Psalms 8:1, 16:2; 3:1-7a.

My Shepherd met me in His green pastures and laid me down in Psalm 10. The Mind of the Spirit engaged the spirit of my mind with the question of verses 1 and 16:

Psalms 10:1 ¶ Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?

Psalms 10:16 The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.

“Why” comes up a lot!* In the Psalms, the Spirit through David asks, “Why do the heathen rage,” (Psalm 2:1), Jesus through David asked, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” and “Why art thou so far from helping me” (Psalm 22:1). David asked, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” and “Why art thou disquieted within me?” (Psalm 42:5, 11; and 43:5), “Why hast thou forgotten me,” and “Why go I mourning because of … oppression” (Psalm 42:9). He asks, “Why dost thou cast me off?” and again “Why go I mourning” in Psalm 43:2. He asks “Why sleepest thou, O Lord?” (Psalm 44:23), “Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man?” (Psalm 52:1), and “why leap ye, ye high hills?” (Psalm 68:16). Asaph asked “Why withdrawest thou thy hand” (Psalm 74:11), “Why hast thou then broken down her hedges” (Psalm 80:12). Finally, Heman asked “Why castest thou off my soul?” and “why hidest thou thy face from me?” (Psalm 88:14).

Have you ever asked, “Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?” The context suggests David is not feeling like God is standing aloof from him, except in the sense that it troubles him to see the wicked flaunting their evil.

Like David, we struggle to comprehend the foolishness of the wicked and their arrogant dismissal of GOD (Psalm 10:2-11, 13). And with David, we cry, “Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble” (Psalm 10:12). Here is reason God stands aloof to the wicked: He resists the proud, but gives grace to the lowly (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). It is also the basis for our petition: “Aris, O LORD … forget not the humble.”

Along the still waters, the Spirit reminds us that GOD sees all of this (Psalm 10:14), and upon that, we present an imprecation: “Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man” (Psalm 10:15). Finally, we resolve with David: “LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble” (Psalm 10:17).

It is “the man of the earth” who oppresses the people. The “Man” of Heaven brings liberty and freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17; John 8:32). For “The LORD is King for ever and ever,” therefore, “the heathen are perished out of his land” (Psalm 10:16).

In the valley, kneeling in the shadow of His Cross, I heard Him say: “The Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them” (Luke 9:56), and God “will have all men to be savd, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). I thought, I must not be impatient that the LORD is patient with the foolish who reject Him, as did the Samaritans, and exhorts us to pray for our rulers, and all men, that they might be saved. I thought of His suffering under the burden and reproach of my sin, and the space to repent He extended to me, and humbled myself under His mighty hand. And I thought of the perfect justice of GOD: those who harden themselves against God’s grace treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath (Romans 2:5), and we who patiently wait for justice stand ready to “revenge all disobedience, when our obedience is fulfilled” (2 Corinthians 10:6).

Then came the familiar call: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). At the Cross, I see the perfection of Divine judgment and the justice that follows: justificaiton for all who repent and believe, justice upon all who refuse.

At the table, He anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup with His grace. Goodness and mercy ran to either side of me, and hurried me to Jesus’ side, and we walked into the harvest.

Praying for revival! 🙏

Going live as soon as possible!

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[*281 times total in 261 verses. Forty-six times in 35 verses in the Poetic Books, and 24 times in 15 verses in Psalms alone. It’s used six times in the Psalm of the downcast (Psalm 42). Psalm 10:1 is the second Psalm where the Spirit through David asks why? We started learning to ask “why” when we were 2-3 years old. That’s when we begin learning the value of why!