Latest / Faith by annm2705 / 924. Bible Study: Psalm 10 (When God seems distant in times of Trouble)

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924. Bible Study: Psalm 10 (When God seems distant in times of Trouble) · Faith by annm2705

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  Psalm 10 from the book of Psalms.
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  Supposedly this was written as two or it's in the Bible.
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  It's two different Psalms, but supposedly it was all one at one
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  time. So I don't know why it was
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  broken up but we will read this and 1st let's pray.
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  Dear Lord, please be with us and open our minds, our ears, our
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  hearts to what you have to say through the scripture.
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  We ask this in Jesus name, Amen. So Psalm 10 starts out, I'm
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  going to go through what I did before about every time that God
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  or Lord is mentioned in here, I'm going to, I went back
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  already to the original Hebrew to see what it actually said and
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  this is very interesting. So first I'm just going to read
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  through it and then I will go back and look at each sentence
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  and go through that and do the Bible studies or the study
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  Bibles question and answer. So let's start with reading it
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  first. Why Lord, do you stand afar?
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  Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
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  In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak who are
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  caught in schemes. In the schemes he devises, he
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  boasts about the cravings of his heart.
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  He blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord in his pride.
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  The wicked man does not seek him.
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  In all his thoughts there is no room for God.
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  His ways are always prosperous. Your laws are rejected by him.
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  He sneers at all his enemies. He says, Nothing will ever shake
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  me. He swears no one will ever do me
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  harm. His mouth is full of lies and
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  threats. Trouble and evil are under his
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  tongue. He lies in wait near the
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  villages from ambush. He murders the innocent.
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  His eyes watch in secret for his victims like a lion in cover.
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  He wait, He lies in wait. He lies in wait to catch the
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  helpless. He catches the helpless and
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  drags them off in his net. His victims are crushed, they
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  collapse, they fall under his strength.
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  He says to himself, God will never notice.
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  He covers his face and never sees arise.
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  Lord, lift up your hand. Oh God, do not forget the
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  helpless. Why does the wicked man revile
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  God? Why does he say to himself, He
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  won't call me to account? But you, God, see the trouble of
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  the afflicted. You consider their grief and
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  take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to
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  you. You are the helper of the
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  fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked man.
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  Call the evil doer to account for his wickedness that would
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  not otherwise be found out. The Lord is king forever and
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  ever. The nations will perish from his
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  land. You, Lord, hear the desire of
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  the afflicted. You encourage them, and you
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  listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the
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  oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike
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  terror. And that ends Psalm 10.
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  So I will read the questions and answers regarding this.
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  Well, I mean, very simply this, this Psalm, I'm just going to go
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  through like the different things that stood out to me in
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  this and not to me, but summarize each statement.
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  So David saying, where is God? The wicked are advancing, they
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  have pride, they're not seeking God, they reject God's laws,
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  they are confident, they lie, they create trouble, they murder
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  the innocent, they're secretly waiting to capture people.
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  Their victims are crushed and they think it's all hidden from
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  God. But then he, David calls on God
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  and he says, and he says, why do they do this?
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  God sees God helps David request break the arm of the wicked man
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  and then David acknowledges the Lord is king forever and ever.
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  And then he also says to the Lord, you encourage them, the
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  afflicted, and you listen to their cry.
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  So he's again putting his trust in God.
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  And I think I might want to go through here and just say some
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  things first about about God and who is referenced here because
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  if you want to do this for yourself, you can go to
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  blueletterbible.org. You'll have to find Psalm 10 and
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  then go through verse by verse and every time you see Lord or
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  you see God in the NIV version, you can click on the tools
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  button and then read through the text.
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  It gives you the NASB translation on the side, but
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  then it gives you the original Hebrew words.
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  So you can verify what I'm saying here.
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  I'm not making this up. So beginning, Why Lord, do you
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  stand afar? So David is talking to Yehovah,
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  God the Father, and then he he blesses the greedy and reviles
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  the Lord. He's talking about the wicked
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  man reviling the Lord Yakova. And and then here in verse 4, it
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  switches. It says in his pride the wicked
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  man does not seek him in all his thoughts.
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  There is no room for God. But God here is plural.
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  It's Elohim. So this is actually the Trinity
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  and we know that Scripture is inspired by God.
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  And did David have an awareness of the Trinity at that time, The
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  Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?
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  I don't know. But then you know, there was
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  talk about I don't know if he said do not take your spirit
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  from me. I thought he did in one of his
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  prayers. So he did have an understanding
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  of the Holy Spirit. And then he did prophetically
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  talk about Jesus death on the cross.
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  But he probably didn't know what he was talking about, but just
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  was inspired to write what he did.
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  Because I don't see anywhere in Scripture where Dave, where
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  David says that he met Yeshua or anything like that or saw him or
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  anything. Maybe there's something in the
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  Psalms we'll find out later, but I'm not aware of it right now.
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  So, but he here, he says Elohim. So it's plural.
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  And this is going to be really interesting because when we get
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  a little bit later when they refer to God, it's ale El, the
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  singular form of God. So this is like really cool to
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  check it out in this chapter. So the wicked one has no room
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  for Elohim, God in the plural sense.
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  And then it says in verse 11 it says he says to himself, God ale
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  El, the singular form of Elohim will never notice.
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  He covers his face and never sees.
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  And then David says arise yehovah.
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  So he's calling on God. So he's talking about God the
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  Father here. Why does the wicked man revile
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  God in verse 13? God here again is plural Elohim.
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  And then in verse 14 the NIV version says but you God, It
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  doesn't. In the original Hebrew it
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  doesn't say God anywhere, so it doesn't distinguish who he's
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  talking about at that point. But then on verse 16 it says the
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  Lord is king forever and ever, Yehova.
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  And it says you Yehova, hear the desire of the afflicted.
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  You encourage them and you listen to their cries.
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  And so anyway, that was just very interesting to go through
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  that. Now I'm going to go through
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  questions and answers. This might actually be a shorter
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  podcast. All right, verse or not verse,
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  but Psalm 10. Why did the psalmist feel
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  abandoned by God? There is no way of knowing the
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  specific circumstances that led to the feelings expressed
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  expressed in this Psalm. However, when we go through dark
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  times, we can be encouraged by knowing that our experience is
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  not uncommon. Even those who trust in God may
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  encounter times of spiritual despair.
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  Do the wicked always prosper? Some poetic statements like this
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  are generalizations. Here the psalmist was expressing
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  frustration with the fact that a person who does not live by a
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  moral code and who has no regard for social decency or divine
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  standards can often deceive or coerce others who then lose
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  their valuable possessions. When sin and injustice twist the
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  fabric of society, only God's final judgement for which the
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  psalmist pleaded will fully restore justice.
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  What was the effect of these lies and threats?
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  People in the ancient world believed that verbal
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  pronouncements, either positive or negative, as described here,
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  had the power to either affirm or hurt people.
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  They took oaths as seriously as people today take legal
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  contracts. Is it OK for us to speak to God
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  like the psalmist did? God invites, even encourages our
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  honest appeals to Him. There is no need to sugarcoat
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  our request as long as we direct our hopes and desires to Him and
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  avoid talking about God behind His back as the grumblers in the
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  desert did in Exodus chapter 16. Why does it sometimes seem like
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  God is far away? God promised his people.
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  The Lord will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all
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  that I have commanded you. That's in Deuteronomy 31 verse
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  5. Yet sometimes God seems distance
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  distant. During such times, the ever
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  present God hasn't gone anywhere.
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  Instead, specific obstacles we create or experience can make
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  God seem far away. An obstacle is busyness.
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  Our overloaded schedules can crowd out time with God and make
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  it difficult to sense His presence in our lives.
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  When Jesus arrived for dinner at the home of friends, Martha
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  chose to busy herself with kitchen duties while her sister
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  sat at the feet of Jesus and was commended for doing what was
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  better. That's Luke chapter 10.
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  Busyness isn't next to godliness.
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  In fact, our crammed calendars can cause us to miss connecting
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  with God daily. A second obstacle is quote stuff
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  or possessions. In Matthew 19, Jesus urged a man
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  to sell all he had and to follow him, but the man went away sad
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  because he had great wealth. And that's in Matthew 19.
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  Unfortunately, possessions and wealth can prevent people from
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  pursuing Jesus, He warned. Where your treasure is, there
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  your heart will be also in Matthew chapter 6.
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  So if our hearts wander after more and more stuff, we will
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  have little room for God. 1/3 obstacle is sin.
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  Christians can be secure in their relationship with God
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  because their sins have been forgiven through Jesus death on
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  the cross. But lingering sin in our lives
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  can still stand in the way of present fellowship with God.
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  Fortunately, when we confess our sin, repent, and obey God, we
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  will feel the Father's love and personal presence once again.
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  That's according to John chapter 12.
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  So things that separate us from God or when God seems far away,
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  it's sounds like it's our busyness.
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  I'm just going back to what we just read our busyness stuff
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  that we have our possessions that, you know, detract, detract
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  us, I guess, from God and then sin because sin separates us
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  from God. So it's, it's these are all
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  things that we can control when it seems like God has got us far
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  away. So I guess we need to reflect on
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  our lives. Are we being too busy to have
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  time for God? Are we just trying to work so
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  hard to get all this stuff that we're not spending time with
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  God? And then third, are we breaking
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  his laws because are we being disobedient?
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  Because if obeying his laws shows love to God, then
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  disobeying his laws would be the opposite of love to God, showing
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  that to God. So sure, that would separate
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  because God hears the prayers of the righteous.
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  So if we're in the middle of sinning and we're not, we're not
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  repentant of it, then we're just as good.
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  In Hebrews it says something like those who keep on sinning
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  can only expect the judgement of God, so they're considered evil.
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  So if we are in the midst of our sin it we're no different than
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  the evil doers. So what did Israelite society do
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  for the fatherless and the oppressed?
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  God has always commanded his people to care for the poor, the
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  orphaned, and the oppressed, the Israelites, or to reflect God's
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  own deep concern for the marginalized society.
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  But the Israelites did not always live up to God's
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  commands. The prophets of Israel
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  frequently called the people to task for neglecting God's clear
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  commands about caring for the underprivileged.
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  That's in Amos chapter 5, verses 11 through 12.
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  And that concludes chapter 10. So this one's really short.
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  And next time we will we have another short Psalm coming up
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  11. We'll do that one tomorrow.