Psalm 10 "But You Do See"

Psalm 10:3-4, 11-14, 17-18 

¹ Why, O Lord, do you stand far away?
    Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?...

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.”…
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.

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.

Comments:

When I began meditating on this psalm, after the obviously honest and blunt questions with which this psalm begins (remember that this is most likely the second half of Psalm 9’s acrostic structure), I was struck with an interesting perspective on God’s ability/choice to hear and see what is going on in the world. David knew something about God’s heart and character but was perplexed by the appearance of inattention or inaction. Honestly, we all ask these kinds of questions, don’t we?

Yet, though David knew God’s heart and faithfulness his question, while not wrong to ask, shows that his perspective had been influenced by the views of the wicked around him who boasted of their wicked desires because God doesn't hear (v.3), who preyed on the helpless because surly God doesn't see the horrible things they do to others (v.11). Ultimately they believe “there is no God” (v.4).

While David’s question had come to reflect something of this worldly perspective, he snaps out of it and returns to a position of full trust, declaring with the certainty of faith, “you do see” (v.14) and “you do hear” (v. 17)! This is what is supposed to happen when we read the psalms! We are pressed by circumstances to be honest with God and then as we seek God’s answer we more fully understand God’s character and it produces a renewed level of trust in our hearts that supersedes our circumstances. 

The change in the psalmist here in Psalm 10 happens in the prayer of verse 12.

“Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand; 

forget not the afflicted.”

The question of the day for you the reader is…

What was it about this cry “Arise, O Lord…” that prompted the psalmist to move forward into such bold declarations of trust?

I could just tell you but it wouldn't be as fun! 

Psalm 9 "Just Men"

Psalm 9:1-2, 15-16, 19-20

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High...
The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
     in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.
The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment;
    the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands...

Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail;

    let the nations be judged before you!

Put them in fear, O Lord!

    Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah

Comments:

This psalm is an acrostic psalm that seems to be paired with Psalm 10. It is acrostic because each four-line section starts with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This poetic and memory-aiding element does not generally come through in translation. While its poetic technique is acrostic, its style is one of praise and prayer. Psalm 9 seems more focused on praise with a little lament (think “prayer request”) thrown in, while Psalm 10 is more lament with some praise thrown in. 

In Psalm 9 we see the Lord as praiseworthy, upright and just, and enduring. We also see the opposite in the nations/wicked who are despicable, oppressive, and doomed. Do you remember the cereal commercials that touted, “Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids!” Well, I hear a little of that taunt in the psalmist's descriptions of those who would think that praise, honor, and glory are their own possessions. Praise is for God not for men. If we need to be personally reminded with regularity that we are “but men” (v.20) how much more so for the large groups of prideful people like us that we call nations?

I was talking this week with a couple of friends about how uncomfortable it is when we are reminded that we are “just men” and our illusion that we are something more is shattered. It is painful because such revelation happens in times of weakness, failure, rejection, disappointment, and loss of situational control. However, it is out of such times of conviction that we can confess and repent (1 John 1:9) and experience the total cleansing of Christ. It is out of the crushing brokenness that we can become vessels of encouragement to others (2 Cor. 1:3-5). It is from the dark valley of our humiliation when even in our wildest imagination we can’t take credit for anything good that might happen that God can use us powerfully like he did Gideon’s remnant of 300 (Judges 7:2). In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul wrote a humbling message to the church that thought it had it all together,

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)

But let’s be honest, how many people would want to play the part of Wile E. Coyote?

Wile E. Coyote Explodes (Looney Tunes)

You remember who he is—the buyer of all things ACME to catch the Roadrunner but who always fell into his own trap (or had his own trap fall on him). Yet we do it all the time when we think we can manipulate and objectify others.

Psalm 9 makes it clear that the person who is unjust, unkind, and treacherous towards other people (who have been made in the image of God) will fall into their own trap (v. 15-16), and worse! So, I am thankful for those times when God reminds me that I am just a man; I don’t enjoy them, but I am thankful for the results.

In the end, God wins, and the nations that forget him shoot themselves in the knee.

 

I pray that my knees might not be locked or hyper-extended in my prideful defiance, but bent in the humility of praise and prayer. So far, the Lord has been faithful to let me know. How about you?

Psalm 8: "Humble Glory?"

Psalm 8:5-6

"Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
    and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under his feet..."

Comments:

I have commented on v. 1 and v. 3-4 three times each, so here is something different. (Note: Although psalms should generally be taken as a whole unit, after reading the whole psalm I will generally just comment on a couple of verses.)

Man is the apex of God’s creation and has been “crowned him with glory and honor” but we too often think that glory is ours to seek and grasp, as I began my poem, Humble Glory,

Born to share glory, not seek it.

Yet sniffing, climbing, grasping, fighting, expecting,

We hunt along a different path

Twisted we claim it, kill it,

Poisoned by pride…

Just as the Bible speaks of the spirit of antichrist (1 John 4:3), I have found its fraternal twin, which I call anti-glory. After mankind turned away from a dependent relationship with the Glorious and fell into sin, he sought to replace that lost glory through his own efforts or images (Romans 1:23; Philippians 3:19). But this imitation glory—this vainglory—leaves a bitter aftertaste. Dr. Ron Frost uses Augustine’s relational metaphor to describe the tragic consequences of that first temptation to be like God,

"It is the adultery of the heart, the lust for human glory, the idolatry of greed, and the careless self-absorption of pride that Jesus condemns. The behavioral dimensions of sin are merely barometric indications of the hurricane of death that destroyed and destroys hearts through their desire to be like God."^[1]

The serpent lied. We are not God and never could be divine, except through humble participation in Christ’s love. As IBottom of Form later poetically described (again from Humble Glory),

Glory is given not grasped,

Belonging to God—Father, Son, Spirit—

Shared in his Trinitarian community of love.

Yet he invites us in as family, to eat once again

What we once lost by taking.

The psalmist here worships the Lord fully, recognizing that any humble glory he had, any dominion he exercised was what had been given him by God. I am no king nor psalmist, but I have a share in the glory of the King…because he died for me!

---

[1] Paul L. Metzger, ed. Trinitarian Soundings in Systematic Theology (New York: T & T Clark, 2005), 105.  

Psalm 7 "The Fury of My Enemies"

Psalm 8:1-2, 6

O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge;
    save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,
lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,
    rending it in pieces, with none to deliver…

Arise, O Lord, in your anger;
    lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
    awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.

Comments:

This psalm is considered either an Individual Lament or a Song of Trust while containing both imprecation and lament. Trust psalms (there are 10) center their attention on the fact that God may be trusted even in despair. They help us express our trust in God whether we are doing well or not. They help us express a trust that transcends our circumstances. Here David is suffering at the hands of a certain Benjaminite named Cush. We don’t know anything else about him but assume that he was a follower of Saul in his persecution of David. He certainly was accusing David of something that he had not done…something that would have been not only a threat to David’s reputation and livelihood, but also to his very life.

There are three simple observations I would like to from these verses—refuge, judgment, and the fury of my enemies.

Refuge

Refuge (Heb. chacah; pronounced “khaw-saw”) is a common idea in the Psalms where it is used at least 24 times for the act of seeking shelter, placing one's trust for protection, and deliverance. The question for us, as well as for the psalmist, is not do we seek refuge, but where do we seek it. Where do we seek refuge from those who pursue us with malice and seek to prey upon us like a lion? Where can we hide? Who can we trust to have our back—really? Part of knowing where to take refuge depends on who it is that is seeking to harm us. Maybe we don’t recognize the roaring lion that is behind the low-grade harassment we face at school, work, or even at home. We need a refuge that is up to the challenge—“O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge.” He is not our last resort. He should be our first response for he is our only hope! 

Judgment

Occasionally the psalmist will ask for God to judge the wicked, the violent, and the ones who unjustly and deceitfully seek his demise. This psalm is no exception. However what stands out to me is that before he asks God’s judgment on others, he invites that same judgment upon himself in verses 3-5. David is not saying he is sinless, only that he has not done that which he is accused of. It is a good practice to examine our own hearts honestly before pointing at others. I need to judge my own heart first before judging others…and while I am at it, I need to trust it all to the Lord.

Fury

In verse 6 David asks the Lord to act, specifically to “Arise, O Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies…” David has faced the fury of Cush. Fury (‘ebrah) is not just anger, but an outpouring, overflow, outburst of wrath and arrogance. I confess that in my twisted mind I pictured David asking the Lord to come against the Plymouth Fury of his enemies! After researching this idea, I found it more appropriate than I first thought, as perhaps one of the scariest cars ever was a haunted, driver-less, evil, 1958 Plymouth Fury in the horror movie, Christine.

No matter what failures of our past seem to relentlessly stalk us, we take refuge in the blood of Christ at the cross. The scent trail of our guilt ends there with our crucifixion with Christ (Galatians 2:20). Christ lives in us now, by faith, and his life is indestructible!

No matter how strong the attack against us, no matter how heinous the accusation, it is not a stretch for the Lord to be our refuge and our deliverer! He is faithful and true and for that, we lift up our heads and hands and give him thanks!