A Devotional Thought from Psalm 10
Psalm 10:1–18
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.
Have you ever put together a puzzle, spent time to get it finished only to discover some of the pieces are missing?
I have and oh boy is it frustrating!
Scholars tell us that in the Hebrew this Psalm is an acrostic. Actually Psalm 9 and 10 are part of the acrostic with the stanzas each starting with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Hold on, there is a problem. The acrostic is not perfect. There are letters missing.
Why?
Why are some of the pieces missing?
We have been waiting on an answer in Psalm 10. The questions were asked in Ps. 10, "Why does God not intervene when bad people do bad things?" "Why does he not stop them?"
We now come to the end of this Psalm and discover that there is no answer given to the question.
The psalmist only prays for the Lord to step in and make thing right. Perhaps that is why the acrostic is broken.
Could it be the Psalmist’s artistic way of saying that in this life we don’t always have the pieces to the puzzle?
Could it be that he is saying that we will never be capable of understanding all of life’s mysteries?
The Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:6
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
God is only pleased when we walk by faith and trust him.
I am reminded of the hymn by Mary Brainard that says,
“So on I go not knowing;
I would not if I might;
I’d rather walk in the dark with God
Than go alone in the light;
I’d rather walk by faith with Him
Than go alone by sight.”
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