Psalm 10

1 Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.
4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
5 His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.
7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
8 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.
9 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.
10 He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.
11 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.
12 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.
13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.
14 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.
15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.
16 The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.
17 LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.

Key Verse:
4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

Key Outline:
1. v. 1-11 Prayer against the wicked and observations they seem to receive no judgment
2. v. 12-18 David prays for God to appear to judge these, and gives thanks that it is so.

Key Observation:
The wicked seem to be in control; in fact they are due to “perish out of his land”.

Memory verse:
16 The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.

Devotion:
Augustine says of the proud: “With these miserable creatures, it is not enough that they are sick, but they boast of their sickness, and are ashamed of the medicine which could heal them.” I notice that in the Septuagint this psalm is actually conjoined to Psalm 9, but that is not true in the Hebrew. I mention that because David is continuing the same subject matter as in Psalm 9, “the judgment of the wicked”. My ESV notes say that it was the custom of the public to be given psalms to pray, and thus it would alert the kingdom that indeed their king did know what was going on in his kingdom. I notice that if this is true of the temporal kingdom of David, how much more it is true of the kingdom of the Son!

Joseph, when he revealed himself to his brothers, said, “So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land in Egypt.” Time after time, generation after generation, in life after life, God teaches his saints that he is able to confound the wicked. He makes them what Augustine said was to “go in a circle”. David prays in this psalm that they may be taken in the devices that they have contrived. He prays that God will break the arm of the wicked, thus rendering them powerless. One day soon, the Lord will return, and upon this earth He will establish justice, and a kingdom without end.