May 28 Daily Devotional

There Is None Righteous: A Meditation on the Tenth Psalm

Psalm 10

1 Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.
4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
5 His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.
7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
8 He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.
9 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.
10 He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.
11 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.
12 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.
13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.
14 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.
15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.
16 The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.
17 LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.

Devotional

As God would have us know the righteous man that we might walk in his ways, so He often bids us behold the wicked man that we might flee from him.

In letting us see the wicked man, God is also showing us our own deceitful and wicked hearts. Wickedness does not belong to one class of men but to all men. Another's wickedness should cause us to turn from it, but the finger should always be pointed at ourselves for the filthiness and corruption that lies hidden in our own hearts. Where is the man that doeth good? The Scriptures say that none doeth good and that there is none righteous, no, not one. We are all like sheep who have gone astray, who have turned each to his own way.

Look Within

It is our deceitful hearts that God wishes us to see. Is there pride? What man is free from it? Even the most religious are motivated by it. Such things do not find acceptance with God. It is pride, also, that makes one unwilling to accede to the terms of salvation proposed by God; the proud man is unwilling to submit to divine sovereignty and to accept the gratuitous gift of the only Saviour from sin.

Are there selfish and ambitious purposes? These are often bad because of the harm they work on our souls, but when the rights and comforts of others are disregarded, these become heinous sins. Does it not matter how we accomplish our purposes? Do we say, "The end justifies the means"?

Is there self-boasting, which almost always causes one to look with disdain on the things of others? Often men boast of that which should be regarded as a disgrace. Instead of holding their heads high, they should cover their faces with the blush of shame. Oh, what a finished and shameless depravity is man's! His ways are perverse, forced and hard. The great principles of truth are far from him. And through it all he behaves as though God were taking no knowledge of what he is doing. He says that God will never see his doings, or if he does not actually say it, he acts upon this denial of God.

(to be continued)