Psalm 10 - the Prowling Lion



God, as I read this psalm, my heart goes to two places.

First, ever since I heard the reading of this psalm from the Bible Experience, I can’t help but imagine a slave woman in America 200 years ago. As she finds a moment of solace under the night sky, I hear her pleas. I hear her affliction. I hear her cry in the face of injustice. I hear the anger. I hear the pain. I hear the wickedness of oppression. I hear the evil of those that seek to steal, kill, and destroy.

And God, when I read this psalm, I can’t help but think of the spiritual battle I face every day. Peter would say that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Much of this psalm is a personification of the evil one - who seeks our very life (John 10:10).

God, evil lurks in the shadows looking for an opportunity to seize and overcome the helpless. The problem for me, though, is that I go through life unaware of evil’s lurking presence.

Sometimes evil truly takes on a face. We see it in a dictator’s eyes as he is bent on destruction. We see it in a slaveholder who used power to beat, oppress, and steal life from an enslaved person.

But, unless I turn on the news, I live in a world where I don’t have to look obvious evil in the eye. And as a result, I grow numb to the lion in the shadows. I grow numb to subtle evil. I grow numb to my tolerance of “little” sins in my life.

God, make me acutely aware of the evil lurking in my pride; in my moments of indifference to you; in my impatience; in my independence; in a lingering look; in superior attitudes; in complaining; in my worry; in self-glorification; in judgmentalism; in my indifference to real need; in my lack of concern for the lost; in my desire to have things on my terms; and a thousand other subtle sins.

God, thank you for the reminder that evil is never satisfied with just a little - but it seeks to crush me (v. 10) - that the lurking lion who seeks to devour me is quietly and ever so patiently prowling even in the subtle sins in my life.

And Jesus, thank you that you allowed evil to strike a lethal blow to you, all so Satan would be ultimately crushed (Genesis 3:15). And thank you that in crushing satan, I don’t have to be crushed under evil.

Jesus, thank you!

Amen

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