Psalms is one of my favorite books. Using different genres and invoking an array of emotions, Psalms is a book for the whole person. Psalms are for the intellect, will, and emotions. Each week a new Psalm will be added for reflection and contemplation. As you read the Psalms, pray it will deepen your affections for God and help you express your feelings to God.
Psalms are made up of different genres. Each genre highlights different emotions. Lament, Thanksgiving, Royal, Wisdom, Messianic, Remembrance—just to name a few.
Enter into emotion. The Psalms call readers to acknowledge and name emotion, encouraging us to empathize with the author. They express joy, sadness, love, anger, and thanksgiving, reminding us we are not alone in how we feel.
Pray through the Psalm. Learning to pray through Scripture calls us to slow down and see God’s heart, truth, and posture towards us in the midst of our experiences and feelings.
Reflect on the Psalm. Take time to review the Psalm for the week. Answer the reflection questions. I am praying for you as you reflect in the Psalms each week! Go slowly. Don’t rush. Your purpose is not to accomplish something, but spend time with someone (Jesus).
Take your time. This is not a race! Intentionally make space each day to read and reflect on the Psalm. We are going to spend about a week on each Psalm. The goal is to learn how to linger and enjoy a relationship with God through the reading of His Word.
Day 1: Read the Psalm. Just read it. Maybe read it twice.
Day 2: Answer the Reflection Questions.
Day 3: Personally Reflect on the Psalm. Write some reflections and questions about the Psalm. What is your favorite verse, why?
Day 4: Write a Prayer for yourself based on the Psalm
Day 5: Slowly Reread the Psalm.
Psalm 10 - Why Do You Hide Yourself?
1 Why, O Lord, do you stand far away?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.
3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul,
and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord.
4 In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him;
all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”
5 His ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, out of his sight;
as for all his foes, he puffs at them.
6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.”
7 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
8 He sits in ambush in the villages;
in hiding places he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
9 he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket;
he lurks that he may seize the poor;
he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.
10 The helpless are crushed, sink down,
and fall by his might.
11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,
he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”
12 Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;
forget not the afflicted.
13 Why does the wicked renounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”?
14 But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless commits himself;
you have been the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
call his wickedness to account till you find none.
16 The Lord is king forever and ever;
the nations perish from his land.
17 O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
18 to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
Reflection Questions
Verse 2 talks about the arrogance of the wicked pursue the poor. The prayer is that the wicked would be caught in their own schemes. What does this tell us about how God views the poor.
What are the attributes you learn about God in this passage?
What does this passage say about the wicked? Have you prayed for someones are to be broken like in verse 15?
What does this passage tell us about justice?
“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”