Sermon Tone Analysis

As someone committed to the exposition of the Bible, I come to passages like Psalm 10 and think, “Hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t be so committed to the exposition of the Bible.”

You see, among other things, the exposition of the Bible means to take a book of the Bible or a chunk of a book and preach it straight through.

This means I will arrive at various passages covering various topics and, instead of skipping them (as I would sometimes like to do), I preach them.

Psalm 10 is simply what’s next in our series “Psummer in the Psalms.”

It’s no one’s favorite chapter in the Bible.

But one thing I love about Psalm 10 is that it is immediately applicable.

We’ve all felt the way David felt as he penned verse 1, I’m sure of it.

David asks a questions we’ve all of us asked, in one form or another:

“Why, Lord?

Why?

Where are you?

Why aren’t you taking care of this?

Why would you let this happen?

Why?!?!”

You’ve been there, I know you have.

If you’ve walked this earth for more than a few years, you’ve asked “Why, Lord?”

You’ve lost a loved one.

You’ve been rejected, fired, beaten-down.

You’ve been betrayed, abandoned.

You’ve been crushed by life, by others.

“Why, Lord?

Why?!”

We ask this kind of question:

When the Lord seems far off,

Isn’t this when we ask “Why, Lord?” questions—when God seems distant, when He appears to be unconcerned?

David jumps right in.

He wastes no time.

This is the problem, the tension of the psalm.

This is a big deal.

David feels as if the Lord is off on holiday, taking a vacation, down for a nap—and that’s best case scenario.

Worst case is that God is intentionally standing far off or even hiding Himself from the situation, like one might do when they want to avoid dealing—like God has silenced His phone, closed the blinds, turned out the lights, and is hoping the person at the door goes away.

This is very real; this is that down in the nitty-gritty with God stuff.

“Why, Lord?!?!” we ask when the Lord seems far off.

Some would say that God is far off.

Some would say God is unconcerned and/or unaware of what’s going on with David, with us.

God, say some, might even hide Himself.

God may just let things devolve into chaos, making their way toward uncreation.

I say God is not far off.

God is not unconcerned.

God is not hidden.

And I don’t believe David thinks that God is absent or avoiding him, either.

I agree with two men vastly smarter and more educated than me who contend that David asking “Why, Lord?” shows faith on David’s part.

That is, by virtue of asking, “Why, Lord?

Why are things going down like this?”, David shows that this is not typical of God; this is not how God usually behaves.

This is uncharacteristic of God.

It’d be like showing up to worship on Sunday and finding the trash overflowing, the bathrooms nasty, all the classrooms wrecked from the last weeks’ kids, old bulletins and communion cups in the pews, grass and mud and dirt on the carpet.

That would be more than odd, wouldn’t it?

Because we know it’s characteristic of Brenda and Jackie to keep this building squeaky-clean.

If we walked in to a dirty building, we’d ask, “Why?

Why is it like this, ladies?

Where have you been?”

We’d ask “why” because it’s so different than what we’re used to.

The fact that David asks, “Why, Lord?” is a demonstration of his faith in his God, Yahweh.

David knows that it’s not like the Lord to stand far off, it’s not like Him to hide Himself.

David knows this is uncharacteristic of God—completely and totally at odds with who He is and how He operates.

This is not a philosophical discussion in a college dorm; this is prayer.

David doesn’t begin with, “Well, if God is both almighty and good, then why...” but goes straight to God and says, “Why, Lord Yahweh, why do you...”

David might not understand the Lord, but he’s still dealing with the Lord—and that’s being faithful.

I watch as you come into this place week after week, year after year, dealing with God in good times and in bad, never giving up on God, but no doubt asking, “Why, Lord?!?!”

And that’s okay.

That’s good, even!

If you weren’t asking “Why, Lord?” it’d be that you’d given up on Him or didn’t trust Him.

David is being honest with God, and He’s being faithful where God is concerned.

Like David, we might be baffled with God, but we don’t give up on Him—that’s faith.

When the Lord seems far off, and the wicked succeed,

David continues his prayer, his song, his psalm and takes up a lot of space in describing the wicked.

Sometimes, sometimes the Lord seems far off.

And sometimes the wicked seem to succeed.

You don’t have to look very far to see this, not very far at’all.

Turn on the TV or open the newspaper.

Everyone—from celebrities to politicians to the neighbor next door—rejects God’s laws and think themselves unshakable.

And yet, their ways seem to be prosperous.

I’m sure I’m not alone in the kind of thinking that says, “Look at them!

They mock God, they are pure evil in thought and action, they have no room for Him, and yet they succeed; they are doing well.

They’re driving fancy cars and living in swanky homes without a care in the world.”

It seems like the wicked succeed.

They prosper.

They do well for themselves, all the while mocking God and taking advantage of the weak, the helpless, the innocent.

Why does David give this description?

Why take up so much time and space for him?

Why give the wicked all this press?

In this psalm, so far, God is far off and the wicked are doing nicely.

It’s a function of the Psalms to touch the nerve of this problem and keep its pain alive.

This psalm is working to push our buttons.

It’s a good reminder for us—we are living in a corrupt world full of corrupt people.

This is meant to make us uncomfortable, to remind us that—as people of God—we stand up against the whole wicked world.

This is meant to upset us, to disturb us.

The hope is that this will keep us from forgetting.

The believer’s life is a war, a life-long conflict, and Psalm 10 is, for one, meant to aggravate you, to anger you, to sadden you—to keep you from forgetting that your life is always at odds with the wicked.

When the Lord seems far off, and the wicked succeed, cry out for His help.

David gets to the thrust of the psalm here in verse 12.

David has hit the tension of the moment with verse 1—Why, Lord, do you stand far off?

And then he has given a long, extended description of the wicked (vv.

2-11).

And now, the psalmist sets out in prayer, pleading with the Lord:

David calls for the Lord to do what He has done in the past; David knows the Lord Yahweh well enough to call Him to act according to His character.

David knows it’s unlike Yahweh to forget the helpless.

David knows that the Lord will step in, He will intervene.

He will break up the fight and take the side of the weak—every single time.

When the wicked are taunting the Lord, reviling Him and His people, even as they ignore God and push any thought of God from their lives, God is in the mix.

Many are the people who don’t factor God into the equation, who leave God out of all their plans and considerations.