Psalm 10—Where Is The Lord? (Part 3): Looking For Christ

by on September 21, 2024

This series has looked at Psalm 10 to draw out its teaching that God is near to his people even when we do not feel like he is. That point comes out through David’s twofold prayer. He first laments how the wicked seem to get away with their pretense that they will never be held liable to God. Second, he prays for God to act in light of a reflexive reminder to himself that God is the king who always does right.

This article aims to show the Christocentric aspect of Psalm 10. How does this psalm point us to Christ? The whole Psalter is, after all, messianic, and holistically teaches us about the king of Psalm 2.

Psalm 10 in the New Testament

The way we see Christ in Psalm 10 is perhaps surprising compared to how that reality shows up in other psalms. In Romans 3:14, Paul cited Psalm 10:7 as evidence that the whole world stands condemned in our sin. We should bear in mind that Paul well knew this verse’s original context among its own chain of laments about the wicked. Rightly, Paul was invoking, in shorthand fashion, Psalm 10’s whole description of the wicked as evidence for why every sinner cannot be righteous or even turn ourselves to God.

That makes sense within Paul’s overarching argument in Romans 3:9–20. In Psalm 10, David stacked up a list of indictments against the wicked. Similarly, in Romans 3:10–18, Paul composed his own list of indictments against the wicked, most of which he collected from the Psalms.

“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Paul understood Psalm 10 as providing biblical evidence for the problem of sin as it condemned everyone, leaving us in need of the gospel.

This New Testament connection means that Psalm 10 is a testimony against all who are ungodly. It proclaims the curse of the law against sinners alienated from God. The reality that David perceived, that the wicked need to be held to account for their unrighteousness, is still an operating truth today.

Christ Praying Psalm 10

Considering that Psalm 10 is the king’s prayer against all the wickedness around him, even as a continuing New Testament reality, this psalm is a fitting prayer from Jesus Christ himself as he might look upon the whole world. Why is it that the wicked prosper when the Messiah himself was crucified? Were there not moments when God the Son, during his time of humiliation and suffering on earth, would lament over the sinfulness around him and feel that God was standing far away from what is right?

By right, Christ could stand in judgment against all humanity. In that position, he would speak these words of lament over unrighteousness against us all. Psalm 10 fittingly gives voice to God the Son’s denunciation of all that is evil.

Yet, Christ is the Lord who is king, who heard the afflicted even in our sinfulness. He is the king who continued in his own suffering so that he might relieve the suffering of those who see their need for mercy. Jesus Christ the truly righteous suffered under the curse of the whole law so that he could bring relief to the righteous who were once wicked in God’s sight.

When the overarching concern of Psalm 10 is that God seems to be far away in times of trouble, Christ definitively shows that God does not stand far away from us. In Jesus Christ, God came near. God the Son assumed our nature so that God could step into history to come near to sinners for our rescue. He gave his life to the cross to forgive our sins. For all who trust in him, we are transferred from the status of wicked to the status of righteous in God’s sight.

So, we know that God will not let wickedness prevail forever because Christ will come again. He has come near, and he will appear again to deal the final blow to unrighteousness across creation. Whenever we feel like God is hiding himself, we remember that Christ has not forgotten the need to cleanse the world. Even when it feels as if God is hidden, we must always keep looking for him because he has promised to come through for us.

© Harrison Perkins. All Rights Reserved.

You can find this whole series here.

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