Shouting

Jane Denniston October 20, 2026 4 0

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Psalm 10 (NIVUK)

1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
    Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
    who are caught in the schemes he devises.
3 He boasts about the cravings of his heart;
    he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.
4 In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;
    in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
5 His ways are always prosperous;
    your laws are rejected by[b] him;
    he sneers at all his enemies.
6 He says to himself, ‘Nothing will ever shake me.’
    He swears, ‘No one will ever do me harm.’

7 His mouth is full of lies and threats;
    trouble and evil are under his tongue.
8 He lies in wait near the villages;
    from ambush he murders the innocent.
His eyes watch in secret for his victims;
9     like a lion in cover he lies in wait.
He lies in wait to catch the helpless;
    he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
10 His victims are crushed, they collapse;
    they fall under his strength.
11 He says to himself, ‘God will never notice;
    he covers his face and never sees.’

12 Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
    Do not forget the helpless.
13 Why does the wicked man revile God?
    Why does he say to himself,
    ‘He won’t call me to account’?
14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
    you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
    you are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked man;
    call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
    that would not otherwise be found out.

16 The Lord is King for ever and ever;
    the nations will perish from his land.
17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;
    you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
    so that mere earthly mortals
    will never again strike terror.

This seems like a psalm written for today! How often do we read newspapers, watch television, scroll through social media sites, and despair at the state of the world. Do you, like me, feel like shouting at the businessmen who are amassing great wealth while people starve and at great cost to the planet? At politicians who drive wedges between people and foster hatred and prejudice? Or who fail to take action on climate change? Or who consistently seem to favour the extremely wealthy over the rest of us in their taxation policies? Or who seem to think that the public purse is bottomless? Or who undermine faith values? Do you, like me, shout at the television screens when politicians trot out the same old clichés in response to questions about real people who are really hurting. Where is God? Why does he not intervene?

The psalmist believes that the time, in his time, when evil seems to prosper will not last forever. ‘The Lord is King for ever and ever… O, Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek … do justice for the orphan and the oppressed.’ Or, in the words of the popular saying: “Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not yet the end.” It’s certainly comforting to think that in the end God’s purposes will be achieved and all will be well in heaven and on earth. The difficulty is that we live in this time of ‘not yet’. Will we keep faith with a God who can seem very distant when we are in the midst of difficulty and darkness? Yet even in the darkness there is evidence of God’s love for us, care for us, and presence with us, and perhaps that is enough. We have a God who has suffered and knows what it is to grieve. Emmanuel: God with us.

Prayer:

God of all creation

teach us to pray.

Give us the words to express the hurt in our hearts,

the confusion in our minds

and the pain in our eyes

as we watch your world tear itself apart.

Give us the love to heal what we can.

Give us the wisdom to know how to play our part –

or even what that part is!

Give us the peace to know that you have not and will not abandon us.

Build your kingdom here, O, Lord, and begin with me, Amen