Psalm 10 Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies

 John Harris WordLive-Scripture Union, August 22, 2021

‘I shall not fear the battle / if thou art by my side, / nor wander from the pathway / if thou wilt be my guide.’1

"The psalmist’s emotions fluctuate between gratitude for God’s past protection and desperate pleas for God’s deliverance in the present danger. The war imagery of nations in conflict, of blood, destruction and death, suggests that the psalmist was a warrior and the battle real, not a metaphor for personal inner conflict. The warrior psalmist had served in one of Israel’s many wars and he attributes the victories to God’s help. Now, in imminent danger, he calls out to God to protect and save him, as he has done before. The warrior psalmist believes that he is on the side of a righteous God and that the enemy are the ‘wicked’ (v 5), opposing God’s people. Yet, rather than exuding confidence, there is a note of desperation in his words. He calls upon God to see his peril and save him from the ‘gates of death’ (v 13).

This is the psalmists’ quandary, the dilemma of all the righteous, the good and godly people living under the old covenant. They believed in a simple equation. The righteous, who followed God and obeyed God’s Law would be blessed, whereas the wicked, who did not acknowledge and obey God, would be cursed. Despite their trust in God, however, people began to see that the equation did not always work. Good people sometimes suffered while bad people often triumphed. This becomes very evident in Psalm 10, originally part of the same psalm. ‘Why, Lord, do you stand far off?’, the psalmist asks. Why does God do nothing when the wicked crush the poor? Why does God let the wicked boast of their prosperity and revile God? The answers lay in a distant future which some psalmists ‘saw … from a distance’ but none truly understood, a future when, through Christ, all the redeemed people of God would finally experience unending peace and justice in God’s eternity."

‘[God] will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.’

1 John Ernest Bode, 1816–74, ‘O Jesus, I have promised’  2 Deut 28:1–14  3 Deut 28:15–68  4 Ps 10:1  5 Heb 11:13  6 Rev 21:3

Psalm 10

Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies

Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?

   Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor—

   let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.

For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart,

   those greedy for gain curse and renounce the Lord.

In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, ‘God will not seek it out’;

   all their thoughts are, ‘There is no God.’

Their ways prosper at all times;

   your judgements are on high, out of their sight;

   as for their foes, they scoff at them.

They think in their heart, ‘We shall not be moved;

   throughout all generations we shall not meet adversity.’

Their mouths are filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;

   under their tongues are mischief and iniquity.

They sit in ambush in the villages;

   in hiding-places they murder the innocent.

Their eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;

   they lurk in secret like a lion in its covert;

they lurk that they may seize the poor;

   they seize the poor and drag them off in their net.

They stoop, they crouch,

   and the helpless fall by their might.

They think in their heart, ‘God has forgotten,

   he has hidden his face, he will never see it.’

Rise up, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;

   do not forget the oppressed.

Why do the wicked renounce God,

   and say in their hearts, ‘You will not call us to account’?

But you do see! Indeed you note trouble and grief,

   that you may take it into your hands;

the helpless commit themselves to you;

   you have been the helper of the orphan.

Break the arm of the wicked and evildoers;

   seek out their wickedness until you find none.

The Lord is king for ever and ever;

   the nations shall perish from his land.

O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek;

   you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear

to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed,

   so that those from earth may strike terror no more.