Has God forgotten South Africa?

1 Lord, why do you stand so far away?
Why do you hide in times of trouble?
2 In arrogance the wicked relentlessly pursue their victims;
let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.

3 For the wicked one boasts about his own cravings;
the one who is greedy curses and despises the Lord.
4 In all his scheming,
the wicked person arrogantly thinks,
‘There’s no accountability,
since there’s no God.’
5 His ways are always secure;
your lofty judgements have no effect on him;
he scoffs at all his adversaries.
6 He says to himself, ‘I will never be moved –
from generation to generation I will be without calamity.’
7 Cursing, deceit, and violence fill his mouth;
trouble and malice are under his tongue.
8 He waits in ambush near settlements;
he kills the innocent in secret places.
His eyes are on the lookout for the helpless;
9 he lurks in secret like a lion in a thicket.
He lurks in order to seize a victim;
he seizes a victim and drags him in his net.
10 So he is oppressed and beaten down;
helpless people fall because of the wicked one’s strength.
11 He says to himself, ‘God has forgotten;
he hides his face and will never see.’

12 Rise up, Lord God! Lift up your hand.
Do not forget the oppressed.
13 Why has the wicked person despised God?
He says to himself, ‘You will not demand an account.’
14 But you yourself have seen trouble and grief,
observing it in order to take the matter into your hands.
The helpless one entrusts himself to you;
you are a helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked, evil person,
until you look for his wickedness,
but it can’t be found.

16 The Lord is King for ever and ever;
the nations will perish from his land.
17 Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble;
you will strengthen their hearts.
You will listen carefully,
18 doing justice for the fatherless and the oppressed
so that mere humans from the earth may terrify them no more.

Psalm 10

Does God Care?

1 Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

Then

Ps 10 is almost certainly a Psalm of David, closely related to Ps 9, a Psalm of David.

To understand the lawlessness and violence of Ps 10 we need to understand something of where it is in the Biblical narrative. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth in untested perfection. And in this setting, of everything being good, God set mankind to rule over His creation.

But it wasn’t long until the fall of man into sin. Through the sin of one man, sin came to all man. And sin bears consequences. After the fall man had a severed relationship with God. A severed relationship with creation. A severed relationship with one another. Sin quickly infected man. And it awfully affected man. The next story in the Bible sprials down to murder. Cain kills Able. And from there it goes from bad, to worse, to worst.

Joel James, Commenting on Ps 10, notes that David was born into this lawless and violent world during the time of the Judges. There was no police force back then. And there was no standing army back then. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. There was no deterrent to the violence in wicked men’s hearts. Neighboring nations faced little organised opposition when they launched raids stealing crops, flocks and woman. Israelite cities joined in, robbing trade caravans which passed them by. Outlaw gangs roamed the land. One of the judges, Jephthah, was a gang leader. David led a gang of 600 mighty men around Saul’s death. There were violent alterations between Israel’s tribes which escalated into civil wars. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. It was a lawless and violent world. And in this world of lawlessness and violence David cries out Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

Today

Sound familiar? We live in times of trouble. Evil men do evil things in our generation. I’ve wept more than once this week as I’ve listened to the trial of Ntuthuko Shoba, the lover of Tshegofatso Pule, who was 8 months pregnant when he ordered convicted killer Muzikayise Malephane to shoot and hang her.

We’re a nation of victims. I say a nation of victims because it’s unlikely that anyone here tonight hasn’t been touched by crime, even violent crime, in South Africa. We’re a nation of the robbed. A nation of the hijacked. A nation of the raped. If it hasn’t happened to you it’s happened to someone close to you.

Where is God in all this? Why doesn’t He intervene? Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? Does God care?

Does God See?

I remember an eighties TV show called Police File. Sunday evenings, before the feature film, the police shared a profile of the most wanted criminals in South Africa. Have you seen this criminal? If so, report him to a police station. David asks the Lord if He has seen the lawless, violent, wicked men of his day:

1. Arrogant schemers: Wicked, not by accident, but wicked by design.

2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.

2. Boastful cursers: These wicked men chase after the evil desires of their heart, even while they reject and blaspheme the Lord. Instead of turning from sin to the Lord, these men turn from the Lord to sin.

3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord.

3. Pride-filled atheists: Like their father the devil they are motivated by pride. But unlike the devil, who knows better, these fools doubt the existence of God.

4 In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”

4. Blinded denialists: There are none so blind as those who will not see. These men look at the way they are presently prospering and assume they will always prosper. Enemies come against them, but they snort. The judgment of God awaits them, but they assume they’ll be spared.

5 His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of his sight as for all his foes, he puffs at them. 6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved; throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.”

5. Tongue-twistered criminals: These men are foul-tongued, fork-tongued, poisoned-tongued. When you first come to faith all you talk about is Jesus. All these men talk about is crimes committed and crimes to come (Ps 1).

7 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.

6. Murdering predators: This so perfectly describes hijackers and robbers. *

8 He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket; he lurks that he may seize the poor; he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net. The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might.

7. Bewildered fools: Biblically, the heart is the seat of our emotions and desires. Their hearts are wrong. Instead of truth they’ve believed a lie.

11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”

Where is God in all this? Why doesn’t He intervene? Does God care? And if he cares, has He has seen the lawless, violent, wicked men of this day?

Will God Respond?

12 Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted. 13 Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”? 14 But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless. 15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none. The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land. O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

David, has just asked, Does God see? Now he answers the question, But you do see (14). God sees. The wicked may act as if their sin is a private matter, they may deny the existence of God, but they’re fooled, or fools, because God sees everything. He is intimately acquainted with all they do. No one can hide sin from God. What’s more, He keeps an account and will certainly deal with men according to His righteous justice. He sees. He sees the robber. He sees the hijacker. He sees the rapist. And as an aside, He sees you.

David, has asked, Does God care? Now he answers the question, O Lord, you hear (17). Have you cried out to God? Asked where He is in all this? Asked why He doesn’t intervene? Asked if He cares? Friend, He hears your prayer. I’m reminded of the beginning of the book of Exodus, During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew. Note the activity of God.

David cried out to God because David knew God hears the cries of His saints. David pointed out the sin of the wicked men around him because David knew God sees, and hates wickedness. David does all this because David trusts vengeance to the Lord.

I say vengeance because David is very explicit in what he wants God to do, Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none. David is calling down calamity, destruction, God’s anger, God’s judgment on these wicked men. And this isn’t the only Psalm that he does it in. In fact, there’s so many Psalms like this that we give them a name, imprecatory psalms. David had a deep yearning for justice, especially for those that are the most vulnerable and those that had been mightily oppressed.

And so David entrusts vengeance to the Lord. He says, do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more. God, wipe the unrighteous away that we might see your Hand move, and marvel at your justice. The fury of your wrath. I’ll entrust vengeance to you.

Does God care? Yes. Does God see? Yes. Will God act. Yes.

So what?

Does God hear? New Convert: God can handle your cries of pain. He welcomes you to cry out to Him in the midst of your times of trouble. We live in a wretched, sin-corrupted, horrible world. When the consequences of Adam’s sin visit you in whatever form, cry out to the Lord. He will hear you.

Does God see? Backslider: God sees everything. The sin you are nurturing so carefully, hiding from people around you is committed in plain sight before God. Repent from your iniquity and return to the safe harbour of God’s will before you invite His discipline in your life.

Will God act? Believer: In this fallen world wicked men exploit the poor so entrust vengeance to the LORD. This is an Old Testament and New Testament concept. Deuteronomy 32:35, Romans 12:19, Hebrews 10:30, Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’ Those who rejected God incur His wrath with their wickedness. He will avenge Himself upon them in His own timing and according to His own perfect and pure motives. We can trust God to judge rightly and pour out His divine retribution against His enemies as He sees fit.

Unbeliever

16 The Lord is king forever and ever Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords.

God sees your sin: As vulnerable as that might make you feel. God hears your cry: Even before you acknowledged, “What must we do to be saved.” God has acted: Salvation has been provisioned in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.