God Is King

OPENING PRAYER:

Loving Lord, you are the master of all things great and small. I’m thankful your grace is sufficient for all things in my life.

READ: PSALM 10

1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. 3 He boasts about the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord. 4 In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. 5 His ways are always prosperous; your laws are rejected by[b] him; he sneers at all his enemies. 6 He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.” He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.”

7 His mouth is full of lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue. 8 He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent. His eyes watch in secret for his victims; 9 like a lion in cover he lies in wait. He lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net. 10 His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength. 11 He says to himself, “God will never notice; he covers his face and never sees.”

12 Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. 13 Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, “He won’t call me to account”? 14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. 15 Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out.

16 The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. 17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, 18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.

Footnotes

[a] Psalm 10:1 Psalms 9 and 10 may originally have been a single acrostic poem in which alternating lines began with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Septuagint they constitute one psalm.

[b]Psalm 10:5 See Septuagint; Hebrew / they are haughty, and your laws are far from

REFLECT:

When did you last wonder why God can seem inactive in a situation of crisis? ‘Why, Lord, do you stand far off?’ (v 1).

It is quite likely that Psalms 9 and 10 were originally a single Hebrew acrostic poem, which in some traditions became separated. The theme develops of God’s just rule in the past giving confidence for the present and future. The cry in Psalm 9:19 for God to ‘Arise!’ against the ungodly is repeated here (v 12).

In Psalm 9, the Lord reigns and is enthroned, but it is in this psalm (v 16) he is called a king. This declaration occurs after a terrifying list of the terrors of the wicked (vs 2–11). As king, God hears his subjects’ cry and has compassion for the weak and those in need (v 14). As king, he also judges and punishes the wicked.

Eli’s and Samuel’s sons could easily have been the inspiration for this description of the godless (1 Samuel 2:12,17; 8:3), with no room for God in their thoughts, rejecting his ways (v 4). Of course, these sons are not unique in their disrespect of God and their behavior. This psalm might also have served as a reminder to the leaders of Israel, that in requesting a king (1 Samuel 8) they are ultimately rejecting the kingship of God.

APPLY:

With confidence, we too can cry out ‘Arise!’ to God, to take strong action against his enemies.

CLOSING PRAYER:

Lord, I want to honor you by living a self-giving life, not a self-serving life. I know it will only be by you that this will be done. Grant me your special grace and strength.

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