Psalm 10
Lamentation
Though He Seems Far Off, God Beholds All and Will Vindicate the Oppressed
1 Why do You stand afar off, O LORD?
Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?
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.
· “[I]n their straits pious men chiefly complain of the absence of God; because they have found that in all that concerns them, God and his providence are chiefly to be regarded, because the absence of God is cause of the greatest consternation to all creatures, and because the presence of God brings adequate consolation against all evils.”
· “Our ground of glorying in God is that he is just. He tries the righteous as gold is tried in the furnace, but he punishes the wicked. The one is corrected, the other is destroyed. Both may suffer; but the one for his present and eternal good, the other as the prelude to everlasting ruin.”
· “Cecil was pacing to and fro in the Botanic Garden at Oxford when he observed a fine specimen of the pomegranate almost cut through the stem. On asking the gardener the reason, he got an answer which explained the wounds of his own bleeding spirit. ‘Sir, this tree used to shoot so strong, that it bore nothing but leaves. I was, therefore, obliged to cut it in this manner, and when it was almost cut through, then it began to bear plenty of fruit.’ Ye suffering members of Christ, be thankful for every sorrow which weakens a lust or strengthens a grace. Though it should be a cut to the heart, be thankful for every sin and idol shorn away. Be thankful for whatever makes your conscience more tender, your thoughts more spiritual, and your character more consistent. Be thankful that it was the pruning-knife and not the weeding-hook which you felt: for if you suffer in Christ, you suffer with him; and if with him you suffer, with him you shall also reign.”