Psalm 10 - When the Predators Lurk!!!
I have a fascination with God’s beautiful creation, in particular the wonderful array of animals that inhabit this world. This fascination led me to studies and eventual work in the field of biology and ecology, then to teaching it. Within the past few decades of my experiences in the bush, and through viewing countless documentaries, and watching live camera feeds of wilderness areas - I have witnessed multitudes of predatory behaviours.
Predators act in certain ways when they are hunting that is often at odds with how they behave when they are not seeking prey. Smaller predators such as meerkats and mongoose often appear as playful and social creatures before they go out in a foraging hunt for their insect prey. Lions cuddle up in communal naps, while leopards can be seen lounging on a high branch. Yet when it is time to hunt their behaviour changes, and they become more focussed, and they become incredibly violent and relentless.
So too we see the same behaviours in human society. As sin ravages our homes and our communities, predatory behaviours abound - be it at an emotional level, at a physical level, at a business level, or at criminal levels. Just have a look at your news feed…the amount of predatory behaviour is intense and it seems to be increasing.
However, the impact of sin on humanity has not changed. The fact that King David describes a similar situation in Psalm 10 proves this. Psalm 10 is an impassioned plea by David to God about the predatory behaviours and the evil being perpetrated in the world.
It is perhaps a plea that resonates with us in these dark times…
Psalm 10 says….
Verse 1-3: “O Lord, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I am in trouble? The wicked arrogantly hunt down the poor. Let them be caught in the evil they plan for others. For they brag about their evil desires; they praise the greedy and curse the Lord.”
David’s opening statement and cry to the Lord is surely one that many of us recognise and resonate with…I am sure that it is the same cry that many of us have offered up to teh Lord during our lifetimes.
Sometimes when everything has grown dark, and we are in the midst of great struggle and trial that God seems so far away. We cry out to him and we just hear the echoes of our own voices in the still of the night as we lay there crying.
But David quickly moves away from a plea for himself and his own troubles to those of the people around him. He begins to make statements about how the ‘wicked arrogantly hunt down the poor’, how they plan evil to do to others, how they brag about their evil desires, and then they take it one step too far - “they praise the greedy and curse the Lord”.
Sound familiar??? It should - aside from the fact that humanity hasn’t changed one bit in millennia, evil and wickedness abound in today’s world to such a degree that only Sodom and Gomorrah, or Noah’s time rival it for its intensity.
We literally see people being hunted down for destruction - either physically, or emotionally (cancel culture is just another evidence of this).
We see evil plans, and the broadcasting of wicked desires (now it is mainstream media driven).
And we see the greedy and evil praised for their actions all the while they curse and mock the name of God, and His son Jesus.
Verse 4-6: “The wicked are too proud to seek God. They seem to think that God is dead. Yet they succeed in everything they do. They do not see your punishment awaiting them. They sneer at all their enemies. They think, “Nothing bad will ever happen to us! We will be free of trouble forever!”
The wicked are too proud to seek God - Why is that? Because when you are proud and you think you can achieve everything in life just by manifesting it, and by going out and abusing others to get the wealth and prestige you want - you don’t want to hear from God nor do you want to hear that what you are doing is wicked, so you shut out that voice completely.
This serves as a warning for us who believe in God. If we don’t want to fall into wickedness, and drift away from hearing from God then we need to draw close to God, we need to seek his face.
Especially when the wicked seem to be succeeding at everything they do, and we languish in our struggles. It truly seems unfair. But our sense of fairness, and justice is not God’s - nor is the timeframe for that justice the same.
It is interesting that David chooses to focus on the pride of the wicked in these verses, where it blinds them to the coming wrath and judgement of God. They falsely believe that they will get away with the things that they are doing.
Just remember those that do evil in the sight of the Lord….their time is coming…and coming soon! Hold on to that hope.
Verse 7-11: “Their mouths are full of cursing, lies, and threats. Trouble and evil are on the tips of their tongues. They lurk in ambush in the villages, waiting to murder innocent people. They are always searching for helpless victims.
Like lions crouched in hiding, they wait to pounce on the helpless. Like hunters they capture the helpless and drag them away in nets. Their helpless victims are crushed; they fall beneath the strength of the wicked. The wicked think, “God isn’t watching us! He has closed his eyes and won’t even see what we do!”
David then delves deeper into the vanity and pride of the wicked by noting that their evil deeds are accompanied by their speech and their deceit.
Violence always follows hot on the heals of lies and deception….always.
Violence becomes the means of inflicting fear, in gaining power over people, in using people for your their own evil desires.
Today we are seeing an explosion of exploitation that occurs not only online, but also in the lowly factories of third world nations that produce our consumer products. We see it in the riots that tear apart the cities of the world, and we see it in the conflicts that rage like wildfires across the globe.
This is the predatory behaviour that David has seen while out protecting his father’s flocks - “Like lions crouching in hiding, they wait to pounce on the helpless” - the stalking predatory actions of the shadowy elites of this world are still seen to be in action to this very day - and perhaps even more-so.
Their pride filled success has blinded them to what the Lord actually sees. The evil and wickedness done in the shadowy background of our political systems, education systems, economic systems and communities will be exposed by the Lord, and it HE will judge them for it…count on it.
Verse 12-14: “Arise, O Lord! Punish the wicked, O God! Do not ignore the helpless! Why do the wicked get away with despising God? They think, “God will never call us to account.” But you see the trouble and grief they cause. You take note of it and punish them. The helpless put their trust in you. You defend the orphans.”
We often cry out for evil to be punished in this world, and in our lifetime. But it often doesn’t work like that. Consider the Israelites in captivity. They spent decades under the rule of an oppressive regime/s, and most of those initially captured would not see the destruction of those empires, and the restoration of their own nation. So to it is with us.
We can plead and cry out to the Lord…that is what we should do. But we need to recognise that HIS time and our time are two different things, and HIS ways and our ways are two different things.
So what shall we do??? “The helpless put their trust in you” - well that’s what we should do. Place our trust in God and in God alone.
Verse 15-18: “Break the arms of these wicked, evil people! Go after them until the last one is destroyed. The Lord is king forever and ever! The godless nations will vanish from the land. Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them.”
Our pain due to our own suffering, and the pain caused by seeing others suffer greatly often causes us to want to seek revenge, and often brutal revenge. King David was no different to us in this. He wanted the evil-doers to feel physical pain and suffering by having their bodies broken.
David pleaded to have the godless nations wiped off the face of the earth under the wrath of God…there is historical precedent for this. The Babylonian and Persian empires were wiped from the face of the earth, the remains of their great societies lay as ruins, buried under the desert sands. The mighty Roman Empire fell into decay and rotten from within - it’s monuments are now weathered ruins that tourists visit. In Central and South America great Aztec and Mayan civilisations gone. All of these were ungodly nations that were wiped off the face of this earth.
God does judge, and when he does that place is cursed forever, never to regain their power, wealth or prestige again. Most become desolate, barren places.
So too it shall be again….because Yahweh will judge the nations.
I pray that even in these dark times, you find the strength to keep your eyes on the Lord, seek HIM and follow HIM, and HIM alone. While justice for the wickedness and evil done against you and your family may not happen in the timeframe that you want it to…be patient, be courageous…for there will come a time when God will avenge the poor, the downtrodden, the victims and the tormented - and HIS wrath shall be greater than our wrath, and it shall be eternal. God bless you and keep you.