One of my Bible reading problems is who is wicked? The “wicked” show up in many psalms, Psalm 10, for example. “In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor” (verse 2). You think of drug dealers, sex traffickers, gang members, heartless people who do violence to others. They are out there alright, but does talk of the wicked apply to us who live relatively safe and secure lives?
Psalm 10 redefines my definition of wicked people. They scheme (2), are driven by desires (3), are greedy for gain (3), proud (4), bluster, successful (5), and could care less about God. “There is no God” (4). I see people like that all the time. These are people in all our lives who live without fear of God. “There is no God” (4). God has forgotten” (11). “You will not call to account” (13). Wicked in these ways are all around us. Now the psalm becomes relevant, it begins to feed my devotional musing. So many think, “‘God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.” Seems to go that way in life, right? People in media and daily life, people who will never go to jail, scheme, are greedy, succeed, and so much more without God.
“But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands” (13-14). How does God do this? Christians meditate upon the psalms in light of Jesus Christ. “Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none” (15). That was the cross. All wickedness, our sins as well, were called to account and punished. That said, what about now? “Why, O Lord, do you stand afar off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (1). Is the cross only history? Where is hope? Our devotion and yearning look forward to the Last Day, Judgment Day upon every wickedness and sin, the day when God decisively and eternally ends evil. “Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted” (12). God is now breaking into a wicked world through the Gospel the Church proclaims. No small part of our preaching is the Day when “man who is of the earth may strike terror no more” (17).
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