This is WB7VZL enjoying, and I think that S-meter is settling down to 1, I believe. I'll take a check here. All right, real good, Roger.
Appreciate you being there. All right, we are looking for check-ins to the West Coast Follow-up Study. Please come down with your call, sir.
All right, that was KJ71, KJ71, good morning, Brian Cesar on the highest gear architect. All right, copy that. I think I walked on top of you there.
If you said something before him, radio happened. Yeah, it settled down in that silence down to S1. That's what's...
I don't think I've seen it that low here. Yeah. Yeah, and you're way, way up there, about 10 over 9, I think.
Over. Yeah, copy that. Well, take that noise level and put it in your hip pocket and take it back with you to Walla Walla, okay?
Yeah, that would be great. Yeah, that's tremendous. Great idea.
And, yes, the remote idea would be challenging without Internet service. I suppose satellite is the option that we would have because, like we say, no cell phone coverage for about ten years at 10 miles. Yeah, we're definitely isolated.
That's the challenge in this area. Over. Yeah, copy that.
Well, follow me for more technical advice. Alright, I see Will. QL5 Foxtrot.
Will, good morning. KM5F, I was just waiting to get a break there. Check in there.
No new prayer requests and no new news at this time. KM5F. All right, all right, Will, real good.
No new prayer requests, copy that. All right, we've got Will, QM5 Foxtrot checked in. All right, any other check-ins, please come down.
All right, the net would like to acknowledge Carol, KK7TPO. Carol, see you there on the Utah STR. Thank you for being with us.
Thank you. Our KJ7 PWM, there is Brian. Good morning, Brian.
How are you doing? Copy. Doing good, and no new prayer requests.
Got you checked in. All right, that's Brian, KJ7 PWM. The net would like to acknowledge Peter, KJ7BA.
Peter, see you there on Utah. Good morning, Peter. And Peter says good morning to everyone, so good contact there.
Alright, I'm just skimming over my SDRs here. We've got everybody there checked in. And let's look over here at Half Moon Bay.
And, uh, yeah, we got everybody there checked in. Alright, any last check-ins, please come down with your call sign. Alright, this is Max, WB7MX, Net Control for the West Coast Bible Study.
We are going to get started with our study. We are in Psalm 10 today. The Book of Psalms, the 10th Psalm, and we'll be talking about that in a minute.
But before we get started with our psalm, Steve, W6YSI, if you could please open in prayer for us today. This is Pavel for... Lord of grace, thank you for us, Lord.
Thank you that we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you hear us, you hear our prayers, you know our concerns. And we just ask you, Lord, that you'll give us the grace to be able to hear you as we Psalm 10. Lord, we just acknowledge that this is manna from heaven, that we need it.
So much going on in the world and in our own lives, Lord, and I'm overwhelmed with the understanding or the... knowing how much we need your grace to get through another day. We ask that you give us teachable hearts, bright and willing spirits as we read your word this morning.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen, Steve. Thank you so much for that prayer.
I really appreciate that. May the Lord be pleased to grant each of those requests. All right, we are in Psalm 10.
And Psalm 10 deals with one of the great mysteries that we all struggle with. And that is the slowness with which God deals with the conduct of the wicked. Wicked people do wicked things.
They do them for a long time. They do them with an arrogant attitude. And God appears...
not to see or hear or care because he does nothing to stop the wickedness. And we see no movings of God's providence against the wicked. We see no temporal judgments falling on them, no negative outcomes occurring to them.
And we wonder, where is God and what is he doing? Why are these wicked acts performed by wicked people, especially against the poor and the humble and the helpless? And it seems like there's no consequences.
Well, this psalm deals with that. It's not because God is unjust. It's not because God is indifferent.
But it is simply for two reasons. One, God is testing our faith. proving the genuineness of our faith by requiring us to exercise faith over time and trust in his wisdom, goodness, and justice in the way in which he manages these people and their conduct.
If there was instantaneous cause and effect in the moral realm, we would have no need for faith. We could walk by sight because we would immediately see God's retribution. And the fact that there's a delay between the wicked behavior and its punishment that causes the wicked to believe there will be no punishment And for us, then, to have an opportunity to trust God.
It has a dual purpose. It tends to harden the wicked in their wickedness, and it tends to exercise, deepen, and strengthen the faith of the believer as he believes God's promises and trusts in God's wisdom and how he manages it and when he brings justice. And so the second thing is that this delay between the commission of wickedness and the punishment of the wicked provides opportunity for salvation.
If there was immediate exercise of justice in response to wicked acts, then there would be no salvation because if immediate justice were exercised, we'd all be killed and cast into hell immediately after our first sin. So thank God there's a delay in the execution of justice because that provides a period of time between the commission of sin and the ultimate punishment of sin for people to repent and get saved. If there was no delay between wickedness and punishment, people like Saul of Tarsus, who became the Apostle Paul, would have never gotten saved.
So sometimes God is patient. 2 Peter 3 addresses that. where it says, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, and some men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, and not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." So thank the Lord for delays in justice.
It causes our faith to grow as we wait on God. It provides opportunity for people to get saved when the hammer doesn't immediately fall. on them for what they have done.
So there's a couple of perspectives on our Psalm 10. This psalm is broken into two parts. We have a description of the conduct and attitude of the wicked man in verses 1 to 11.
And then we have a description of the wicked man in verses 1 to 11. And then we have a plea for judgment and destruction of the wicked man in verses 12 to 18. So we have a description, and then we have a prayer.
So that's our psalm, Psalm 10. You can be looking for those things as you follow along as Roger, WB7VZL, reads to us Psalm 10. Go ahead there, Roger.
WB7VZL, reading Psalm 10. from the NIV. Why, O Lord, do you stand off?
You stand far off. Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In his arrogance, the wicked man hunts down the weak who are caught in the schemes he devises.
He boasts of the cravings of his heart. He blesses the greedy. and reviles the Lord.
In his pride, the wicked does not seek him in all his thoughts. There is no room for God. His ways are always prosperous.
He is haughty. and your laws are far from him. He sneers at all his enemies.
He says to himself, Nothing will shake me. I'll always be happy and never have trouble. His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats.
Trouble and evil are under his tongue. He lies in wait near the villages. From ambush he murders the innocent, watching in secret for his victim.
He lies in wait like a lion in cover. He lies in wait to catch the helpless. He catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
His victims are crushed. They collapse. They fall under his strength.
He says to himself, "God has forgotten." He covers his face and never sees. Verse 12. But you, O God, do see trouble in grief.
You consider it and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you. You are the helper of the fatherless.
Break the arm of the wicked and evil man. Call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out. The Lord is king forever and ever.
The nations will perish from his hand or land. You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted. you encourage them and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man who is of the earth may terrify no more.
WB7MAS, WB7E0. Roger, thank you so much for that reading. Great job there.
Okay, any comments on Psalm 10? Please come down with your call card. AK6OK.
Jeff, AK6OK, go ahead. You know, just in verse 1, right off the bat, "Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?" We've had many discussions about who has the right to ask God those types of questions, Max.
Over. Yeah, copy that. And you know, it's one thing to ask that question in an accusatory tone.
It's another thing to ask it with a humble inquiry. And Job, of course, questioned God. "God, what are you doing here?
We just went through the book of Job." And so I think the question itself is not necessarily off-limits. But the attitude with which we ask that question is really important. And so all of us, Jeff, are puzzled at the silence of God in the face of injustice and in the face of the difficult circumstances that we live in because of the actions of wicked people.
And so, you know, as this psalm develops, you know, he describes how these wicked people are so arrogant, they're so callous, they're so filled with self-confidence. And then we see this humble prayer beginning at verse 12. And so he asks some questions there too.
Why does the wicked condemn God? God, it's time to break their arm. And so as long as these inquiries are made with a spirit of humility, I think they're fine.
If they're made in anger and accusation and questioning whether God does see and whether God is just, then that's not fine. Back to you there, Jeff. Yeah, I agree.
Max, this kind of popped out to me, especially after setting Job. When it turns out that Job just finally threw up his arms, I said, I don't think I need to talk anymore. Yeah, copy that.
Well, sometimes when we're all done with reasoning and we're all done with trying to understand, sometimes it pays just to be quiet and wait and try and know that in God's time, He'll deal with the situation. Until then, we need to quiet our hearts, do our responsibilities. and wait on God's timing for deliverance from these wicked, evil men who seem to have such a long leash given to them until they're finally reined in.
Jeff, good comments and great observation. Thank you for that. All right, other comments from the passage.
Please come down. KB7ZX, sir. Kevin, KB7ZX, go ahead.
Yeah, KB7 is that extent. You know, it is quite an interesting psalm, and it looks like such a contrast from Psalm 9. Yeah, we know they are connected, the acrostic nature of the psalm continues in 10 from 9, though it is incomplete and a little bit inconsistent, but the same God that we studied in Psalm Psalm 9, the God of action, the God of justice, the holy, magnificent, glorious God is still the same God here.
But we see kind of the other part of life as God deals with mankind and I think you cover some of those elements very well in the introduction Max but but the question he's certainly asking here is because sometimes we do see that that the wicked do seem to prosper in and and it's really interesting in this lament of this Psalm The focus is really on the poor, the widows, the most vulnerable, how they really exploit the most vulnerable amongst us. And then, you know, as it continues on, it's broken down really in four sections. First, the complaint.
But really, interestingly and uniquely, verses 3 through 11, he really gets into the psychology of the wicked man and the wicked person in the kind of anatomy sketch of the mental nature, the psychological nature, a portrait, if you will, of the wicked person. And we see in there some of their behaviors, their motivations, and their behaviors. disregard for God altogether and you know how well we can relate to that if we look around us and in the world amongst us how many are there that just so wicked we see so plainly and such a disregard for God and seem to continue on in life with impunity Joseph and some of the injustices and things that he has done.
And I think, who was it? Eric or somebody mentioned Romans 8, 28. But it all comes back to God's doing his work through these seasons, through these times, as you say, max allowing the wicked to have this long leash but it also does give us the opportunity to have faith and trust in God that we know ultimately is the same glorious God of justice that we see here.
I think of Habakkuk and sometimes like this too where there's so much wickedness going on around him in his time and he's pleading to God, God, why aren't you doing something? What are you doing about all this wickedness? And God reveals to him what he's doing.
And then he realizes there's going to be great retribution upon the wicked and, uh, and judgment, and he's taken back by the extent. So, yes, even though we don't see what God is doing, we can trust that God is a God of action and his plan is being fulfilled. KP7, is that acceptable?
Yeah, Kevin, thanks for pointing out Habakkuk and the fact that that whole book revolves around this very conundrum, and that is, is that why is God not acting? Habakkuk chapter 1 and verse 2, "O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear?" even crowd under the violence now will not say and so he says the law is black and judgment never goes forth the wicked surround the righteous therefore wrong judgment proceeds so Habakkuk deals with this as well and of course the conclusion he comes to which is the same conclusion of psalm 10 and that is is that god will deal with it at the right time in the right way and when he does we will see that that was the best way to deal with it after all his judgment comes too soon There's no need for faith, and there's no opportunity for salvation. If it never comes, then that would upset the moral balance of the universe, and we can't have that because that would say that God is being unjust.
So what we have is we have a delay, but we always have a conclusion and a remedy. You know, what's interesting is as David utters this song, he says here in verse... 17, after praying, notice the note of confidence there in verse 17.
Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble, thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear, and judge the fatherless and the oppressed. that the man of the earth may no more. So you know judgment's coming.
He just doesn't know when, and he's having to exercise patience and pleading with God that it would come sooner rather than later. But we know that God's timing is impeccable. It's always perfect.
So, yeah, you know, the wicked attack the most vulnerable, right? And it's the ethic of Christianity that we protect the most vulnerable. You know, we support the weak, whereas the wicked exploit the weak.
And so we see Jesus always encouraging us to reach out to the least and the long and those who just are struggling the most. All other religions exploit the weak and the poor. Christianity reaches out to ministers to encourage and lift up the weak and the poor.
So, yeah, everyone's going to get God's justice or God's grace. It's just a matter of time, and we have to be patient. Thank God that he was patient with me for 17 years.
and my sins so that there was time and opportunity for me to be saved. All right. Great comment, sir.
Kevin, thank you. That was a comment. Please come down.
KD-7ES. Okay. We had a double there.
Eric, KD-7ES, you go first. Okay. Yeah.
Appreciate that. Yeah, I was just going to say, I was thinking about verse 8 and 9. It's King James who talks about the evil doer, or whatever.
- I don't know. that he, in a secret place, he does murder people. And, um, I don't know if he lies, but he secretly has a lie.
And, um, it's kind of a great, from what I recall, story with Joseph, who's a hunter. All his brothers, um, invite him to get rid of Joseph, and try to kill him, and they didn't kill him, and they sent him off and sold him off at the slavery. - I just think about what I'm thinking about, they held that secret for what, almost 20 years?
And they lied to Jacob, their father, they held that secret for all those years, but God had another plan. - Wow. ...
So, that was kind of my thought, that story about Joseph and his brothers. And, yeah, and also, I think it's called two of these, one of these, where, you know, it may not feel like it at the moment in time, but eventually, when you're involved in it, it is that love, love, love, love, love. And I'm just thinking about that, and I think...
Yeah, well said. And that's a perfect illustration of what we're talking about here. Joseph's brothers seem like they got away with it for 20 years.
Well, they didn't get away with it. And what's interesting, Eric, is how God manages the evil that the wicked do to accomplish his purposes and ultimately to ensnare them in their own devices. And over and over again, we read in the Bible that the wicked fall into the pit if they prepare and dig for the righteous or wicked.
To change the metaphor, they fall into the net or snare, but they spread for the righteous. So, you know, we don't need to fear the wicked. You know, we see how powerful they are.
We see how much money they have. We see the positions they're in. We see the destruction that they're bringing to pass.
And it's easy to go into despair over that. And yet what we've got to do is realize that just like with Joseph's situation, as you well said, God worked out His plans over the decades. And as you said, it took like 20 years for that plan to come to fruition and for judgment to be brought on those who did the wickedness.
But we see God managing that wickedness where... You know, they did capture their brother, they did throw him in a pit, and they did sell him into Egypt instead of killing him. And so God lets wickedness go as far as He needs for it to go.
And then He restrains any further wickedness. There's a verse in the Bible that says, "Even the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain." So He allows as much rebellion against Himself that serves His purposes and will ultimately redound to His praise. And then anything beyond that, they can't accomplish.
He puts a stop to it. So, great comments there, Eric. All right, Mark, TJ7PBT had a comment.
Mark, please come forward. ♪♪ I can hear you. Go ahead.
Thank you. *car engine noise* I'm sorry. ...
Yeah, Mark, thank you for that. So Mark was pointing out that this first verse of our scripture reading today in Psalm 10, where it says, Why standest thou after us, O Lord? Why hidest thyself in times of trouble?
He's saying that's similar to what Jesus said on the cross when he said, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? We know Jesus said, did not sin when he was questioning what God was doing, because he was asking in a spirit of humility and meekness and anguish, not in a spirit of defiance and rebellion and accusation. So that goes back to Jeff AK6OK's opening comment here and demonstrates, Mark, and thank you for that, that we can ask questions out of anguish to God and not sin when we ask them, provided they're asked with humility and not with accusation or arrogance.
So that was the first point that Mark made. And then the second point Mark made was out of Luke 4, verses 17 to 21, in which Jesus was reading in the synagogue there Isaiah 61. and basically what Mark was saying is that he read part of Isaiah 61, 1 to 3, but not the second half.
So Jesus came to do the first part there of Isaiah 61, where he came to... anointed him to preach the good tidings of the meek sent him to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim Liberty the captives the opening of prisons of them that are bound and to and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and he stopped right there well there's another verse and a half that he left out and the reason why he left that out is because that has yet to be fulfilled but it is going to be fulfilled There will come a day in which God will bring vengeance. There will come a day when God comforts all that mourn.
There will come a day when we have beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. That's going to happen, but it's going to happen in the future and not in the present. So even Jesus told us that there's going to be a partial fulfillment now of the promises of God, but there will always be an ultimate fulfillment of the promises of God in the future, and we just need to exercise faith in that.
So Mark, thank you for pointing out those passages and the teachings of Jesus regarding this situation. All right, other comments, please come down. Is that XM?
Is that XM? Go ahead. I think that's an outstanding point Mark made there, and it's so true because we see it's addressed with Christ, with Jesus in his earthly ministry.
You know, just reflecting on Luke, for example, I think starting in chapter 9, verse 51, where he points his face toward Jerusalem as he begins his walk or his march toward the cross there toward Jerusalem. In the 10 chapters that follow in that journey, we see him. reach out to the most vulnerable that have been victimized.
We see the outcasts, the marginalized, from the lepers, the blind, lifting up women who were absolutely not lifted up in that culture, lifting up the poor, exalting the Samaritan, the most despised of the ethnic groups. Worse than even a general Gentile was a Samaritan. And we see in chapter 10 the story of the Good Samaritan.
So Jesus here in his ministry does lift up and make the point of the most vulnerable people and the victims of the wicked that have been prospered in that period of time. Ultimately, we will see his fulfillment of reaching out to those most vulnerable. the first shall be last, the last shall be first, he teaches us.
So I think that's an excellent point that we see as we ask these questions through life. That is fulfilled in Christ, that God will make all things right. KB 7 is that example.
Yeah, Kevin, thanks for pointing that out. Yeah, Luke has an amazing narrative of the journey from Galilee down to Jerusalem before Jesus' crucifixion. It covers about eight chapters there, as I recall.
And during that time, what is Jesus doing? He's reaching out to the poor, the vulnerable, the women, the lepers, the blind, the blind. And we just see this extended narrative of Jesus not only not taking advantage of the poor and the weak and the vulnerable, but actually reaching out to them, ministering to them, lifting them up, showing that he is the opposite of the wicked who are described as taking advantage of the poor, the weak, and the vulnerable.
So... You know, other religions and cultures worship strength and dominance and power, condition, wealth. Jesus says, He will be greatest among you.
Let him be the servant of all. And we see him setting the example and washing the disciples' feet. We see him setting the example and reaching out to those that society despises and lifting them up.
with the strength that he has. So he uses the strength for blessing and not for abuse. And so let us use our strength and our resources to bless people around us and not to abuse them.
Kevin, good comment. Thank you for that illustration of that journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. It's recorded there in Luke 9, 51 and following.
All right, other comments, please come down. Roger, please go ahead. Yes, I'm down for it.
First of all, I'm an M Radio Heaven Guide. I've got an S1 noise level and I'm able to hear Mars, the beautiful fruit of so little noise. Mark, you're coming in beautifully up here in the Caldwell.
And I think that's what Mark was advertising too, that you highlighted too, Max, about that marvelous demonstration of the fulfillment of his open and opening prophecy that Isaiah 61 is being fulfilled and demonstrating that on that trip to Jerusalem. That's such a powerful point that's coming to my mind as the discussion is working out and that Mark is guided here and with the proponent stance of Jesus. Yeah, you bet.
So glad you're able to hear Roger and able to hear Mark. That's encouraging. I was able to pick him up as well with a good copy.
And so, yes, you know, what we're doing here, I want you to all just kind of step back and recognize what we're doing here. We are interpreting the Old Testament in light of the New Testament. And so we're taking these passages and we're saying, how does this relate to Jesus?
And how did Jesus speak? And how did Jesus act? And what did Jesus do as he lived out the positive teachings of Psalm 10?
And how did he lived out the complete opposite of what these wicked people do? and what an example that is for us. And so let us not be envious of the wicked.
Let's not be jealous of their position, their power, their resources, their apparent ability to get their agenda accomplished. When those things happen, we recognize that they're just playing into God's hands and unwittingly and unwillingly accomplishing God's purposes. And so as we see the movement of nations and people and all the choices they make in the Old Testament, we can see, looking back, here's how it all worked out.
And so in our current circumstance, We need to see with that same eye of faith and that same perspective, it's all going to work out. And in the meantime, God is saving his people. God is sanctifying his people.
He's building his kingdom. He's glorifying himself. And he's bringing justice on the wicked in his time and his ways.
And so faith sees all of that, and therefore faith has peace in the midst of all of that. And faith is filled with confidence, even, in the midst of all that. It's not like, well, I'm not really sure if this is going to work out or not.
No, we know it's going to work out. And that's the point that's being made here in verse 17 of our psalm. More thou hast heard the desire of the humble, thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine eye to hear, to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth, that's the wicked man, may no more oppress.
So this psalm encourages us. that yes, the wicked do very, very well for themselves in this life. But this life isn't all there is.
And we return to that perspective over and over again. We set our things and our affections on things above. and not on things of the earth.
All right. Any more comments, please come down. WB-70, Zillow.
Roger. Please go ahead. As I was doing a bit of work on 1st and 2nd Corinthians this morning, and hearing about the sexual aberrations of worship and the many prostitutes in the worship of Artemis, I couldn't help but think when I was reading this Psalm 10 about the victims and the lying weight like a lion.
And David's son, Solomon... has similar advice when he's talking about warning against adultery and adult pursuit in Proverbs chapter 6 and 7. It's a very similar feel, I guess, father and son.
I think they both had points of sexual addiction in their lives, and they said, hey, it's not worth it, over. Yeah, amen. And that's the thing, is that when you read Ecclesiastes, you know, vanity of vanity.
To follow the path of the wicked and to follow the path of the world and to follow the path of the flesh, it's just not worth it. In the end, it's all about fearing God and keeping his commandments. That's the whole duty of man.
That's where the path of happiness lies. It's not in having things. It's in having God.
And it's not in riches. It's in godliness with contentment. That's where the real wealth is.
And so what we do when we read the Bible is we reorient our perspective on who we are, our place in life, what we're doing. and how everything's going to work out. Because if you don't have the Bible to give you perspective and understanding, it just seems like chaos.
And it seems like evil is rewarded and good brings destruction. And so, therefore, let's do a bunch more evil so that good may come to us. And that's the lie of the devil.
It's what the sight of our eyes tell us. And yet when we read the Bible, we're told something entirely differently. And we've got to decide what perspective are we going to live by?
The sight of our eyes and our immediate circumstances? Or are we going to live by the eye of faith in the promises of God and the ultimate plan He's going to work out? And really that's the difference between the lost and the saved.
The lost see in the present, and they see in the immediate. And the saved see in the long term, and they see according to the promises. You know, it says here, Kevin talked earlier about looking into the psychology of the wicked man.
in verse 11 really captures it. He has said in his heart, God has forgotten. He hides his face.
He will never see it. And we say, God remembers, God sees all, and he will deal with it. So we think the opposite of the way they think.
All right, this has been a great psalm. Good comments this morning. Our time is gone.
We do need to go to prayer. Are there any final prayer requests before Jerry leads us in prayer? Please come down to the call site.
All right, Jerry, 8E7ER, I have a couple of things I want to bring to our attention. Before you go to prayer, let me grab my phone here. I want to read these...
They're not requests, they're just updates that came in to me yesterday. And this first one is from Doc, W6ROJ. Now Doc used to be a rural regular on the net here.
Doc was a medic in Vietnam, saved a ton of people's lives, and he's the guy who was establishing the dental clinic down in Pech. So we've been praying for Doc a lot, for his kidneys, right? So he writes this to me yesterday.
He says, "To a very special Christian group, good morning. During the dark times, it has been so comforting to know that you and the group have me in your prayers. Hospital time for me was approximately six plus weeks in three private hospitals and five Stanford attached military hospitals.
In the middle of the night many times I would review Bible promises searching for security that God always provides, yet we as humans keep searching for more even as it sits right in front of us. The medical team came up with an answer to my illness. And they said it was multiple myeloma, a form of treatable cancer that is detrimental to the kidneys.
It's treatable and provides positive outcome over a long period of extended life. I am in treatment and doing much better than I was. I thank a great God for that blessing along with a thankful heart and for your continued prayers.
None of us know the future, but we do know that whatever God has planned for us, it's It's better than an alternative that does not include what God has in mind for our lives. So that's Doc's extended report of where he has been for the last month and why he hasn't been on the air. And, of course, we've been praying for him every single day.
And yeah, it was just a picture of everything that Christ was going to do for us to see later and the foreshadowing of all that. Thank you so much for a great study and all the comments. I really appreciated all of them.
And I'm going to get to work. and for salvation. When that seventh trumpet sounds, it is over.
Roger, back to you. Yeah, yeah. The urgency is certainly in your proclamation, and it is.
Today is the day of salvation for sure. And we could have never predicted what ended up happening to us.
========== ### Scripture Reading (KJV)
Psalms 10:1-18
Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble? The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity. He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are upon the poor. He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones. He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it. Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble. Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it. Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless. Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none. The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land. LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.
### Study Summary
The study of Psalm 10 delves into the mystery of God's apparent slowness in dealing with wickedness and the contrasting attitudes of the righteous and the wicked. The passage begins with a plea to God, questioning why He seems distant during times of trouble. This reflects a common human sentiment, especially when faced with the oppression and pride of the wicked, who are described in vivid detail in the first part of the psalm.
God's patience is a central theme, as discussed in 2 Peter 3:9, where it is emphasized that God's delay is not due to indifference but rather a test of faith and an opportunity for salvation. The psalmist contrasts the wicked's pride and deceit with God's ultimate justice, which is seen in the plea for judgment and destruction of the wicked (verses 12-18).
The discussion also highlighted the importance of faith and trust in God's timing. The story of Joseph was used to illustrate how God can turn evil intentions into a means for good, as seen in Romans 8:28. This ties into the broader theme of God's ultimate plan and purpose, even in the face of apparent injustice.
The study also connected Psalm 10 to Jesus' ministry, particularly his words on the cross and his mission to bring good news to the poor and marginalized, as seen in Luke 4:17-21. This underscores the ongoing relevance of God's justice and care for the vulnerable, a theme that runs through the New Testament and is reflected in the psalmist's plea for God's intervention.
The contrast between the wicked and the righteous is a recurring theme, with the wicked's pride and lack of concern for God juxtaposed against the righteous's trust and reliance on God's protection. The study concluded with a reminder of God's eternal kingship and the ultimate fulfillment of His promises, emphasizing the importance of faith and trust in God's timing and justice. ==========