Sunday Scripture

 

 We're back to our ongoing series on my simple study of Psalms.  You can see a copy of the journal here: The Book of Psalms 1-50 or you can find all the resources right here on Women Living Well, Psalms 1-50.  I'm attempting to SOAP each Psalm too, though some of them are longer so I will likely only do a selected passage from many of them. [Quick reminder that S stands for Scripture; O stands for for observation; A stands for application, and P stands for prayer.]  Each psalm's study also includes a reflection question, which I will attempt to journal an answer to.  Today's study is from Psalm 10.  This  psalm is 18 verses long; I chose to SOAP verses 12-16.

S= "Arise, O LORD, O God, lift up Thine hand; forget not the humble.
"Wherefore doth the wicked despise 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 forever and ever; the nations are perished out of His land."  (Psalm 10:12-16)

O= Psalm 10 is titled by C.I. Scofield "A plea for God's judgment".  

(There is no biblical heading for this psalm, and thereby hangs a tale -- an intriguing mystery.)  Charles Spurgeon writes in his wonderful commentary on Psalms, The Treasury of David, :

"Since this psalm has no title of its own, it is supposed by some to be a fragment of Psalm 9.  We prefer, however, to consider it as a separate composition ... The prevailing theme seems to be the oppression and persecution [by] the wicked; we will, therefore, for our own guidance, title it, THE CRY OF THE OPPRESSED."

Martin Luther wrote, "As this Psalm is without a title, let us embrace the most general and common understanding of it ... and let us look at the picture of ungodliness which it sets before us."

But then I found this in my Daily Walk Bible: "The absence of a title in Psalm 10 and the sequence of initial letters in the Hebrew text (every other verse of Psalms 9 and 10 begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, forming a handy and memorable acrostic) have led many commentators to conclude that Psalms 9-10 were originally one long psalm composed by David."

Now that is interesting.  I didn't know that about the acrostic form of these two psalms.  I couldn't take time to dig deeper into the mystery, but maybe one of my readers will.  Let me know, if you do!

Back in verse 1 of this psalm, the psalmist asks the Lord why He seems to be standing afar off in troubling times, while the wicked are persecuting the poor.  

Now, in verses 12-16, he asks God to arise and to lift up His hand, and to not forget the humble.  He notes that the wicked despise God and tell themselves that God will not call them to account for their actions.  But the psalmist points out that God does see.  He takes account of mischief and spite and He will deal with it.  The poor can commit themselves to God, who is the Helper of the fatherless.

The psalmist asks God to break the arm of the wicked and the evil, to call their wickedness to account until every bit of it is dealt with.  He concludes with the statement that the LORD, the self-existent One, is King forever and ever, and that the nations perish out of His land.

Martin Luther says, "There is not, in my judgment, a Psalm which describes the mind, the manners, the works, the words, the feelings, and the fate of the ungodly with so much propriety, fullness, and light, as this Psalm."

Cross-reference for "Arise, O LORD" (v. 12) -- "Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God; for Thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone; Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly."  (Psalm 3:7)

Cross-references for "lift up Thine hand" (v.12) -- "Lift up Thyself, Thou Judge of the earth; render a reward to the proud."  (Psalm 94:2)

"Thine hand shall be lifted up upon Thine adversaries, and all Thine enemies shall be cut off."  (Micah 5:9)

Cross-references for "humble" and also for "forget not" (v.12), and also for  "require it" (v.13) -- "When He maketh inquisition for blood, He remembereth them; He forgetteth not the cry of the humble."  (Psalm 9:12)

Another cross-reference for "forget not": "For the needy shall not always be forgotten; the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever."  (Psalm 9:18)

Cross-reference for "despise" (v.13) -- "For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, who the LORD abhorreth."  (Psalm 10:3)

For clarification, this is how the above reads in the ESV: "For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the LORD."

Warren Wiersbe comments in With the Word, "God hears what the ungodly say and does not approve of their pride and rebellion.  The ungodly announces, 'I shall not be moved!  God does not see what I do!  Even if He does, He will never judge me!'  What arrogance!"

Cross-reference for "seen it" (v.14) -- "The LORD is in His holy temple, the LORD's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test, the children of men."  (Psalm 11:4)

Cross-reference for "beholdeth mischief" (v.14) -- "The LORD looketh from heaven; He beholdeth all the sons of men."  (Psalm 33:13)

Cross-references for "committeth himself" (v.14) -- "For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day."  (2 Timothy 1:12)

"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."  (1 Peter 4:19)

Cross-references for "the helper of the fatherless" (v.14) -- "A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in His holy habitation."  (Psalm 68:5)

"The LORD preserveth the sojourners; He relieveth the fatherless and widow; but the way of the wicked He turneth upside down."  (Psalm 146:9)

"Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ye are our gods; for in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy."  (Hosea 14:3)

Cross-reference for "break Thou the arm" (v.15) -- "For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the LORD upholdeth the righteous."  (Psalm 37:17)

Cross-references for "seek out his wickedness" (v.15) -- "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.  Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not; yea, I sought him, but he could not be found."  (Psalm 27:35-36)

"Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee; they that war against thee shall be as nothing and as a thing of naught."  (Isaiah 41:12)

There are many excellent cross-references for "The LORD is King" (v.16) -- "The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea,  the LORD sitteth King forever."  (Psalm 29:10)

"The LORD shall reign forever and ever."  (Exodus 15:18)

"But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God, and an everlasting King; at His wrath the earth shall tremble; and the nations shall not be able to abide His indignation."  (Jeremiah 10:10)

"Thou, O LORD, remainest forever, Thy throne from generation to generation."  (Lamentations 5:19)

"Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever, Amen."  (1 Timothy 1:17)

"And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever."  (Revelation 11:15)

It is especially interesting to see what two Old Testament kings (Nebuchadnezzar and Darius) had to say about this fact that the LORD is King.

King Nebuchadnezzar, after being seriously humbled by God, said, "And at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored Him who liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation."  (Daniel 4:34)

King Darius, upon seeing how God protected Daniel in the lions' den,  wrote: "I make a decree, that in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for He is the living God, and steadfast forever; and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall be even unto the end."  (Daniel 6:26)

Cross-reference for "the nations are perished out of His land" (v. 16) -- "As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish, because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God."  (Deuteronomy 8:20)

A=  Warren Wiersbe notes in With the Word, "Does God help?  Of course He does!  He sees the trouble of His people, feels their grief, and helps them in the right way at the right time.  After all, the Lord is King!  It may look as though the ungodly are winning the day, but the Lord will triumph in the end."

As the psalmist asks God to arise and act on behalf of the humble, this is a reminder to me that God wants His children to exhibit humility.  He resists the proud, He tells us, but gives grace to the humble.  I can commit myself to Him knowing that He is in sovereign control of everything that He allows to touch my life.  Not only that, but He is my omnipotent Helper.  I can trust Him to give me strength for any situation I face, to act on my behalf, and even to render the wicked ineffective.

P= "Lord, how I thank and praise You for the powerful reminders in this psalm!  I'm so thankful that You see and know what the wicked are doing, and that they will one day give account to You.  Help me to walk with You humbly and trustingly, knowing that You are my all-powerful Helper who will deal with the wicked in your perfect timing.  I pray in Jesus' name, Amen."

Reflection question: The enemy is always trying to destroy and tear down.  After David writes of his affliction from his enemies, he affirms his confidence in God as King forever.

In the midst of evil that is all around us, how does knowing that God has all things in His control comfort you?

My response: This is hugely comforting to me.  We have as a nation been through five challenging years during which things looked incredibly dark and at times, nearly hopeless to the eye.  But I and many others clung to the fact that God was (and is) in control, no matter how bleak things looked.

Dark forces are actually continuing to work at destroying our nation and seeking to tear down our values and even our families.  It truly is a battle between good and evil.  It's good to be reminded here in Psalm 10 that God sees wickedness and will call the wicked to account in His timing.  This psalm is a powerful reminder that He is sovereign over the nations.

And there is our simple study of Psalm 10:12-16.  I hope it was a blessing to someone today!