Wicked

“Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised. For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, "There is no God." His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them. He says in his heart, "I shall not be moved; throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity." His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket; he lurks that he may seize the poor; he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net. The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might. He says in his heart, "God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it." 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. The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land. 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.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭10:1-18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This can be a challenging Psalm to read and understand. I had to read it many times and do some extra reading to fully grasp the language and it's intent. Its kind of a description of the state of the wicked and the response of God. As you read Psalm 10, think about this question, Is God Just?

After you read this Psalm a few times (about 10 times for me) you start to see a detailed account of the wicked. It's a bit different than our culture where we tend to think of the wicked as the terrorist or serial killers, etc. We really don't have a realistic view of the wicked from God's perspective. Here are some traits applied to the wicked:

The wicked hotly pursue the poor. The wicked boasts of the desires of his soul. The wicked blesses the greedy and renounces the Lord. The wicked is proud and does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts. The wicked are always prospering; he sneers at his enemies. The wicked thinks he will never suffer adversity. The wicked's mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and oppression; under his tongue is trouble and sin. The wicked murders the innocent secretly; he secretly fixes his eyes on the helpless. The wicked sets snares to catch the poor. The wicked says, God has forgotten; He hides His face; He will never see. That's kind of a scary list but accurate. What is even more scary is the fact that many of the folks who demonstrate these traits today are those we admire...like professional athletes, movie stars, recording artist....the list goes on. Even scarier is that some of these are people that our kids "worship" every day!

Yikes. So what can we do since it seems the wicked are everywhere.

We could start by teaching our kids the truths of Gods word and by living out Gods word as an example that can be seen and experienced.

We could start praying for the wicked...remember why Jesus came??? We are so quick to condemn people as if theres no chance to change. Remember that guy named Saul who became Paul? Ya, he murdered lots of Christians before God got ahold of him, blinded him, spoke truth into him and converted him. 

We need to check our own hearts to....are they lining up with Gods word? Do you look up to and compare your life to other people or do you live your life using Gods word and look up to God himself.

We are surrounded by wickedness and need to humbly pray for them...but we can never lose sight of the fact that we are also sinners who need Gods loving grace, mercy and forgiveness. We can never lose sight of the fact that there is hope ... Jesus

Jerry