Veteran’s Day

Psalm 10

You can count on God.

CIT: David is writing a song to remind him of God’s faithfulness and His promise to avenge him during his persecution.

CIS: Despite appearances or grievances, God is just and faithful and will stand up for his people.

SO: The hearer will know they can trust God to be who He says He is, regardless of what they see.

Follow along at d1.church/notes.

Intro: Murder Mystery movies or books are my favorite genre of storytelling. I love how the murder mystery unfolds, and there is a cast of people who could potentially be the murderer. In the final scene, the detective or crime solver stands in the room and explains everything that has happened. As he describes the clues that you have witnessed and seen with your own eyes, they come together to reveal a truth you never saw coming. “Here’s what happened…” “It was Colonel Mustard with the candlestick in the library!” I then, with my deductive mind, start checking the boxes to verify the truth from what was presented. Good writers are skilled at their craft, and it is truly remarkable. I begin to recognize that if I had been paying attention to the right things, I would have already solved it. I knew the truth down deep, despite what my eyes and ears told me. 

T.S.: Honestly, sometimes I cannot see the truth because I get caught up in the dramatic story or distractions. David is experiencing the same thing in Psalm 10.

1. Where are you, God? (Psalm 10:1-6)

Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In his arrogance, the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. He boasts about the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord. In his pride, the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts, there is no room for God. His ways are always prosperous; your laws are rejected by him; he sneers at all his enemies. He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.” He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.”

EXP: Psalms 9 and 10 were written by David during the period when he was running from King Saul, who was seeking to kill him. This is a multi-year period during which David hides in caves, never settling or feeling safe. In Psalm 9, David thanks the Lord for always defending him and extols his greatness. Psalm 10 starts with a question of “If you are my defender, why do you not defend me now?” David makes an astute observation about how it seems the wicked (those who do not serve God properly) prosper while those who we feel are righteous are having to run for their lives. 

ILL: The church I grew up in was a modest house converted into a place of worship. It was comprised of a few impoverished families. I'm not sure if it was said out loud, but the consensus among us was that we were righteous, and the rich people in town were obviously not living holy lives and possibly had made a deal with the devil to achieve their success. It was not until I was older that I realized that success and righteousness were not mutually exclusive. While we were happy to serve the Lord, there were moments of loss and want that could raise this question to God in the same way David did.

APP: David is giving words to what he sees with his eyes and experiences in his daily life. God is not afraid of the truth. When David communicates the seemingly unfair nature of the moment, it is okay to take those grievances to God. His shoulders are big enough. 

T.S.: Of the 38 verses found in Psalms 9 and 10, 11, or 1/3 of them point out an inconsistency. David followed his assessment of the situation with a call to Action.

2. Arise! (Psalm 10:12-15)

Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself,  “He won’t call me to account”? But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out.

EXP: David calls the Lord into action. Action that he has seen in the past. When a person is so prideful that they begin to believe that God will not be just. That God will not be who he says he is. David knows the Truth; God will not let that stand. God has shown himself to be a helper of the Fatherless. David knows that God will humble this man in such a way that the world will recognize the wickedness of these thoughts.

ILL: We have several dogs. We have three chocolate labs and a small terrier. One of our chocolate lab males is the best dog. He is also 107 lbs. and very powerful. He is the Daddy-dog in our house. Our little (6 lb.) mountain fife terrier, for some reason, likes to play rough with these big dogs. Sometimes she will just bite and bark and jump on our big dog while he is just lying on the floor, minding his own business. She will do that for a few minutes. She seems awfully proud of herself, and then he stands up and growls or swats her, and she runs out of the room crying. When he stands up and engages, it is over. Power dynamics are restored in an instant. 

APP: In one breath, David acknowledges God’s seemingly infinite patience, but David knows that when God arises, the prideful will be put to shame.

T.S.: Do you know God the way David knows him? This is what David says about him.

3. The Truth (Psalm 10:16-18)

The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.

EXP: David knows that God will never let the oppressed or weak go without help. David realizes in his thoughts that since he is in a place of oppression, he can now for sure trust in the Lord, who will defend him. 

ILL: When my daughter was four years old, she was in her first pre-school. She had never been in this type of environment before; until this moment, she had only been watched by family members and only a few of them. We were new to the area, and this preschool was the first one we found, and it had issues that we could see. The teacher-to-child ratio was way off, and they had babies in with the 4-5-year-olds. The teachers always looked disheveled and stressed. We were there for about two weeks when I received the call to come pick her up because she had become unruly and thrown a fit that they could no longer handle. As I walked in the door, the teacher began to badmouth my child to me. She questioned everything from our parenting to our lives. I let her know what I thought of her facility and that if they could not handle a 4-year-old tantrum, they should probably not be in business. I took my daughter and told them we would never be back. I am not sure everything I said was the nicest; I am not even sure that my daughter was not out of pocket on that day. But I did know that my daughter knew she could count on me to get her, remove her from a bad situation, and stand up to any bully she ever had in her life. 

APP: God has instilled this confidence in David. David may not understand why things are happening as they are, and today may be a bad day. But he does know that when God shows up, all things will be made right.

T.S.: When God shows up, all the clues make sense. He is righteous, He is just, he is patient, He is kind, He can be relied on. The prideful will not stand, the arrogant will fall, the world will know who the King of Kings is!

Conclusion: We can spend time focused on the distractions and circumstances that keep us from noticing God moving in our lives. Like watching a murder mystery, we can easily get caught up in the drama. God has given us the clues to remember that the truth will be known. That God will make all things right. Today, I want you to know that you can trust God to be who He says He is, regardless of what you see or experience.

I want to pray for three groups today:

1. Some of you know God is good, but cannot find him in your current situation.
2. I pray that you will trust in God, knowing He has a good outcome in store for you.
3. Some of you see seemingly wicked people prospersing while you are struggling.
4. I pray God will know God is just and faithful.
5. Some of you want this confidence God provides for his people.
6. I pray for salvation.