AP

Psalm 10:14   But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand.  The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.

In this song, the Psalmist is concerned about the plight of the godly man who is not only being harshly mistreated by the arrogant oppressor, but is required to look on helplessly while this despot appears to succeed in all his God-denying and God-defying endeavours.

As we seek to live for Christ this Easter in a society that is becoming more humanistic in its thinking, and more tolerant and accepting of every philosophy of life EXCEPT Biblical Christianity, we can identify with the Psalmist’s concerns.  Everything we believe and hold dear is no longer even on the radar for modern man.  The Psalmist’s reminder in this verse is therefore both COMFORTING and REFRESHING.

Although the unregenerate man thinks he is safe in his self-centred pursuits that have ‘no room for God’ (4; cf 6, 11, 13), God DOES see, he HAS promised to help the helpless, and there WILL BE a day of reckoning when all will be called to account.  I recently saw an ad for a T-shirt being worn by a tough looking man with tatts all over his arms.  Its message was: “I WOULD RATHER STAND WITH GOD AND BE JUDGED BY THE WORLD THAN STAND WITH THE WORLD AND BE JUDGED BY GOD.”

Is this our testimony in these Post-Christian times?  Let us take heart in the faithful promises of God’s inspired Word: “You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry” (17).