Well, good evening. It's a pleasure to be here with you this evening. And let me just, again, wish you a happy new year. I'm going to assume that with the start of a new year, maybe some of you, maybe some in this room, have recently, just days ago, begun a new Bible reading plan. Hopefully it hasn't hit any bumps in the road so far. That doesn't bode well for the rest of the year if it has. You know, the benefits of a Bible reading plan are immense. Following through God's Word systematically from start to finish, you get exposure to the whole Bible. You come across all the different genres of the Scripture, the historical section, the narrative, the poetry, the prophecy, the Gospels, New Testament letters. You come across those tough passages. passages you might not normally turn to if you were just opening your Bible and choosing at will. And as you read the Bible, you certainly come to parts of it that feel foreign, that feel distant, they feel real removed from our present American Western culture of today. We can feel that with certain historical sections in the Old Testament. with things like long lists and genealogies, maybe instructions about the building of the tabernacle in the latter chapters of Exodus, or even the details of the sacrificial system at the outset of the book of Leviticus. All the Bible's relevant, all of it's practical, all of it is helpful, but there are certainly parts of it that feel Well, they feel difficult to see how it would apply to our lives today. And yet nobody has ever said that about the Psalms. Nobody's ever described the Psalms as distant and impractical and far removed and no longer helpful for our pressing issues today. The Psalms, far from being foreign and distant, they're near and dear to the heart of the believer. The Psalms express every height and depth of human emotion. Loss, pain, heartache, those are found there. Betrayal and oppression, those are witnessed in the Psalms. The Psalms also record joy and delight and satisfaction. It's all there. It's all there. And as you encounter the book of Psalms, you see, this is not just a book that you and I read. This is a book that reads us. You encounter the Psalms, you read the Psalms, and you come away thinking, somebody else thinks what I think. Somebody feels what I feel. Somebody else is saying the very thing that I've been expressing. And that's certainly true for the passage we're going to look at. this evening, Psalm chapter 10. Psalm 10 records an experience that is familiar. We've felt it before. And it begins by asking a helpful and honest question and then giving two significant responses to that question. So with that being said, let's turn our attention to the passage. Let's look at Psalm 10, read it in its entirety, and then we'll spend just a few moments tackling some of its truths. Psalm 10, starting in verse one. Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In arrogance, the wicked hotly pursue the poor. Let them be caught in the schemes that they've devised. For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. In the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek him. All his thoughts are, there is no God. His ways prosper at all times. Your judgments are on high, out of his sight. As for all his foes, he puffs at them. He says in his heart, I shall not be moved. Throughout all generations, I shall not meet adversity. His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression. Under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. 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. He says in his heart, God is forgotten. He's hidden his face. He will never see it. Arise, O Lord. O God, lift up your hand. Forget not the afflicted. Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, you will not call to account? But you do see, you know mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands. To you the helpless commits himself. You've been the helper of the fatherless. 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. Oh 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. You know, Psalm 10 begins with an honest question, and that is this, Lord, do you see, do you see by asking, Lord, do you stand far away? Do you hide yourself in times of trouble? The psalmist is expressing an emotion that the people of God are simply all too familiar with, the feeling that God has abandoned us during times of difficulty, that he's turned his back on us when we're going through trials, or that he simply does not see or does not care what we are experiencing. And this notion is commonly expressed in the Psalms throughout the entirety of the book. Psalm chapter 6 verse 3, My soul also is greatly troubled, but you, O Lord, how long? Psalm 13, 1, How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? Psalm 27, nine, hide not your face from me. Psalm 44, verses 23 and 24, awake. Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself. Do not reject us forever. Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and depression? Psalm 77, verses seven and eight, will the Lord spurn forever and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love forever ceased? And Psalm 102, verse one, hear my prayer, O Lord. Let my cry come to you. Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. You see, the notion that's expressed in all these verses and the opening verse of Psalm chapter 10 is due in part to our human weakness, our frailty, which is put on full display when we face difficulties and hardships and trials. We can so quickly assume God just does not see us. He has forgotten us. He no longer, or at least temporarily, does not care. He's against us. He's opposed to us. We've all fallen to this type of thinking. And Jesus' own disciples, while on earth, they fell prey to the same type of thinking. You remember in Mark chapter four, when Jesus and his disciples, after a long day of ministry and teaching, they got on a boat and they went to the other side, and while on the water, a storm arose, a wind storm, and all of a sudden, there is more water in the boat than they know what to do with. And here's what we read in Mark chapter four, verse 38. It says, but he, that is Jesus, was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, And they woke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we're perishing? You see, difficulty comes, and God doesn't immediately remove it, which in our minds would be the good and right and proper thing to do. And therefore, he either doesn't see it, or he doesn't care, or he's abandoned us, or he's turned his back on us, or he's distant and far off, And the list just goes on and on. This is the sentiment expressed at the outset of Psalm 10. And it sets the tone for what's to follow. This is how the psalmist feels. And if we're honest, this is how we feel at times as well. It's how we feel when we experience the hardships that are so prevalent in a world that is fallen and broken. When we experience the loss of a loved one, which is so final, we can feel this way. Or when we encounter marital strife or hardship, and everything in your world seems to be upside down. Or when there is a job loss and financial concern, and therefore uncertainty in that regard, we can feel this way. Or when we're diagnosed with a health issue, We're told of a chronic disease and we can have anxiety and worry and all the thoughts that accompany it. We can feel this way. And when we have significant relational problems with family members and friends and classmates and co-workers and neighbors, we can feel this way. You see, these and things like these, they take place and we can be so prone, especially when they begin, especially at the outset of problems and hardships and issues and trials, we can be so quick to think God doesn't care. He's abandoned us and in our moment of need, no less. And yet as Psalm 10 continues, we find two incredibly helpful responses to the initial question, Lord, do you see? And what we find in this chapter is what you and I already know to be true, and it's what we always know to be true when we are thinking clearly. You see, we know that God sees. We know He's in control. The psalmist knows that God sees. We know everything is laid before Him. We know nothing happens outside His purview. He reigns over all, but sometimes the difficulties of life, they're so severe, They're so serious. They're so painful. We struggle to remember the things that we know. And a passage like Psalm 10 is helpful for us because after asking the initial honest question, Lord, do you see? We find the first helpful response. And that's this. There is a sobering reality that God sees the proud even when they think he can't. God sees the proud even when they think he can't. And this comes from verses 2 through 14. We won't read in their entirety again right now. We just read them a moment ago. But it's here that we find the particular reason that the psalmist feels the way he does. We see what's taken place in order to result in him asking the initial question back in verse 1. Because as the psalmist looks out at the world around him, he sees wickedness, and he sees injustice, and he sees pride and arrogance. And he sees individuals who are carrying out evil schemes in God's world, against God's people, and it appears that God is not doing anything about it. He's not doing anything to stop it. And we can feel like this at times. We can witness human governments around the world that are open in their hostility against God, totally opposed to any and all Christian work taking place. We see establishments and institutions that are in direct contradiction to the truths of God's Word. They go against His desire. They harm His creation. They have disdain for His people. And the psalmist in this chapter identifies these people as wicked in verse 2, 3, and 4. And at the core of what makes these proud individuals so wicked is that they have simply no regard for God. They have no esteem for God. They don't fear God. They don't live in light of the reality that God is the creator and the sustainer of all things and that it's to Him, one day, we will all stand and give account. In verse three, the psalmist writes that the wicked man renounces the Lord. In verse four, he says, all his thoughts are, there is no God. You remember, that is what the fool in Psalm 14, one said, there is no God. The wicked disregard God. They reject God. And on top of it, they act as if they themselves are God. You see, in verse two, the wicked acts in arrogance. In verse three, he boasts of the desire of his soul. In verse four, the wicked one is marked by pride in all that he does. And in verse five, he puffs or he scoffs at all of his foes. You see, the wicked individuals here, those marked by pride and arrogance and their opposition to God and his people, they are doing the exact opposite of what John the Baptist did in John chapter three. You remember that as Jesus' ministry, his earthly ministry began, there were individuals who were following John the Baptist prior to this. They began to follow Jesus. When John was asked about it, he said, John 3.30, he must increase and I must decrease. That's not what the wicked do. They do just the opposite. They say, God, if he's even real, well, he's gonna decrease because I'm gonna increase. Verse six, regarding the wicked, he says in his heart, I shall not be moved. As if to say, nothing can stop me, nobody can get in my way, no one's greater than me, I'm gonna do everything I set out to accomplish. These are things that are true of God himself. And yet the wicked prideful person ascribes these realities to himself because in his mind, that's who he is, he's God. He rules and reigns. Nobody can thwart his purposes. You know, there are countless examples of this in the Bible, but a great one and a familiar one is found in the book of Exodus with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Because you remember at the outset of the book of Exodus, the Israelites, everything seems to be going well in the opening verses and they're fruitful and they're multiplying just as the creation mandate in Genesis 1 instructed the people of God to do. And then everything turns. Everything turns in chapter 1, verse 8, and the people of God are, they're oppressed, they're enslaved, they are treated brutally, they're tortured, all of it. They cry out to God at the end of chapter 2. God hears their cry. He moves to deliver them. And he comes to Moses, meets with him in the burning bush, and he gives Moses a task that Moses is Really quick to say, no, I don't want any part of that. But this is God's plan, so it's gonna happen. Moses, in chapter five, returns to Egypt, approaches Pharaoh, and here's what we read in Exodus five, verses one and two. Afterward, Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness. But Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? And lest we miss it, this is not a question like, hey, Moses and Aaron, tell me about this God. Who is He? Right? This is a, I don't care who He is. I have no interest in this. And whether He's real or not, He has no power over me. I'm not going to let them go. You see, Pharaoh displays the exact type of pride and wickedness that's described in our passage in Psalm 10. He rejects the one true God. He has no regard for God. He renounces God. You know, and ironically, the Egyptians believed in a whole host of false gods. They believed even the Pharaoh to be a god. Pharaoh believed himself to be a god, but just like Psalm 10 verse 4, in his mind, in terms of the one true God, there's no God. And Pharaoh's Disregard and disdain for the one true God led to his wicked treatment of the Israelite people. You see, the hatred of God will always lead to violent treatment of those who love God and follow God. And this is exactly what the psalmist sees in Psalm chapter 10. No regard for God, no recognition of God. When there's no love for God and no desire to serve God, it will lead to the ill treatment of the people of God. Look at how the wicked one is described in verses 8 through 10. In verse 8, he sits in ambush and he murders the innocent. He watches for the helpless. In verse 9, he lurks like a lion, waiting for the opportune moment when he can jump out and strike. And in verse 10, as a result of his wicked evil schemes, the helpless are crushed and they sink down and they fall by his might. You see, the wicked man, he plots and he plans evil schemes. He carefully considers, how am I going to carry out this wicked agenda? He waits until the opportune moment when he attacks the weak, when he crushes the innocent, when he pounces on the poor. When he destroys the helpless, just like a lion who waits, carefully identifies his target, and finds the opportune moment to jump and attack, that's what the wicked person does. He uses people. He crushes people. They are simply pawns in his, well, in his plans. And how does he justify his behavior? What does he say to himself? Let's look at verse 11. He says in his heart, God's forgotten. He's hidden his face, he will never see it. You see, remember back in verse four, he said, there's no God. Now, it is as if he's saying, even if God is real, let me cover all my bases. I don't believe God's real, but even if he is, even if he's there, but he doesn't see me. And he has no power to stop me, and he's not gonna do anything about it. And this type of thinking can grow and grow as those who are proud and arrogant and opposed to God carry out their plans and it appears that there are no consequences. It appears that nothing happens. And if we're honest with ourselves, this can pretty accurately describe and express what we can feel at times. We can look at the world around us. We can identify individuals and institutions. We can identify groups and establishments that are absolutely opposed to God and yet it appears they have no problems. It appears that their lives are marked by ease. It appears they are getting everything they want. It appears that there's no issue, there's no consequence. And on the other side of it is, I'm trying to follow God, I'm seeking to walk with Him, I've trusted in Him, and my life is marked by a whole host of problems. I'm facing all sorts of difficulty. Verse five of Psalm 10 says about the wicked, his ways prosper at all times. And you know, there's another great Psalm that highlights this exact same reality. Will you look there with me, Psalm chapter 73. because I want to read a rather lengthy section of this chapter, Psalm 73. This is a beautiful one to be familiar with, but at least in some of the opening verses, it so adequately expresses exactly what's being discussed here in Psalm 10. It's a mirror of this passage in so many ways. Psalm 73, starting in verse three. The psalmist writes, for I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no pangs until death. Their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are. They're not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore, pride is their necklace. Violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness. Their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice. Loftily, they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens. Their tongue struts through the earth. Therefore, his people turn back to them and find no fault in them. And they say, how can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the wicked. Always at ease, they increase in riches. That is exactly what the psalmist is describing in Psalm 10. He looks at the wicked who are proud in their arrogant opposition to God. They seem to be prosperous. They seem to get everything they want. They seem to live lives of ease. No consequences. God, do you see? And if we continue reading in Psalm 73, we see very quickly, the Lord does see. And it's exactly what we find back in Psalm Psalm chapter 10 verses 13 and 14 read as follows. Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, you will not call to account? Verse 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've been the helper of the fatherless. You see, the wicked says God is not going to require an account of him one day. At the heart of this, he's saying, God isn't going to punish me. He's not going to require me to stand before him. He doesn't see, and even if he does, he doesn't care. I'm not going to be held accountable to anybody else for my actions. But this almost reminds us in verse 14, that is not so. The Lord does see. He sees all. He certainly sees the wicked who are opposed to Him. He sees the proud who, in their arrogance, exercise their plans, their schemes, their agenda with no regard for His. He sees all of it, even though at times it appears to them He can't see. And with that, we find one more helpful response as we continue in Psalm 10. One more helpful response to the initial question, Lord, do you see? Why are you far away during distress? Why have you hidden yourself during times of trouble? Why have you hidden your face from me? Lord, do you see? And in the final verses of the chapter, we find this second response, and it's a comforting reminder that God sees the afflicted even when it feels like he doesn't. When we find ourselves going through the deep, heartache, the sobering pain, the pressing issues of life lived in a fallen world, like oppression from those who are arrogant and opposed to God. What do we do? What do we do? What do we do when we face the issues of life, when we encounter the trials, the hardships that accompany us in life, in a life lived in a fallen world? What do we do? we must remind ourselves of the things we know to be true. And you know, we should always be growing in our knowledge of the Lord, and we should always be growing in our knowledge of His Word, but so much of the Christian life is remembering the things you already know. We have to remember the basics. We have to remind ourselves daily of the things that we already know. We don't ever move past the basic truths of the gospel. We don't ever move past the foundational realities of the scripture. We must constantly be reminding ourselves of the things that we know. Because at times we feel that God's distant. We feel like he doesn't see. We feel that he's abandoned me. He's turned his back on me. He no longer cares for me. He's opposed to me. He's against me. That's what we feel at times. But we have to remember, no, no, no. God sees all. He knows all. He's aware of all. He sees you and I. He certainly sees us in our distress. And He is acutely aware of those who are faithfully walking with Him and are walking through times of great affliction. He's aware. He sees. He's near. And this should cause us to boldly, courageously, confidently approach the throne of God in prayer, which is what the psalmist does in Psalm 10. We should appeal to the one who sees all, who is over all, who is aware of all, and who knows all. And we should bring any and every type of request and concern to Him. There is nothing too big or too small to bring before the throne of God. And in the context of the passage, we see the particular request in verse 15. The psalmist says, break the arm of the wicked and evildoer. Call his wickedness to account till you find none. Now the psalmist is obviously not, he's not calling the Lord to snap forearms of every evil, proud, wicked person. What he is calling him to do is to render them powerless. Render them powerless. And you and I should plead with God to crush the power of those who are proud and who are opposed to Him. We should plead with God to nullify their evil schemes. We should approach the throne of God in prayer that He would bring down those who are puffed up in opposition to Him. That He would crush their crafty plans and that He would bend their hearts and break their wills and that they might follow Him just like you and I do. And the reason that we can do this is because God is not aloof. He is not distant. He is not hidden. He has not turned away. He hasn't abandoned us. That's how we feel at times. That's how the chapter, Psalm 10, open. But that's not reality. Reality is found in verse 16. The Lord is King forever and ever. That's reality. We feel all sorts of things, but that is the thing that is. That's what's true. Regardless of how we feel and regardless of our pressing issues and the full range of human emotion due to all of the trials and hardships of life, this is the solution. You know, Steve preached a message a number of weeks ago. In it, he said something to the effect of, the proof of God's love for you is not in your current circumstances. The proof of God's love for you is that he gave up his own son. But we tie God's care and nearness and love for us, well we tie that to our present circumstances. So that if things are going well, well obviously God's near and of course he cares for me, but as soon as difficulty comes, And as soon as the trial begins, and as soon as the oppression starts, and there's a health concern, and there is relational strife, and there's a financial issue, well, now God is against me and opposed to me, and He's turned His back on me. We can feel like that. But the Lord is King, and He loves you, and the proof of that is that He gave up His Son for you. And that doesn't rid us of all difficulty in life. It doesn't free us from the hardships of life. God's ways are not our ways. And we sung about this this morning. Some of the opening lyrics from the song that Joel led us in, Christ Our Wisdom, they read as follows. This should be familiar. It says this, Christ our wisdom, we are humbled when you hide your ways from us. You have purposes unnumbered, each one good and glorious. Help us trust when we grow weary. Free us from our anxious thoughts. Give us grace to see more clearly you are God and we are not. And that reality goes for the proud person and for the afflicted person. God is God. You and I are not. He's the king of kings. He rules over all. He sees all. He is acutely aware of all things. We should plead with him to bring about justice, but we should humble ourselves and recognize he doesn't work on our timetable. Just because he doesn't do something when we want him to do it does not mean he's hidden himself, he's distant, he doesn't care, he's far off. It doesn't mean any of those things. And when we remind ourselves of the critical realities we know, then we know this to be true as well. And that's why the chapter ends on such a hopeful note in verses 17, And 18, where the psalmist writes, oh Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted. You'll strengthen their heart. You'll incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed so that man who's of the earth may strike terror no more. You see, he hears us. He's with us. He's working to accomplish all of His good purposes, which in the end will include perfect and total justice forever. And just because He doesn't do it when we hope He would do it or when we would desire Him to do it doesn't mean that He won't do it. Now, if you're here this evening and you've never trusted in Jesus, you've never put your hope and confidence in Him, than whether you would say the brazen things that the individual says in Psalm 10. You have that pride in your heart. You have an opposition to God. You function as if you're the God of your own life. And you might even think, God's not gonna demand an account. He's not gonna require me to stand before him, but he will. He will. We've sinned. We've broken God's command. Sin, it brings death. And it doesn't just bring a physical death, it brings a spiritual death, an eternal death, separation from the goodness of God and the glory of God and the presence of God in eternal heaven forever, separate from that. And if you die in a state of prideful opposition to God, that will be yours forever. He does demand an account. He does see. Even when it feels like he can't, he does. And let me simply say it doesn't have to be this way. Jesus came. He was afflicted. He was crushed. You know, Jesus was brought low by prideful, wicked men in order that prideful, wicked men might find newness of life in Him. And so if you've never trusted in Him, I would plead with you to do just that. To put your confidence in Him. To turn from your ways and pursue His ways. to stop living and functioning as if you're the God of your own life and live your life for the one true God in service to Him and out of love for Him, recognizing that faith in Jesus is the only way to stand before a holy God and be justified. And if you have trusted in Him, then I would encourage you to remind yourself of the things you already know. When you face the difficulties of life, the trials of life, the hardships of life, and you're prone to quickly think, God doesn't see, he's abandoned me, he's turned his back on me, he no longer cares for me, he doesn't have any love for me. You know that's not true. He sees, he knows, he cares. He's the reigning king over all the world, both now and forever. And in the end, He's going to make everything right. You know, we live in the middle of the story right now, but we know how the story ends. We know what is yet to come. And that reality should give us great comfort, great assurance to approach God in prayer, to trust in Him even in the most difficult times of life. Will you join me in prayer? Father, we're thankful for the chance this evening to open up your word, to look at a precious chapter like Psalm 10. Lord, it so expresses what we feel at times. We can feel so distant from you. We can feel so far off. Lord, we can look at others who seem to have no desire for you, and it looks like their lives are lives of ease, and we attempt to follow you, Lord, and it feels like all we experience is heartache and pain. And Lord, would you give us eyes to see what is real? Would you, by the power of your Spirit, move within our heart and our conscience, Lord, and stir us to remember the things that we know to be true? Lord, we don't want to live based on the way we feel or what appears to be. We want to base our reality on what is, and that is, Lord, that you are the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Would you help us to approach you? Lord, for those who've never trusted in you, would you bend their knee that even today they might submit to King Jesus? And Lord, for those of us who have, would you give us comfort all the more and assurance all the more to continue to faithfully follow you no matter the pains and the difficulties and the heartaches of life? Lord, we want to honor you. We want to honor you in our living, in our thinking, We pray that you'd help us. We ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen.