God of the poor and weak
In their quest for wealth and power, dishonest employers and violently oppressive governments upend people’s lives. This makes it seem that God doesn’t see or care, but David assures us he does.
1 Why are you avoiding me, YHWH
hiding away when I’m in trouble?
2 Evildoers brazenly harass the powerless.
Make them victims of their own schemes!
3 The wicked celebrate their unbridled lusts.
They applaud the greedy and curse YHWH.
4 Too full of themselves to seek him
they push him right out of their minds.
5 Yet they succeed in all they do
and scoff at their opponents
without regard for your judgment.
6 They tell themselves
“Nothing will ever shake me—
my luck will never run out!”
7 Their mouths spew curses, lies and threats.
Mischief and evil well up
from under their tongues.
8 They lurk on the edge of town
stealthily watching for the innocent
waiting to isolate them and murder them.
9 They lurk like lions
ready to pounce on the helpless
grab them and drag them away.
10 The helpless are crushed and collapse
overpowered.
11 The powerful tell themselves,
“God has forgotten all about us—
he’s looking the other way
and won’t see a single thing we do!”
12 Do something, YHWH!
Raise your hand in judgment.
Don’t forget the afflicted.
13 How dare the wicked sneer at God
and say in their heart,
“He won’t ever call us to account!”
14 But you do see!
You see the trouble and torment they cause
and will yet square accounts with them.
The poor and helpless trust in your care
because you’re the helper of orphans.
15 Break the striking arm of the wicked.
Go after their evil
till there’s no more left to be found.
16 YHWH is king forever and ever!
Those who worship other gods
will ultimately disappear from his land.
17 YHWH,
you know the hopes of the helpless.
You will surely hear their cries
and give them courage to go on.
18 You’ll champion the cause of orphan and oppressed
so that mere mortals terrorize no more.
Psalms 9 and 10 are crafted as a single acrostic, with Hebrew’s “a” (aleph) beginning Psalm 9, its “z” (tav) beginning Psalm 10’s final poetic unit. This tells us we should read the two psalms as completing each other. And this two-psalm prayer has an agonizing “Why?” at its heart (10:1-11). Hounded by the wicked, David is desperate for God, but God is nowhere in sight. Psalm 1 says the wicked don’t prosper, but that’s not what David sees here. Their every success makes the wicked more arrogant. Religious or not, they refuse to let God cramp their style, one marked by greed, aggression, curses, lies, threats, and oppression. They’re confident the sun will always shine on them, that God has too much else going on to bother with them.
But God sees all they do and knows all the pain they cause. He’s the defender of orphans and the powerless even when it doesn’t look like he is. So David urges him to remember the afflicted, defend the weak and put the wicked out of commission. However bleak things are, God still reigns and will root evil out of the land till those who serve false gods and think God is indifferent to what they do are nowhere to be found.
In our vulnerability and pain, we may struggle to believe that. But this is when, like David, we need to pray as if we’re badgering an indifferent judge. YHWH knows the hopes of the powerless. He’ll hear their cries, give them courage, and champion their cause till mortals are indeed put out of the business of oppression once and for all.
Jesus, evildoers grow bolder and bolder in their attacks on the weak. It often seems you don’t see, don’t care. But you know what it is to be helpless and you do care. So please remember the poor. Stand up and defend them till you’ve totally rooted evil out of our land. Amen.
During your free moments today, pray these words:
You’ll champion the cause of orphan and oppressed
so that mere mortals terrorize no more.
