Psalm 10 - Arise

Psalm 10

ARISE!

Arise O Lord!

This Psalm is a call to God

to

ARISE

and

DO SOMETHING!

Verse 1

Why do You stand afar off, O Lord?

Why do You hide in times of trouble?

NKJV

We've all had times of trouble where it feels like God is far away and oblivious to our problems. 

During those times, we need to intentionally override our feelings and stand strong on God's words:

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,

To all who call upon Him in truth.

Psalm 145:18 NKJV

Verses 2-4

² The wicked in his pride ^[a] persecutes the poor;
Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.

³ For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire;
^[b] He blesses the greedy and renounces the Lord.

⁴ The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God;
^[c] God is in none of his thoughts.

NKJV Footnotes at the bottom of the page.

The psalmist is analyzing the situations

he sees every day

and

trying to make sense of it all.

The wicked appear to be in control

with no fear of God's intervention.

I've seen these kinds of people, and I believe you have too.

Verse 5

⁵ His ways ^[d] are always prospering;

Your judgments are far above, out of his sight;

As for all his enemies, he sneers at them.

We've all seen the wicked prosper.

We've all wondered:

Why?

Why, God, do you allow the wicked to prosper?

Consider visiting our Psalm 73 page

for answers and insights into that question.

Verse 6

⁶ He has said in his heart, “I shall not be moved;

I shall never be in adversity.”

Here the psalmist is describing the pride of the wicked.

They think that no one can

move them,

touch them, or stop them.

They think they are invincible.

They feel powerful and utterly unstoppable.

~ ~ ~

The psalmist is commenting

on wicked people who

believe

that they are

smarter and stronger

than anyone who would be against them.

-

This is terribly frustrating for the psalmist,

because he

KNOWS

that God could stop them in a moment.

The psalmist continues describing these wicked people

in the next verse. . .

Verse 7

⁷ His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression;

Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity.

Verse 7 describes the results of a wicked heart.

The things that are inside their wicked hearts
are overflowing
into their speech.

Luke 6:45 highlights this concept:

 "A good man produces

good deeds

from a good heart.

And an evil man produces

evil deeds

from his hidden wickedness.

Whatever is in the heart overflows into speech."

                                              Luke 6:45 TLB

Verses 8-10

⁸ He sits in the lurking places of the villages;
In the secret places
he murders the innocent;
His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless.

⁹ He lies in wait secretly, as a lion in his den;
He lies in wait to catch the poor;
He catches the poor when he draws him into his net.

¹⁰ So he crouches, he lies low,
That the helpless may fall by his strength.

Here the wicked are described as enjoying the plotting and planning of their wicked deeds. 

In this psalm, we read of their premeditated acts. We read about their joy of the anticipation of hurting the helpless and the weak.

In our current world,

we've all seen this played out in one way or another.

And...

we have all experienced

our hearts grieving

over horrible wickedness

aimed at

the weak and the helpless.

-

Sometimes it is VERY hard to view these atrocities.

But we need to be aware of these things

so we can pray and do what we can

for those who need our help.

Verse 11

¹¹ He has said in his heart,

“God has forgotten;

He [God] hides His face;

He will never see.”

These wicked people

foolishly

disregard

God Almighty.

In the next verse,

we

- followers of God -

call out

to God to

ARISE

and

DO something!

Verse 12

¹² Arise, O Lord!

O God, lift up Your hand!

Do not forget the humble.

When we see great injustice,

we cry out-

"DO Something GOD!

ARISE!

Lord, you are on the throne of heaven.

Arise

- Stand up - 

and

DO Something!"

-

This idea of God arising off his throne

and doing something

is not

just a human thought.

It is a picture

clearly given to us from God

in the above verse

and other verses in the Bible.

God tells us to pray to him and say,

ARISE!

Song:

Let God Arise

by Paul Wilbur

Let God arise,

and

let his enemies be scattered.

Psalm 68:1

Psalm 10 ARISE God!

Verse 13

¹³ Why do the wicked renounce God?

He has said in his heart,

“You will not require an account.”

Verse 13 begins with a question and ends with the answer to that question...

Question:

Why does the wicked renounce God?

Answer:

Because they believe that God will never
make them
pay
for what they do.

-

The next verse builds on this verse.

Verse 14

¹⁴ But You have seen, for You observe trouble and grief,

To repay it by Your hand.

The helpless commits ^[g]  himself to You;

You are the helper of the fatherless.

In verse 14, the psalmist proclaims the truth

for all the world to read:

 God sees ALL that the wicked do

AND HE WILL

make them pay.

-

The wicked should read the

Words of God

and

tremble.

One day they will desperately wish they had.

Everyone in hell

wishes

they had one more opportunity to

REPENT.

The psalmist reminds us

that

unless these wicked people

  truly repent

of their sins

and

sincerely

seek to follow the Lord,

they will pay heavily for their sins.

Song:

Arise O Lord

by Paul Wilbur

God IS the helper of the

fatherless, the weak, the helpless,

He is the father to all of us.

The key idea here

is that

God WILL help us.

So

we need to WAIT on God.

After you

finish this page,

consider our pages:

Waiting on the Lord

Psalm 61 - Save me from this

Psalm 42 - Encouragement when dealing with wicked people

Psalm 3 The path from powerless to Powerful

Verses 15

¹⁵ Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man;

Seek out his wickedness until You find none.

 Lord,

Clean house!

Verses 16-18

¹⁶ The Lord is King forever and ever;
The nations have perished out of His land.

¹⁷ Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble;
You will prepare their heart;
You will cause Your ear to hear,

¹⁸ To do justice
to the fatherless and the oppressed,
That the man of the earth may oppress no more.

Justice will come!

God says,

"I will arise and defend

the oppressed, the poor, the needy.

I will rescue them as they have longed for me to do."

Psalm 12:5 TLB

For the Lord loves justice;

And does not forsake His saints.

Psalm 37:28 NKJV

Arise [God] for our help,

and redeem us for thy mercies' sake.

Psalm 44:26 KJV

Arise O Lord; save me, O my God.

Psalm 3:7a KJV

Personal

Prayer for Justice

Almighty God,

Thank you that your Word encourages me by telling me that you love justice.

Lord, look down on my situation and have mercy on me because of what others have done to me.

Release your Power and Authority on my behalf.

Turn topsy turvy the plans of the wicked against me.

Lord, come and show your justice in my life.

Amen

Copyright © 2014 Beth McLendon of Inspirational-Prayers.com

But he [God] turns topsy turvy

the plans of the wicked.

Psalm 146:9b TLB

Note; There are lots of psalms that include the word "arise." 

Consider our two pages on justice:

Prayer for Justice in my life 

Justice Prayers for a Friend

Wicked people are not our true problem.

Ephesians 6:12-13 NKJV says:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,

but against

principalities, against powers, against the

rulers of the darkness of this age,

against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may

be able to withstand in the evil day,

and having done all,

to stand.

-

God wants us to put on our armor and allow him to work through us for his glory.

Click here for Full Armor Pages
                And click here for ALL our Psalm pages

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+10&version=NKJV

Footnotes

1. Psalm 10:2 hotly pursues
2. Psalm 10:3 Or The greedy man curses and spurns the Lord
3. Psalm 10:4 Or All his thoughts are, “There is no God”
4. Psalm 10:5 Lit. are strong
5. Psalm 10:10 Or he is crushed, is bowed
6. Psalm 10:10 Or mighty ones
7. Psalm 10:14 Lit. leaves, entrusts
8. Psalm 10:18 vindicate
9. Psalm 10:18 terrify

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Psalm 10 Arise was presented in May 2019.