Reading the Psalms 6-10, it seemed as if David is talking about the present day, our lives, our pleas to God, seeking His attention in times of need. The message in the Psalms holds true: God’s nature is everlasting and He will continue to act in the same way over centuries while the righteous will keep calling out to Him to save them from the wicked!
Psalms 6 & 7
Psalm 6 is one of the seven Penitential Psalms that express sorrow for the sin that David has committed.
In Psalms 6 and 7 David is pleading to God to come to his aid and do justice to his enemies who are dangerous and spare no opportunity to bring him harm. David appears to be completely shattered by the endless strikes of his enemies and the silence from God. The plight of not being heard by God is weighing him down physically, emotionally and spiritually. He has full faith in God and knows that He is listening to David but His silence is now making him restless. David knows that he is being given the silent treatment by God due to the sin that he committed. He knows that God is showing His displeasure by silently watching him while he faces the evil ways of his enemies. David knows that God loves him and understands that God is angry with him like a father who wants to discipline his child. He is imploring for God’s attention like a little child who is upset on losing the attention of his beloved father while he fully realizes that he did wrong in disobeying the orders.
David begs God to vindicate him of whatever his enemies are accusing him of. He wants God to punish his enemies and show them that David is righteous and has not committed a wrong. In Psalm 7 it appears that David has been forgiven by God. He says that if the righteous repent of their sins, God never forsakes them, however God is harsh with those who are evil and do not repent of their sins.
David says that one has to pay a very high price for sin; it either brings loss of eternal life or loss of intimacy with God. One must repent for the sins as God cannot tolerate sin and will go to all extents to correct His children and bring them back on the right path.
Psalm 8
David is in awe of the vastness and greatness of God’s universe. He admires all the things that God has created in the skies and the earth and is amazed that God loves humans even though they appear so small and insignificant. He says that God made man, “a little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor”. David is astonished that man was created in the image of God and given authority over all other creations of God. He praises God for his love and kindness for humanity, for always being there for His children and being a shield against evil and wicked people.
David says that even though man has become arrogant with all this authority given to him by God but he should never forget that God alone rules the universe, that He is sovereign and He alone is worthy of worship and glory, day and night.
In return for all this honor that he has bestowed upon us, He wants us to be like him in nature and that we can do by following Jesus as he personifies perfection in every way.
Psalms 9 and 10
David exalts God’s justice in the past and in the present. In Psalm 9, David praises God for the justice that he has always meted out to the wicked while in Psalm 10 he emphasizes on the fact that God lets the wicked have their way and does not punish them for their evil doings.
Both psalm 9 and 10 have broken Acrostic which might have been used deliberately to convey brokenness of injustices. David however thanks God for having judged nations in the past for their inequalities and prejudices; for saving righteous souls in the present and for the assurance that He will always be there in the future.
I would like to elaborate upon Psalm 10 which is about God’s Justice.
Main point of the passage
The main point of the Psalm is how God has always been just and how He has always protected the righteous from the evil designs of the wicked.
David says that our God is a righteous God. He has always protected His children who obey and respect Him. He has a very special regard for those who are weak and has never abandoned them in their times of trouble. He is a mighty God but he has always listened to our prayers and come to our rescue whenever and wherever that might be. God works on the same pattern since the beginning of time and will keep doing so till Jesus comes to distinguish between those who abide by God’s laws and admonish and dismiss those who lived in this world by their wicked and mean ways.
Alongside thanking God, David says that God seems to be oblivious of the pleas of the righteous who seek help only from their God while the wicked are roaming the world arrogantly, believing that they will not be held accountable for their wicked deeds. David has used all possible adjectives to describe the actions of the wicked as well as his enemies that appear to be stronger than the righteous: arrogant, scheming, greedy, without accountability, scoffing, self-confident, hostile, cursing, deceitful, lurking, violent, malicious, oppressive, stealing, exploiting and victimizing.
David has the utmost confidence in God and speaks to Him, sharing his grief and sorrow as to why God is ignoring the wicked and not bringing them down for their wrongdoings. David wants God to strike down all evil doers and finish them once and for all.
David’s thanksgiving is for two things:
- He says that it is God’s character to protect the helpless and act like a father to the fatherless and oppressed, which will never change.
- David says that his concern is for God’s glory. He says that those very wicked people who reject God and do not believe in Him, rejoice in the fact that even if there is a God, He has no power over them nor does He reprimand them so they can have their way; while the faith of the righteous starts to weaken when God does not respond to their miseries and oppression. This silence from God effects His Glory as the wicked are not timely punished which results in His obedient children being left heartbroken, and they do not glorify God.
David ends it by saying that the God fearing ones will always believe in the Mercy and Love of God who never denies them His attention and always delivers them in their times of difficulty.
Most Important Truth from the Text
The most important truth is that even if God does not, at times, respond instantly to our supplications, He is always listening. It is just like a parent treats his child when he comes running up to him and wants His immediate attention to rectify an issue but the parent takes his time to turn to the child and listen to his story.
God loves the righteous and can never abandon them in their times of need, just like a parent will never walk away from a child that is injured or hurt. God is always there and attends to our prayers when He believes the time is right.
What is one area in your life from a practical perspective that the text pointed out
What David says rings true as even today the wicked are rampant all over God’s earth. God is slow in bringing them to task even when the atrocities they mete out to the weak and the oppressed are ruthless. They appear to rule the world along with Satan and it saddens the heart to see them plot and plan their evil ways for destroying the peace of the world.
Just like David, we will also never know why God is slow in protecting the helpless from the claws of the wicked; we will never understand the wisdom of God in a lot of His actions. The only thing that the righteous have always done over the ages is to have complete faith in God, trust His judgment and accept it as His last word.
