¶ There are no words to convey the desolate futility of this grey and Godless day, seemingly stilled of all life, vacant of victory, and void of hope, short of breath, and heavy with failure, all the while bearing the weight of impending trouble as though the sky was made of heavy bedlam and lowering all about me. Where are You, Lord? I cannot see but faintly thru all the shades of grey the ambuscades of the enemy and the fleeting forms of bushwhackers. Where are You, Lord? Your silence is maddening! Do You not know my plight? Do You not see the strait I’m in?
Thus we enter into Psalm X where we find David in the first verse, obviously in dire straits, calling out to the Lord for himself and his people:
1 Why do You stand afar off, O LORD? Why do You hide Yourself from me in times of trouble?
¶ Not always but sometimes the Lord does not move until we, in righteous indignation, move out against all odds into what we know is right, as David did against Goliath, as Esther did against Haman, as Stephen did against the Pharisees, and as Jesus did on our behalf, and yes, like Stephen and like the Lord, it may cost us our life, but, like Stephan, we will see the Lord “Standing” at the Right Hand of the Father and, Like the Lord we will rise again. Verse 2 certainly gives us a clear picture of David’s concern, not only for himself but for all of those beaten down by the despots, tyrants, scoundrels, rogues, wretches, and reprobates of this world. David was passionately concerned for the godliness of his nation.
2 Lord, the wicked in their haughtiness and swelling pride have always persecuted the afflicted, the humble, and the poor: Lord, I lift this up to You, let them be taken in their own devices, let them be caught in the snares of hell which they have laid for others.
3 For the wicked man openly boasts of his heart’s violent, and filthy desires, while lifting his glass and toasting to the agenda of the greedy – whom you do abhor.
4 The wicked, in his own grand expanse of arrogance does not seek You, O LORD. You never enter into his thoughts, and if You do it is only for him to say ‘There is no God’.
5 He only journeys out to deceive, wound, pilfer, and kill; Your Divine Order, Your judgments, and justice are too high for him to notice, he can’t see them for he won’t “look up”, they out of his sight; As for being threatened, he sneers and growls at his enemies. (he is a brute beast)
6 He has said in his heart (In fatal delusion), ‘I shall not be moved, I will never be in adversity.’
7 His mouth is full of curses, swearing, deceit, and fraud; under his tongue lies mischief, trouble, and iniquity.
8 He lurks in the ambushments of the cities, towns, and villages: Out of covert haunts does he murder the innocent: his eyes are secretly fixed on the unfortunate and the helpless.
9 He lies in wait as a lion in his den to catch the humble, the honest, the lowly, and the poor, drawing them into his reach.
10 He hides and disguises himself with humility so that the unfortunate may be snagged by his strong ones, his thugs.
11 He has said in his heart, ‘God ain’t here; God hides His Face; He will never see what’s going on here.
¶ I must add, Whether these ambushments be the base bars of pole dancers and thugs, the high castles of lords, hirelings in high places, or the kingdoms of career politicians, they are crawling with vipers who say, “There ain’t no God.” My God, my God, “… They are but fools!” (Psalm 14:1)
¶ What is it Lord, but Your longsuffering, patience, and great mercy that makes the wicked so insolent, that makes them mock and despise You? The wicked fool concludes that he will never see Your justice done nor Your wrath descend simply because You are so patient with him. (Bp. Patrick) My Lord, my Lord, he will certainly have an eternity to contemplate that.
¶ And so, as David writes in verse 12, we petition our God in the Name of His Mighty Right Hand to deliver and vindicate not only the people of God, but all those under the heavy hand of the oppressor that they might come to know You as their Kinsman Redeemer. O Lord put Your axe into the roots of their wicked timbre:
12 Arise, O LORD, Almighty God, lift up Your Hand and scatter these strange children(Ps.144): O LORD, do not forget the fatherless, the afflicted, the downtrodden, the humble, the poor, and the orphan, the sincere, and the Godly.
13 How is it that the wicked can blaspheme, renounce, and even despise You, their Maker, Almighty God? They have certainly convinced their foolish hearts that there will be no accounting required.
¶ It is a great misconception to think that these ‘wicked things’ are but gutter scum. David is speaking of lords, wealthy landowners, politicians, oligarchs, rulers, princes, and kings.
¶ Sooner or later, men are seen by everyone for what they are. The Lord certainly knew, as well as David, what these men were that David was describing, David simply wanted the Lord to know that he knew what they were. David was in court, the Courts of the Lord, pleading a case. David was in the Throne Room of the Father! It’s called PRAYER. Prayer is powerful. Prayer sets in motion the mighty hand of God on our behalf. Jesus Himself, the Son of David said, “…My house is a House of Prayer, don’t make it a Den of Thieves.” (Matthew 21:13) the Psalms are PRAYERS. The Lord Himself confirmed this when He christened David as “A man after God’s own heart”? (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22) In verse 2 and verse 12, David, by PRAYER puts the axe of the Lord to the roots of the wicked. “Let…the wicked be taken down by their own devices and caught in their own snares…Arise, Lord, lift up Your Hand…forget not the honest, the sincere, the gentle, the needy, and the Godly” (v 2, 12 wcv) David knows his God, David knows God’s will and the Power in God’s Word, he also knows that the Covenant Promises are his. God’s PROMISES manifested for David in the natural. David knew how to get results thru the Gifts of Faith, Prayer, and Petition, Thanksgiving, Praise, and Worship. David intimately knew his Lord. The same will work for us if we intimately know our Lord, tis a proven fact. What we reap depends on what we sow. To get results we must sow the Word of God.
¶ In verse 14 David goes on to decree the fact that God sees it all and just what it is that He will require of the wicked down to the last drop of blood.
14 Lord, You see it all, all of the trouble, grief, mischief, and mayhem dealt out by the hands of the wicked, and You will, by Your own Hand, demand justice right down to the last drop of innocent blood. We put our faith in You, for You are the Deliverer and Redeemer of the afflicted and the fatherless.
15 Break the arms (the power) of the wicked and evil man (relieve him of his power). Search him out, O Lord, until he is no more.
16 Because you are LORD and King forever, under Your Hand the wicked nations shall perish from the face of the earth forever.
17 Thank You, thank You, thank You, Lord for hearing the desires of the humble, the lowly, the meek, and the poor, for You will make perfect and establish our hearts forever. You hear us, O Lord, You hear our heart’s desires.
18 It is You Who brings justice to the fatherless and the oppressed. Because of You the day will come when we will see the wicked man no more.
¶ When God created man, He created a magnificent, yet very risky piece of work. Highly risky in that He created us in His very own powerful Image and Likeness giving us eternal life, a heart, a mind, and an imagination to create for His honor, His glory, and our great pleasure; to love Him, to walk with Him and be an intricate part of His Divine Plan, giving us the planet earth and dominion over it. However, like Lucifer, the potential for rebellion came from an element within the heart, for with life he also gave us a free-will to choose. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life are the deadliest of enemies to all mankind, and they all come from within the man himself; PRIDE being the Strong Bombastic Leader of the three. You see, there is no other creature on earth that can so thoroughly deceive himself.
¶ So, just where do all of these wars come from? Out of the heart of man! Out of the wicked desires that well up in hearts overtaken by the LUST of the EYES and PRIDE. Wars begin in the hearts of men. Their hearts lust after territory and their hearts burn for fame, both of which remain just out of their reach. Because of this their hearts rage, darkening their minds with infernal imaginations that take their souls into the realm of madness which in turn produces illusions of grandeur in which they begin to see themselves as gods, then, when all of their sly and evil machinations are set in place, the wheels of hell begin to turn leaving in their wake the unimaginable death and destruction of the earth and the innocent. (James 4:1,2)
¶ And so we have our grey and Godless days, seemingly stilled of all life, vacant of victory, and void of hope, short of breath, and heavy with failure, all the while bearing the weight of impending trouble as though the sky was made of mayhem and lowering down upon us. Where are You, Lord? I cannot see but faintly thru all the shades of grey the ambuscades of the enemy and the fleeting forms of bushwhackers. Where are You, Lord? Your silence is maddening! Do You not know my plight? Do You not see the strait I’m in?
And so I do pray this very day,
2 Lord, the wicked who in his haughtiness and swelling pride persecute the afflicted, the humble, the poor, and the innocent: let them be taken in their own devices, let them be caught in the snares of hell which they have laid for others.
12 Arise, O LORD, Almighty God, lift up Your Hand and scatter these strange children(Ps.144)
ALL IN TIME ©Annah Callery & Will Callery
In summary, I would like to consider a handful of those who, down thru history, thought they could rise above God, from Lucifer to Eve and Adam, from Adam and Eve to Cain, from Cain to Tubal-Cain, from Lamech to Nimrod, to Esau… and of late, Napoleon, Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, and Idi Amin, to name a few; and just to bring a few chickens home to roost, how about the madman, Putin? Take a close look; they all brought about their own demise. Why? Because they found themselves in a fight with God.
O LORD, in the Name of Jesus, let the wicked be caught in the hellish snares that they have laid for others. Arise, O LORD, Almighty God, lift up Your Hand and scatter these strange children(Ps. 10:2,12, Ps.144)
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