Psalms for Life: Lamenting Injustice Psalm 10

After reading Psalm 10, I got to thinking about that old saying, when life gives you lemons make lemonade, and I know that many people are well-meaning when they say that, but isn't that somewhat trite?

- Do you know what I mean?

- It's commonplace, old, and worn-out.

- Aside from that, it's not very empathetic.

- When we are down in the dumps because life has given us lemons of suffering, evil and injustice, we don't need worn-out advice.

- What we need is some sympathy, some empathy, some reassurance that God cares and that he is a God of justice.

- In the opening verse of Psalm 10, the psalmist is asking the classic question that everyone asks when bad stuff happens: Why God? Why me?

- ¹ O Lord, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I am in trouble?

- Is God ever far away? Does God ever hide when we are in trouble?

- The short answer is, no.  God is never far away, never hiding when we are in trouble.

- But if we are being honest, then when trouble comes our way, we feel like God is far away and we feel like God is hiding.

- Life giving you lemons? Lament!

- The psalmist shows us the need for us to be honest with God about how we feel about the injustices of life.

- A healthy prayer life begins with honesty.

- The psalmist was not afraid to tell God the truth about his feelings.

- The psalmist also wasn't afraid to let it all hang out, pointing out all the injustices he sees, describing for God the wicked like God can't see them.

- ² The wicked arrogantly hunt down the poor.
    Let them be caught in the evil they plan for others.
³ For they brag about their evil desires;
    they praise the greedy and curse the Lord.

⁴ The wicked are too proud to seek God.
    They seem to think that God is dead.
⁵ Yet they succeed in everything they do.
    They do not see your punishment awaiting them.
    They sneer at all their enemies.
⁶ They think, “Nothing bad will ever happen to us!
    We will be free of trouble forever!”

⁷ Their mouths are full of cursing, lies, and threats.
    Trouble and evil are on the tips of their tongues.
⁸ They lurk in ambush in the villages,
    waiting to murder innocent people.
    They are always searching for helpless victims.
⁹ Like lions crouched in hiding,
    they wait to pounce on the helpless.
Like hunters they capture the helpless
    and drag them away in nets.
¹⁰ Their helpless victims are crushed;
    they fall beneath the strength of the wicked.
¹¹ The wicked think, “God isn’t watching us!
    He has closed his eyes and won’t even see what we do!”

- In the next part of the Psalm, the psalmist calls on God to rise up, arguing for God not to ignore the helpless, but to call the wicked to account because God truly sees the actions of the wicked and since he sees and is just he will act.

¹² Arise, O Lord!
    Punish the wicked, O God!
    Do not ignore the helpless!
¹³ Why do the wicked get away with despising God?
    They think, “God will never call us to account.”
¹⁴ But you see the trouble and grief they cause.
    You take note of it and punish them.
The helpless put their trust in you.
    You defend the orphans.

¹⁵ Break the arms of these wicked, evil people!
    Go after them until the last one is destroyed.
¹⁶ The Lord is king forever and ever!
    The godless nations will vanish from the land.
¹⁷ Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless.
    Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them.
¹⁸ You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed,
    so mere people can no longer terrify them.

- The psalmist is so angry about evil and injustice in the world that he calls on God to break their arms and destroy them all.

- Life giving you lemons? Lament!

- From a human point of view, the question of the problem of why God doesn't get rid of evil, once and for all, has been a huge source of doubt and anguish for many people.

- Many people are driven to outright atheism because of their anger with God over his apparent unwillingness to deal with the problem of evil.

- The psalmist does not hesitate to remind God of the evils and injustices in this world, but the psalmist also remembers that God is a just God and he will not allow evil to go unpunished forever.

- Friends, I think the church has some serious repenting to do over the trite answers we give regarding the problem of evil.

- Suffering is real. When people suffer, they need their suffering to be affirmed and acknowledged.

- Let's flash forward to Jesus and the prayer he taught his disciples.

- As much as the words of the Lord's prayer, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, are a prayer for the reality of God's reign to be present, they are also a lament offered up to God because we know that the reality of his reign and his justice is so desperately needed on earth today.

- Many people, even in the church, have not understood that God has dealt a crushing blow to evil.

- Evil is such an outrageous affront to God that he sent & allowed his only Son to be whipped with a Roman cat of nine tales within an inch of his life & then suffer upon a cross, the most painful, excruciating, & torturous means of death ever devised by humankind.

- Paul tells his readers: Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets. (Colossians 2:13-15, MSG)

- Does God care about suffering and evil in the world? Oh yes, he cares more than we can imagine.

- Jesus was like the psalmist, he was honest with God.

- Jesus lamented life's lemons. Isaiah foreshadowed that the suffering servant would be "a man of sorrows and acquainted with bitterest grief."

- Jesus lamented Jerusalem's unwillingness to repent. He wept over the death of Lazarus. He lamented in Gethsemane the night he was betrayed. He cried out from the cross, "My God! My God! Why have you abandoned me?"

- And the Father heard Jesus prayers, giving him resurrection power and eternal life.

- When we are at the place where we feel overwhelmed by the evils and injustices of life, then we must not be afraid to be honest with God.

- When we feel like things stink, then we need to tell God.

- When we are angry about evil, then we need to tell God.

- God hears us. He will not allow evil to go unpunished forever.

- Life giving you lemons? Lament! The King hears; his justice will reign.