Wicked…Who Me?

This week’s sermon is another view of the text we’ve been looking at recently so I’m going to take another approach with the blog this week.  I’m going to look at a couple of psalms that I’ve been reading and share with you some thoughts about the text.  The first one is Psalm 10.  I think we’ll spend three or four days in this one.

Psalm 10 is a great psalm.  It is important on two very significant levels.  David begins by asking the question:  “Why does God stand afar off and hide in times of trouble?”  There are some interesting thoughts here about the wicked:

1.  The wicked persecutes the poor.

2.  The wicked boasts of his heart’s desire

3.  The wicked blesses the greedy and renounces the Lord

4  The wicked does not seek God…God is in none of his thoughts.

5.  His ways prosper.

6.  He is confident; saying, “I shall never be in adversity”

7.  His mouth is full of cursing, deceit and oppression.

8.  Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity.

And this is just a partial list….Yet it is an impressive list isn’t it…in a bad sort of way.  But it’s a pretty true list isn’t it?  We’ve all found ourselves covered by some aspects of this list over the course of our lives.  We are the “wicked”.   We have persecuted the poor by not caring like we should and not helping like we should.  We have boasted of our heart’s desire by doing our heart’s desire; regardless of whether or not it is what God desires.  We’ve blessed the greedy by wanting to be with them because of the things they can give to us.  Our mouths have been full of cursing and deceit.

But we’ve also been affected by others whose ways are listed here.  We’ve been the “victim” of the wicked.  We, like David, have asked the question, “Where are you God in times of trouble?”  If you’d like to know the answer, you can read the end of Psalm 10 for the answer.  I will get there in the middle of the week.  My focus today is just that we tend to think about wickedness and sin in terms of “them” and not in terms of “me”.  Yet, when we act wickedly we become the “them” for someone else don’t we?  We need the mercy and power of God in our own lives in a desperate way.  Only He can truly triumph over the wickedness in our hearts by His love and grace and power.  There is no other way.  When I see the wickedness in my own heart, my own propensity for evil, I am quickly driven to the power of God for deliverance.  How about you?

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