The Lord who hears the desire of the humble
[Psalms 10]
Yesterday during the morning prayer meeting, the Holy Spirit helped me to ask God for my wish. As I ask God for my wish, which was offered to Him with little pain in my heart, little tears were shed. It was tears of earnestly desire. That wish was ‘God's holiness and God's glory.' The Holy Spirit enabled me to earnestly pray to God for me to dwell in the arms of the holy and glorious Father: ‘Maranatha!, Lord come!’
The Bible Psalms 10:17 says that God hears “the desire of the humble.” When we humbly bow down before the holy and glorious God and offer the desire of the humble, our Lord is the God who answers our prayer. Then, I would like to think first about who the humble is in four ways:
First, the humble is the afflicted.
Look at Psalms 10:2, 9 - “In pride the wicked hotly pursue the afflicted; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised. … He lurks in a hiding place as a lion in his lair; He lurks to catch the afflicted; He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net.” A true believer is the afflicted. Here, the afflicted refers to the one who suffers (Park). Living in this sinful world, the true believer suffers because of the wicked (vv. 3, 4, 14, 15). The wicked people trouble the Christians in these and those ways. So whenever we are in trouble, we must humbly bow down and ask Heavenly Father.
Second, the humble is “the unfortunate.”
Look at Psalms 10:8, 10, 14 – “He sits in the lurking places of the villages; In the hiding places he kills the innocent; His eyes stealthily watch for the unfortunate. … He crouches, he bows down, And the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones. … You have seen it, for You have beheld mischief and vexation to take it into Your hand The unfortunate commits himself to You; You have been the helper of the orphan.” The true believer is the unfortunate. For the Lord’s righteousness, the true believer has to be unfortunate. We live in a world filled with injustice and become unfortunate for the Lord's righteousness. We who suffer because of the wicked’s unrighteousness are unfortunate in this sinful world.
Third, the humble is “the helpless.”
Look at Psalms 10:12 – “Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.” The true believer is the helpless. The true believer is poor in spirit (Mt. 5:3). In the midst of hardships and pressures, our spirits are bound to be poor. Therefore, we are longing for heaven (v. 3). Just as Moses so longed for Canaan, the Promised Land in the wilderness at the time of Exodus with the poor in his spirit, we live in this world that is like the wilderness and long for the heaven even more.
Fourth and last, the humble is “the fatherless and the oppressed.”
Look at Psalms 10:18 – “defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.” The true believer is the one who is oppressed by “that man, who is of the earth” (v. 18). The true believer lives like an orphan without parents in this world. The sincere believer is the orphan who is persecuted and suffering by Satan, the father of those in the world.
Then what is “the desire of the afflicted”? We can think in four ways:
First, the desire of the afflicted is ‘May the wicked man caught in the schemes he devises in his arrogance.’
Look at Psalms 10:2 – “In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises.” The wicked man who digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit he has made (7:15). In other words, the pit that the arrogant wicked man has made is his thoughts that “There is no God” (10:4). He digs the pit of thought that “There is no God” and in that pit, there are full of thoughts, “God has forgotten; He has hidden His face; He will never see it” (v. 11). Therefore, the wick will be caught in the plots which they have devised (v. 2). For this, the humble man prayed to God and offered his desire to Him.
Second, the desire of the afflicted is “Do not forget the helpless.”
Look at Psalms 10:12 – “Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.” In the wicked’s thought, there is no God and God won’t remember the helpless. That’s why the psalmist, the true believer offered his desire “Do not forget the helpless.”
Third, the desire of the afflicted is “Seek out his wickedness until You find none.”
Look at Psalms 10:15 – “Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer, Seek out his wickedness until You find none.” The psalmist offered his prayer of desire to destroy the power of the wicked until there is no wickedness. He who feared God hated wickedness this much that he desired his holy and just God to completely destroy the wicked’s wickedness.
Fourth and last, the desire of the afflicted is ‘Judge the wicked so that the man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror.’
Look at Psalms 10:18 – “To vindicate the orphan and the oppressed, So that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror.” The psalmist prayed to God to judge the man who is of the earth so that he could no longer threaten the humble.
So how did God answer the psalmist’s desire prayer? What kind of God did he experienced?
First, the psalmist experienced God who sees everything.
Look at Psalms 10:14 – “You have seen it, for You have beheld mischief and vexation to take it into Your hand The unfortunate commits himself to You; You have been the helper of the orphan.” The Lord is the God who sees the cruel acts of the wicked on the earth and the unfortunate circumstances of the saints. Although the wicked said,'God does not see' (v. 4) or 'God has forgotten and has covered his face; He will never see it' (v. 11), the psalmist lamented “Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, "He won't call me to account"?” for God’s glory (v. 13). But God sees trouble and grief (v. 14). He is the God who sees everything.
Second, the psalmist experienced God pays back with His hands.
Look at Psalms 10:14 – “But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.” “The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him All his thoughts are, ‘There is no God’” (v. 4). “He says to himself, ‘I will not be moved; Throughout all generations I will not be in adversity’” (v. 6). But the Lord will judge them (v. 18) and will completely destroy the power of the wicked (v. 15).
Third and last, the psalmist experienced God who helps the true believers who trust in Him.
Look at Psalms 10:14 – “You have seen it, for You have beheld mischief and vexation to take it into Your hand The unfortunate commits himself to You; You have been the helper of the orphan.” Those who know God’s name put their trust in Him (9:10) and humbly pray their desire to God. Then the Lord is the God who hears their prayer and answers it. God, who helped the psalmist who needed help, is with us with His grace to help in time of need.
Our Lord is the Lord who hears the desire of the humble. It is our God who answers the prayers of a humble, lonely, poor-spirited, orphan and oppressed believers. d
Our God is the Lord who causes evil and arrogant ones who afflict and oppress us to be caught in the plots which they have devised, judge them and destroy them thoroughly, so that they no longer threaten the humble. The Lord who does not forget the afflicted and hears their prayers of desire is the God who helps us to judge the wicked in righteousness and to give salvation to the humble because He sees everything. Let's humbly ask this God our desire.
With desire for the holiness and glory of God,
James Kim
(Humbly asking my desire to God)