Mind Meld of A Different Kind

PSALM 10
O Lord, why do you stand so far away?
Why do you hide when I am in trouble?
The wicked arrogantly hunt down the poor.
Let them be caught in the evil they plan for others.
For they brag about their evil desires;
they praise the greedy and curse the Lord.

The wicked are too proud to seek God.
They seem to think that God is dead.
Yet they succeed in everything they do.
They do not see your punishment awaiting them.
They sneer at all their enemies.
They think, “Nothing bad will ever happen to us!
We will be free of trouble forever!”

Their mouths are full of cursing, lies, and threats.
Trouble and evil are on the tips of their tongues.
They lurk in ambush in the villages,
waiting to murder innocent people.
They are always searching for helpless victims.
Like lions crouched in hiding,
they wait to pounce on the helpless.
Like hunters they capture the helpless
and drag them away in nets.
Their helpless victims are crushed;
they fall beneath the strength of the wicked.
The wicked think, “God isn’t watching us!
He has closed his eyes and won’t even see what we do!”

Arise, O Lord!
Punish the wicked, O God!
Do not ignore the helpless!
Why do the wicked get away with despising God?
They think, “God will never call us to account.”
But you see the trouble and grief they cause.
You take note of it and punish them.
The helpless put their trust in you.
You defend the orphans.

Break the arms of these wicked, evil people!
Go after them until the last one is destroyed.
The Lord is king forever and ever!
The godless nations will vanish from the land.
Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless.
Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them.
You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed,
so mere people can no longer terrify them.

Rescue them
We often get upset when trouble comes our way and God does not quickly alleviate it. We wonder why God would allow us to go through something so terrible. Doesn’t God care about our struggles? When other people go through troubles we may offer a prayer for strength but we seldom voice the type of prayer David prays in Psalm 10.

You have to really be upset about something to shout out to God, “Arise O God.” It is almost as if you are trying to wake God up. Our theology tells us God sees and knows everything. It is easy to say when someone else is being crushed, harder to say when we are in the crushing grip of evil.

David knows and confesses something akin to this at the end of the Psalm. He knows God will bring justice and proclaims that, but he is not sure when that will happen. In the meantime, he pleads the case of the oppressed. I am challenged today by the fact David prays this prayer for other people. When we in America pray Psalm 10 for ourselves, much of the time we are just whining to God. David cares for and identifies with the oppressed in their situation. He realizes he is not immune from their suffering just because he is not presently suffering. True Christianity joins in the prayer for the oppressed especially when we are in a position of being blessed.

God who holds the world in your hand, I am anxious for your righteous justice to be displayed against those who persecute your people and crush the helpless. As I wait to see your deliverance for my brothers and sisters in bondage I ask you to give me strength to fight against oppression in my community, nation and even in the world. I am willing for you to use me as part of your solution to injustice. - Dan Jones

Clawing my way up
The upwardly mobile have always used the weak and powerless. The modern world practices the same ancient value. The stronger nation consumes the weaker, the corporate giant their vulnerable competitor, the majority the minority. These are not faceless entities. Groupings of the powerful and weak consist of persons leading, managing, and following.

It would be nice if the forces of power could be placed on the shoulders of key people in leadership – a ruthless politician or army general, a greedy corporate executive, a terrorist leader hiding in Pakistani caves. Indeed these are lions crouched and waiting to attack their prey. They are those whose arms I’d pray God would break so they could no longer reach out and hurt the ordinary citizen trying to move along, the company worker trying to make a living, or the minority person trying to muster a sense of worth.

But alas I am part of the forces of power more than I’d like to admit. And I am probably more culpable than I can fully understand. I may not be the leader of power (and that person surely is the focus of the psalmists prayer) but I am participator in power. I am a citizen of the most powerful nation on earth. I am a member of several majorities in my country and community. I enjoy the fruit of the world’s most powerful corporations.

I’d like to believe that all this power is always exercised for good and with justice for the orphaned and oppressed. But I know the corrupting influence of power! And I suspect that if I pray for God to break the arm of injustice in the power centers of the world, it will end up affecting me and demanding changes, perhaps radical, in my own life.

God of justice and mercy, I ask you to set in motion those processes that will fulfill the hope of the world’s oppressed, even if that means uncomfortable changes in my life. May those in key places of unjust power be fully converted to you and change their ways. Make that true of me also. - Mike Leamon