This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) Welcome back for day five of this week through our look at the
book of Psalms. Psalm 10, we're going to be looking at today. In Psalm nine, we
looked at yesterday, the enemy was attacking from without.

In Psalm 10, the enemy attacks from within. Psalm 10 one, why, oh Lord, do you
stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

This is a psalm for those times when you feel like God is far away. And
especially in this psalm, when you feel that God is far away because it looks
like evil is winning. In verses one to 11 in Psalm 10, there's this sense that
the wicked are thriving.

We live in a world where bad things happen to good people. But even worse
sometimes, we live in a world where good things happen to bad people. And that's
what David is seeing here.

In verse two, in his arrogance, the wicked man hunts down the weak who are
caught in his schemes, he devises. He boasts of the craving of his heart. He
blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.

In his pride, the wicked does not seek him. In all his thoughts, there's no room
for God. His ways are always prosperous.

He is haughty and your laws are far from him. He sneers at his enemies. So all
through these verses, down through verse 11, he's talking about how the wicked
act and he's talking about what the wicked believe.

And there's four phrases in these verses about what the wicked believe. First,
in verse four, there's no room for God in his thoughts. He just doesn't have
room to think about God.

It's not that the wicked person here is an atheist or an agnostic, he's more an
egotist. He's just focusing on himself. He hasn't even thought about whether
he's an atheist or an agnostic, he's not even thinking about God.

He's just thinking about his stuff, his business, what he wants. I'll always be
prosperous, he thinks. This is a person who's trusting in their riches.

They're trusting in their riches so much that they don't even realize that God
has given those riches. The second way that the wicked think here is they think
they'll always be happy. They'll never have any problems.

Verse six, he says to himself, nothing will shake me. I'll always be happy and
never have any trouble. They're relying on their wealth, on the trappings that
are around them, and they think nothing's ever going to go wrong in their lives.

Now, obviously they're wrong. They're going to face death like everybody else, but
they've fooled themselves. In verse 11, third thing that the wicked are thinking
is God doesn't see what's going on.

Verse 11, he says to himself, God has forgotten. He covers his face and he never
sees. God doesn't even notice me.

If he ever does think about God, he thinks that God is weak. God doesn't notice.
Because of God's patience with the wicked, God obviously could have, in any of
our lives, stopped our lives the moment we sinned the first time, but he
doesn't.

He's patient with us. He gives us time to come to him. And the wicked have
confused that patience for weakness.

And they think that God doesn't even see. The fourth thing they think is that
God's not going to call them into account. In verse 13, why does the wicked man
revile God?

Why does he say to himself, he won't call me into account? Because of the
circumstances of their life, they're good circumstances. They've got a yacht.

They've got a jet. They've got a nice house. They've got more than their parents
ever could have hoped to have.

Because of the circumstances of their lives, these wicked people have decided
that they're never going to be called before God in his judgment. Now, it's easy.
I've talked about the wicked all through this.

It's easy to see this as some other person, but it's not too difficult to see
how this wickedness has come into all of our hearts. How we've all allowed the
busyness of our lives to crowd God out of our thoughts. Our thought, I'm always
going to be fine.

God doesn't see what's happening right now. I'm never going to be called to account
for this. If you can't see yourself amidst the wicked sometimes as you read
through these verses, you've missed the truth of our human condition.

You missed the truth of your own heart. But as followers of Christ, we begin to
grow. We begin to change.

And David began to have different values than the wicked. And that has happened
maybe in your life. And you begin to grow and change.

You let go of some of these beliefs, but you still see the wicked thriving. And
that is what caused David to feel like God is far away. Why do you stand so far
off?

Why don't you come in and judge? So as you read through this psalm, you come
against four truths to remember when God feels far away. If you're feeling that
God is far away right now, here are the four truths you need to remember.

Number one, God does see trouble and grief. He sees. Verse 14, but you, O God,
do see trouble and grief.

You consider it to take it in hand. Verse 17, you hear, O Lord, the desire of
the afflicted. You encourage them and you listen to their cry.

The circumstances make you feel like God is not noticing. But circumstances
don't last. Even if the circumstance lasts the rest of your life on this planet,
that's the briefest time compared to eternity.

God sees your trouble. He sees your grief. And he's considering it to take it to
hand.

The judgment that's come against those will come against those who have brought
you that grief, but also the blessing that he's going to bring into your life. You
recognize in the midst of what you're going through, God's seeing me right now.
The second truth you recognize is God is the helper of the fatherless.

Verse 14, the last half says, the victim commits himself to you. You are the
helper of the fatherless. And then verse 18, defending the fatherless and the
oppressed.

God has a heart for those that the world ignores. God has a heart for those that
are easily set aside. So the orphan, the widow, the fatherless talked about
again and again in scripture.

Those who are fatherless feel like there's no one to stand up for them. God is
the helper of the fatherless. And if you're feeling right now that there's no
one to stand up for you in the circumstances you're facing and that evil is
somehow winning, God is your father.

He is the helper of those who feel that in this world, everything is empty for
them. And he will in the end defend you. You can count on his defense.

Third thing you can count on when you're going through this time and feeling
like God is far away, you can count on the truth that God will call the wicked
to account. Verse 15, break the arm of the wicked and evil man. Call him to
account for his wickedness that would not be found out.

Now that's an interesting phrase, break the arm. It sounds like, wow, he's being
pretty serious here. There's really a meaning behind that.

It's not just like a Godfather kind of a thing. He's saying, take away his
power. A person's arm had to do with their power.

So when you say break the arm, it's take away the power of the evil. And you do
this, you pray this kind of prayer. God's going to call the wicked into account
with an eye on eternity, where God will call us all into account.

I can trust him with that, you can trust him with that. And the place to live is
in that place of trust. You could spend the rest of your life trying to make it
right, trying to attain your own justice.

That most often ends in frustration. Even if you get some measure of justice,
it's not all that you deserve in this world. But more often than not, you don't
get any measure of justice in this world.

It's for the next. So you could spend the rest of your life trying to make it
right, or instead, you could spend the rest of your life following a God of
justice who will make it right someday, the one you can trust to make it right.
God will call the wicked to account.

You trust that when you feel that God is far away. You don't trust the
circumstances that you see. You trust the promises that God has made, the truth
that he has told you.

He will call the wicked to account. He is the helper of the fatherless. He does
see trouble and grief.

And number four, you trust this truth. Trust it today. God is king forever.

Verse 16 says, "The Lord is king forever and ever. "The nations will perish from
his land. " It's his land.

He is king. Verse 18, "He is the one who is defending the fatherless "and the
oppressed in order that man who is of the earth "may terrify no more. " God is
king.

You trust in the fact that he is in control. The circumstances are not king.
That evil person is not king.

God is the king. Now, did you notice how these four truths answer the lies that
the godless are telling themselves at the beginning of this psalm? They say God
does not see, but David recognizes the truth.

God does see trouble and grief. He sees your trouble and grief, what you're
facing today. The wicked say God won't call me into account.

David says God does call the wicked into account. You're short-sighted if you
miss that truth. The wicked are thinking there's no room for God in my thoughts,
nothing will shake me.

But David says no, God is king forever. Your circumstances are not king. God is
the king forever.

These are the truths that you trust when you feel like God is far away. Let's
trust him right now. And in prayer, just say God, even though I don't feel like
it, I don't have the emotions maybe that go along with these truths, I trust
these truths right now.

I trust that you do see the trouble and grief that I'm in. The anguish in my
soul or the trouble in my circumstances, you see it and you're going to take it in
hand. I'd like it to be today.

I ask for it to be today, but whatever a day it is, I know that you see it and
you're going to work. And God, I recognize the truth that you will call the wicked
into account. That the evil that's being done, it will be judged someday.

I can count on that truth because you are the helper of the fatherless. You care
about those who are oppressed. You are working.

You're working in this world to bring about justice. And in eternity, we will
see the end of that story. You will reign in justice.

And so today, God, I choose to trust the truth that you're the king. Not my
circumstances, not that evil person, not even my emotions. You are the king.

I trust you. In Jesus' name, I trust you. Amen.