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Daily Devotion: Psalm 10:1

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."

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