Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted.
Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”? 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.
Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none.
Will the LORD answer this kind of prayer? Has he answered over the centuries when his people pray to him?
The writer of this Psalm 10, in closing gives us two answers to that question.
The LORD is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land.
First answer: the nations will have no part whatsoever in “his land”. Today we know that this is true. Do any of us fear the Pharaohs? Or the Assyrians? Or the Caesars? Or the Vikings? Or Hitler? Or Stalin?
O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
|