Read
A Prayer for Help
1Why are you far away, Lord?
Why do you hide yourself
when I am in trouble?
2Proud and brutal people
hunt down the poor.
But let them get caught
by their own evil plans!
3The wicked brag about
their deepest desires.
Those greedy people hate
and curse you, Lord.
4The wicked are too proud
to turn to you
or even think about you.
5They are always successful,
though they can't understand
your teachings,
and they keep sneering
at their enemies.
6In their hearts they say,
“Nothing can hurt us!
We'll always be happy
and free from trouble.”
7 They curse and tell lies,
and all they talk about
is how to be cruel
or how to do wrong.
8They hide outside villages,
waiting to strike and murder
some innocent victim.
9They are hungry lions
hiding in the bushes,
hoping to catch
some helpless passerby.
They trap the poor in nets
and drag them away.
10They crouch down and wait
to grab a victim.
11They say, “God can't see!
He's got on a blindfold.”
12Do something, Lord God,
and use your powerful arm
to help those in need.
13The wicked don't respect you.
In their hearts they say,
“God won't punish us!”
14But you see the trouble
and the distress,
and you will do something.
The poor can count on you,
and so can orphans.
15Now break the power
of all merciless people.
Punish them for doing wrong
and make them stop.
16Our Lord, you will always rule,
but every godless nation
will vanish from the earth.
17You listen to the longings
of those who suffer.
You offer them hope,
and you pay attention
to their cries for help.
18You defend orphans
and everyone else in need,
so that no one on earth
can terrify others again.
Reflect
In case you missed last Sunday, Psalm 10 is the second half of an alphabetic psalm, in which each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It would be a good idea to go back and read Psalm 9 to get the whole picture. I’ll repeat what I said last week about the structure, because it helps to make sense of these psalms and gives us some good help in how to apply it to our own situation.
Taken together, these two psalms include:
- Praise
- Assertion of what the psalmist knows to be true
- Complaint 1: honest declaration of what’s going on
- Complaint 2: the wicked flourish
- Recognition that God rules
- The cry, “Do something, Lord!”
Psalm 10 begins where we would be more likely to begin: “Why?” and there is no answer to this question. That in itself probably connects with us today. We ask “Why?” and there is no answer.
It is the cry of the human being in distress, addressing God who seems absent. David calls out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1), a cry echoed by Jesus on the cross, when God had in fact turned his face away. Because of what Jesus did for us, God will never actually turn his face away from us. But it may seem like it.
The ultimate cry, which is translated “Arise!” in other translations is very effectively translated here as “Do something, Lord!” It frames the complaint, and comes in 9:19 and 10:12.
I love the verses that describe how God had compassion on the Israelites when they were slaves in Egypt: “After the death of the king of Egypt, the Israelites still complained because they were forced to be slaves. They cried out for help, and God heard their loud cries. He did not forget the promise he had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and because he knew what was happening to his people, he felt sorry for them” (Exodus 2:23-25). And God led them out of Egypt.
Respond
When we need to cry, “Do something, Lord!” help us to remember that you see what is happening, that you care, that you do not forget your promises to us, that you are King, and one day you will put everything right. Amen.
Annabel Robinson
Annabel was born in Kew, near London, England. She committed her life to Jesus Christ at a Scripture Union camp when she was 16, and immediately found joy and peace. At Oxford she was active in the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, where she met her husband, Reid. They emigrated to Canada in 1965, where she taught Classics at the University of Regina until 2007. She has two children, Heather in Oslo and Alasdair in Calgary.