 9:9 and it means “cutting off of hope for deliverance” The notion of distress intensifying to despair.

“The presence of God is the joy of his people, but any suspicion of his absence is distracting beyond measure… It is not the trouble, but the hiding of our Father’s face, which cuts us to the quick.”

Spurgeon.

In arrogance and pride the wicked relentlessly pursue their victims - let them be caught Lord.

We must learn to walk by faith and not by feelings and live according to what God has spoken through His Word and not according to what our circumstances are screaming in our ears.

Prevalent Problem

The Psalmist after stating his protest goes on to describe the wicked people and the prevalent problem of wickedness.

We see the thoughts of the wicked, the speech of the wicked, and finally the actions of the wicked.

The thoughts of the wicked are these:

What I Wants

The wicked one boasts about his own cravings.

He praises, shows off verbally about his own cravings or His own desires and inclinations.

The one who is greedy curses and despises the Lord.

Greedy is specifically one who seeks to gain wealth or possessions by means of violence.

This one blesses the greedy and despises or renounces the Lord.

He discards the Lord, the Lords commands, the Lords desires - it is only his desires that matter to him.

Greed motivates the pursuit of the poor.

There is no God

The wicked does not consider accountability in his scheming and planning he arrogantly thinks that there is no God.

His thinking never factors God into any of it.

Literally God is in none of his thoughts.

God doesnt even enter into his mind.

I am prosperous

His ways prosper and thrive and therefore he is secure and safe in what he is doing.

The thought of coming judgment is far from him as he is enjoying prosperity of the moment.

I will never be moved

I will never be shaken nor made to stagger or stumble.

Wont be shifted to change position.

My ways will not be changed for they bless me.

I will never be moved from where I am and I will be without calamity.

In a move against the Mafia’s control of the Fulton Fish Market in New York City, the case was broken open when investigators discovered that the mob boss had transferred $168,000 from a high interest fund to a low interest bank account so that he could get free bonus TVs.

Why would a man who was squeezing millions in cash payoffs from the fish market bother with free TVs?

The answer is greed—and his greed trapped him.

The Psalmist moves from what the wicked think to what they speak.

Cursing, deceit and violence fill his mouth and trouble and malice are under his tongue.

Evil shows itself most often in verbal violence.

The tongue is fire a world of unrighteousness.

But naturally from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Thoughts fill our hearts and then our mouth speak forth from the treasure of our heart as Jesus said.

The actions of the wicked follow naturally waits in ambush, kills the innocent and always lookout out for the helpless - their next victim.

The wicked lurk in order to pounce and take their prey.

Why this prevalent evil?

Why do those who desire and seek evil rise to power?

The wicked has said to himself - another way of seeing this - the wicked has said in his heart God has forgotten, He hides His face and will never see.

Denial of deity leads to a denial of humanity - Preacher’s Commentary

Absolute Dependence

After stating the protest in light of the prevalent problem the Psalmist then moves on to declare absolute dependence upon God, by praying for His action.

Notice that the Psalmist doesnt say I will take care of it since you arent doing anything.

No the Psalmist calls on God to act for God is the only one who can.

Like the Psalmist we must realize that we must pray for His deliverance and justice to prevail.

For the forth time in ten Psalms we see the call for God to rise up and act to defeat His foes.

Though the wicked think they are and seem to be getting away with it - the Psalmist declares You do see trouble and grief and have observed it - taking note of it.

God’s delay of judgment is not approval for the wickedness or inability to do anything

God takes the matter of the oppressed and the helpless into His own hand

The Psalmist prays for God to break the arm of the wicked evil person.

This on the surface looks like a prayer for violence and pain but it relates not to physically breaking the arm of the wicked but to remove their power.

When we feel powerless to the wicked here on earth we must remember that God is not powerless and we must depend upon Him and His power over all.

Prevail in Faith

The Psalmist concludes with the declaration of the reign and supremacy of the Lord.