Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The God Who Sees | The Writings | Psalm 10

Episode Date: January 12, 2024

When life is overcome with sin, it can feel like God is far away, but is God ever really absent? Are you ever truly alone? In today's episode, Jeff discusses Psalm 10 and shares comfort for times when you feel oppressed and far from God. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 10

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jeff Parrott. Sometimes what we choose to not see reveals more about us than what we do see. During the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, British naval forces faced off against a smaller Danish fleet. And one of the British naval officers in command of a ship that day was named Horatio Nelson. Nelson was a vice-admiral who happened to be blind in one eye. As the battle raged on, an order came from Nelson's senior commander to retreat. That order for retreat was sent to ships throughout the fleet using signal flags that had to be viewed through a telescope.

Now, this command to retreat graded against the preferences of Horatio Nelson. He wanted to continue the fight. So when he looked toward the orders to retreat, he held his telescope up to his blind. blind eye. Historians cite him as saying, I have a right to be blind sometimes. I really do not see the signal. When Nelson held the telescope up to his blind eye, he willfully dismissed the order of his senior officer to retreat. In choosing to not see something, he maintained a kind of self-proclaimed authority that ignored the authority of his commander. His actions are the origin story for a popular phrase most of us know today, turning a blind eye. When we turn a blind eye towards

something or someone, we willfully look away from reality right in front of us. Usually this is because the reality is uncomfortable or goes against a previously held belief or preference. And oftentimes, we internally invoke the dictum of Horatio Nelson when he said, I have a right to be blind sometimes. When we consider the things we choose to not see, we usually find areas of life where we maintain a self-proclaimed authority, ignoring the authority of our creator. Psalm 10 brings us to the intersection of these concepts. It reveals the human tendency to turn a blind-eyed reality while clarifying the authority and presence of God as the king who sees. This Psalm begins with two big questions. Starting with verse one, Lord, why do you stand so far away?

Why do you hide in times of trouble? When life is undone by sin and suffering, it can feel like God is far away, like he's hidden. Like so many Psalms, these questions give us both permission to lament and a paradigm for doing so. These questions help us cry out to the God who is there, even when it feels like he isn't. And the reason for these agonizing questions is revealed in verses 2 through 11. Let's start with Verse two. In arrogance, the wicked relentlessly pursue their victims. Let them be caught in the schemes they have devised. This perceived absence of God arises because of the presence of oppression. The words here are illustrative. The wicked relentlessly pursue their victims. We get some specific examples of what that relentless pursuit looked like as we read on.

Verse 7 describes the powerful and destructive effects of words that tear the people down. So seven says, cursing, deceit and violence fill his mouth. Trouble and malice are under his tongue. Verses 8 through 10, give us some tragic imagery of what this kind of oppression looks like when innocent and vulnerable people are taken advantage of. Picking up in verse 8, he waits in ambush near settlements. He kills the innocent and secret places. His eyes are on the lookout for the helpless.

He lurks in secret like a lion in a thicket. he lurks in order to seize a victim. He seizes a victim and drags him in his net. So he is oppressed and beaten down, helpless people fall because of the wicked one's strength. Now, for you, these words in Psalm 10 may not just be concepts or ideas. Maybe you or someone you love have experienced the agony of being sinned against by someone else. Maybe it's through harassment or abuse or racism, or perhaps a kind of persecution because of your faith. Like so many people, I'm thankful that the Bible doesn't hide or sugarcoat these things through rose-colored glasses. Instead, the Bible helps us face reality. And according to this passage, reality is the very thing that the

oppressor is actually missing. This wicked person has turned a blind eye toward the humanity of those he sins against, but the wicked person is also blind to more than just that. So verse four says, in all his scheming, the wicked person arrogantly thinks, there is no accountability since there's no God. Or look at verse 11. He says to himself, God has forgotten. He hides his face and will never see. So the oppressor has not only turned a blind eye toward other people, but also toward God himself. Ironically, the wicked arrogantly thinks that God turns a blind eye to the suffering of his people. That's a notion that will be dismantled persuasively later in the passage. Psalm 10 is a powerful and comforting message to those of us who endure suffering from other people.

But before we move toward the comfort that this Psalm gives us, here's a question we need to be humble enough to ask ourselves. Are there ways that I'm intentionally or maybe unknowingly living like the way, wicked person here? What are some areas of my life where I pretend that God isn't able to see? Maybe it's in a relationship with someone else or in the hidden interior corners of my life. When we turn a blind eye toward our sin, we presume a kind of self-proclaimed authority for ourselves that only belongs to God himself. We think we're looking at reality, but we're really just living in a fake world. And here's the bad news. There is no real flourishing in a fake world.

Now the good news is that God not only sees our real lives, but he responds to them. We turn to the appeal of Psalm 10, starting in verse 12, says this, Rise up, Lord God, lift up your hand. Do not forget the oppressed. Now, in calling out to God this way, we acknowledge that he's both aware of our suffering and able to take action. I love the way verse 14 describes as truth, but you yourself have seen trouble and grief, observing it in order to take the matter into your hands. The helpless one entrusts himself to you. You are a helper of the fatherless. The ESV translation of verse 14 is poignant here. It says this, but you do see. You do see. God sees the trouble and the

grief so that he can respond to it with his power and his presence. This is where the wicked person is also exposed as being a foolish person. Because God does indeed see. While the wicked person thought that God turns a blind eye to suffering, God actually looks upon it with the compassionate eyes of justice. And that's not just a platitude of faith. That's historical reality. Because on the cross of Jesus, God not only saw our suffering, he entered into it himself. and our response to God's justice is noteworthy. The Psalm describes it this way, The Helpless One Entrusts Himself to You.

Our English translations use that word entrust, or maybe some translations commit here, and that's so beautiful and true. But I want to just notice that the literal Hebrew phrase is something like leave or forsake or abandon. So the Helpless One leaves or forsakes or abandons any hope outside of God. It's abandoning my own authority and entrusting my life to the one who is perfectly trustworthy. He is the one who sees, who responds, who's a helper of the fatherless.

The action of God in verse 15 sounds pretty intense. Let's read it now. Break the arm of the wicked evil person until you look for his wickedness, but it can't be found. Now, we might picture God literally breaking an arm here, but really the truth of Psalm 10 communicates is far more significant than that. In the Bible, someone's arm is a metaphor for their power. So the promise here is that God will break the power of the evil person. Not in one temporal moment, but those other than the Psalm says this, until you look for his wickedness, but it can't be found. This is a promise that points us to the restoration of all things when Christ returns,

when the world and our lives will no longer exist under the shadow of sin and suffering. The end of Psalm 10 directs our attention to this future hope, but it also gives us a picture of how it impacts our lives today. Let's pick it up in verse 16. The Lord is king forever and ever. The nations will perish from his land. Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will strengthen their hearts.

You will listen carefully, doing justice for the fatherless and the oppressed. so that mere humans from the earth may terrify them no more. Let's consider the themes that we've together here at the end of Psalm 10. The God who sees us is the eternal king who reigns. Because he reigns now and forever, we know that he hears us, that he strengthens us, and that he carries out justice for the oppressed. Now, how does the present and future reign of God change the way you'll live today? Maybe you want to take some time, maybe some extended time, to pray for things happening in your own life,

or for people in your family, or in your workplace, or in your neighborhood. One of the most underrated ways to love someone is to lament with them. Because God is the king who hears and listens carefully, you can lament the ways that sin and suffering is affecting you or a loved one today. maybe you need to surrender to the strength of God in trusting yourself, committing yourself to his loving presence in the community of faith. Because he is the king who strengthens us, we can live with a kind of humility and vulnerability and dependence as the people of God. And as we surrender to his strength, we're actually free to find our rest in him and also be empowered by him. So we don't willfully look away from reality. We humbly look toward it.

together with the strength of our king. Psalm 10 is an invitation to see differently. Instead of turning toward people with a blind eye, we turn toward them with the eyes of love, with the eyes of Jesus. And when we do that, we give them a picture of the king who sees and hears and strengthens.