Skip to main content

Daily Devotion: Psalm 10:1

By

Psalm 10:1    "Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?"

I truly love the book of the Psalms. I love them for many reasons, but I think most of all because they meet me right where I live.  As I read these songs, I realize that what is happening now has always been. The thoughts I have are not new to me; rather, throughout the ages, since sin entered the world, there have been the same things happening.  The names are different. The situations may not be exactly the same, but the principle of sin has always been and always will be as long as we are on this earth.

I read the question in today's text and I think of that beautiful poem, "Footprints in the Sand". The thought of the poem is concerning this same question, "Where were you when I was in the troubled times of my life?"  As you read through this Psalm, you will see situations such as these:
"The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor." (verse 2)
"The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts." (verse 4)
"He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity." (verses 6 and 7)
"He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones." (verse 10)   By the way, the humbling in this verse is not the same as when God tells us to humble ourselves before Him.  This humbling means to stoop down as in being hidden and out of sight.

Lies, deceit, persecution, and such have always been in the world.  I have made the statement that I have never seen things as bad as they are in our time. I have a feeling that the writer of this Psalm and those who lived in his time also said such things.  In thinking this, they were asking the question, "Lord, how long are you going to let this happen? When are you going to intervene?' The question of "how long" is asked several times throughout the book of the Psalms. We read in the book of Revelation,  "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:  (10)  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" (Revelation 6:9-10)

Yes, we often ask the question how long will the Lord allow this to continue?  In this 10th Psalm, we are reminded once again of the truth of our God. In Psalm 10:16, "The LORD is King for ever and ever."  As King, He sees all that is happening in His kingdom. He knows all that is happening. He hasn't lost touch with His people nor has He lost control. He has a purpose and a reason for allowing wickedness in the world.  It just might be that He is using it to bring us to the place of humbling ourselves before Him.  

How long, O Lord?  The answer just might be, "Until you turn back to me."

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Daily Devotion: Psalm 88:1-4

By
Psalm 88:1-4  A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. "O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:  (2)  Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;  (3)  For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.  (4)  I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength" I've said this before and I will say it again (and probably more times before we get to the end of the Psalms) - I love the Psalms because I can surely identify with them. Most Psalms start in a low place and as the writer expresses his thoughts, the Lord begins to lift him up out of that dry place.  Though this entire Psalm is a fervent cry unto the Lord, the Psalmist tells us specifically in three verses that he cried daily unto the Lord. Just a few Psalms ago, we were reminded that God always hears our prayers. ...
Read more

Daily Devotion (Video): I Will Fear No Evil - Psalm 23:4

By
Read more

Daily Devotion: Knowing God By Bearing Fruit

By
Some will notice the title is not “Bearing fruit because we know God,” so to avoid getting sidetracked with that, we can start with the fact that we won’t bear any godly fruit unless our heart has been changed and the Holy Spirit dwells within us. Also, to avoid confusion, I’ll be using the terms “bearing fruit,” “good works” and “service” interchangeably.  I took this article’s title from Part 7, of John Piper’s “Look at the Book” session on Colossians 1:9-12. I greatly encourage you to view that short video to get his excellent exposition on this subject.  When I saw the title of the video earlier this year, I got kind of excited because that’s the direction my thinking has gone in the past several years. My thinking was founded Biblically with verses on good works like Matthew 5:16 – “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father, who is in heaven.” But I couldn’t expand it to expla...
Read more