Psalms Chapter 10

“Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble? The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity. 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. He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones. He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it. Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble. Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it. Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless. Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none. The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land. LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.” (Psalm 10). Have you ever felt like those who are doing wickedly, and maybe are troubling you, seem like everything is going just fine for them, and not so fine for you? David felt that way, as he expressed in this Psalm, so it is not an uncommon thing for the righteous to feel that way at times. But David also knew in his heart what the reward of the wicked truly is, as well as what the reward of the faithful is; as he stated in another place: “For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed” (Psm. 37:2,3).

It is certian that God is longsuffering and willing that none should perish, and that he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (II Pet. 3:9; Ezek. 18:23). The scriptures are replete with the reality that God would rather that the wicked repent, and they are also consistent with the fact that those who are bent toward doing wrong perceive God’s patience as a license to continue in evil, as this verse shows: “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (Eccl. 8:11). Nonetheless when it is all said and done God remains “the judge of all the earth,” and it is “his judgments [that] are in all the earth” (Gen. 18:25; Psm. 105:7). God is a righteous judge in all things at all times, but he is in no rush to bring hard judgments on anyone, as the scriptures also bear witness to: “For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men” (Lam. 3:33). He also requires patient endurance in well doing from his people, and the combination of these two elements can sometimes be mistaken by the faithful as being forgotten by God, and by the wicked as getting away with wickedness (Lk. 21:17-19; Heb. 6:12-15; Psm. 73:3,5,7,13,14). The bottom line is that we cannot walk by sight, but rather by faith, and that being the faith that God is going to judge righteously in all things at all times, regardless of what it looks like or feels like at the moment (II Cor. 5:7). Peter said it this way: “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator” (I Pet. 4:19). And Paul said it this way: “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Gal. 6:9). If there was no temptation to feel that the disobedient seem to be faring better for their efforts than the faithful are for theirs, he would have had no need to say, “if we faint not.” We simply need to remember the words of Jesus, and employee them: “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Lk. 6:35,36). So the solution to the problem is for us also to be longsuffering and willing for none to perish, and willing that all should come to repentance. If we are such, then maybe they will repent. If we are not, then even if they do repent we will not have contributed to it. I don’t think that is the record that we want to take with us from this life. Amen.