Psa 10:1 (NIV) Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

2 Pet 3:9 (NIV) The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. God allows evil people time to repent of their evil ways; but, in the mean time they are hurting us. It is VERY important for us to see how He works with them and us at the same time. So, let’s open our heart to God’s procedures for trying to help everyone make it into His eternal Kingdom.

God takes the challenges wicked people create in our life and uses them to teach us through them. He helps us learn how to deal with evil while using His principles and training. He helps us take advantage of their evil by using our relationship with Him to win. We need to be empowered to use His procedures to handle everything they try to do to us and others. He wants to give us great knowledge, foreknowledge of the future, understanding, wisdom, power, and love. He wants to make us into people who can handle evil people the way He want them handled.

Rather than us trying to handle evil people using our techniques, God wants to help us see there is no one we can turn to but Him. Jesus told us how to treat evil people in His sermon in Matthew chapters 5 through 7. But, it is going to take a lot of prayer and His power to be able to live like that. As long as we keep using our procedures, God will hold back and wait for us to realize we need Him and turn to Him.

Another reason God holds back is when He is allowing evil people to do things in order for us to be corrected. We don’t always understand God’s plan; but, we do need to submit to it. We need to find out what we did; and, we need to find out what we can do to reestablish our relationship with Him. We need to find out what His discipline is trying to accomplish. If we ask Him to let us know what our part is, He will show us how to bring ourselves back together with Him. Then we will win over evil through God’s help.

Psa 10:2 (NIV) In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. The wicked can do great damage to the weak; but, God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. The wicked think they are getting away with all they are doing; but, God is just giving them a time to repent. Many compound their wickedness and increase it each day. They laugh at the weak, who are their prey, thinking they are winning. But, they misunderstand God’s grace and mercy; and, they rejoice because of the people who are caught in their schemes. They are getting rich by loving things and using people. They don’t realize that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. In all of this we are to learn and teach others that God is the Champion of the weak rather than the strong.

Psa 10:3 (NIV) He boasts of the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD. The wicked are constantly boasting in the evil cravings of their hearts; they applaud the greedy; they revile God’s Name. They hate Him and His people; they desecrate the hearts of those who what to be pure. They are continually speaking against God and all He stands for. They make fun of all who call on His Name. They are trying to empty all His meeting places. They are spending all their time bringing accusations against the righteousness He provides; and, they hate His Son. They try to steal all of the time God’s people should be devoting to Him. BUT, God is using all their schemes and organizations to teach us how to win against their evil by using the power of good. Rom 12:21 (NIV) Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Psa 10:4 (NIV) In his pride the wicked does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. The wicked think they are too good and too smart to seek after God. They have crowded out all thoughts of Him and His ways. They are doing their best to crowd out the thoughts of Him in all the people of the earth. They are filling the educational systems with lies about all God has made. They are pushing the governmental systems to remove references to God from all public places. They won’t seek Him and they won’t let anyone else seek Him either. He wants to help us defeat all their efforts; He wants to help us be used to bring Him back into the schools, governmental systems, entertainment, businesses, and all of society. He wants to help His people win over all evil attempts. He wants to help us see that no matter how successful the wicked appear to be, He will use us to win over them.

Psa 10:5 (NIV) His ways are always prosperous; he is haughty and Your laws are far from him; he sneers at all his enemies. We can be impressed with the fact that the wicked are making vast amounts of money and are gaining high positions of influence. We can see them as being invincible to all who try to defeat them. They act like God’s laws do not apply to them; and, it sometimes looks like they aren’t being governed by them. They make fun of all who serve God; and, sometimes we are influenced by their opinions. They think there is no God Who can take them down; and, God giving them time to repent can cause us to agree with them. But, God wants to help us see that He will work through us to set people free from their evil. We just need to let the power of God’s Word flow through us to defeat everything they are trying to do.

Psa 10:6 (NIV) He says to himself, “Nothing will shake me; I'll always be happy and never have trouble.” The wicked brag about their power and positions. They think they will always have happiness and never face defeat. They see all this success at polluting society as guaranteeing their future happiness. They think they have no enemies. They consider themselves as being too powerful to be brought down. BUT, God is empowering us to use their efforts to show people the difference between these evil people and Him. The procedures they use to get where they are, are hurting people. We and God will show those hurt people a way to be involved in His win/win way of life. His principles will shine into the darkness of the evil person’s methods and set these damaged people free. He wants to help us draw these people out of their companies, out of their “friendships,” out of their influence, and out of their power.

Psa 10:7 (NIV) His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue. The wicked feel free to say anything they want. They see no need to control the words of their mouth. They know God is against such words. Yet, they curse, lie, and threaten everyone around them. They have no shame for the trouble they are causing. They feel no wrong with the evil they are inflicting against others. BUT, that is their weakness; that is the thing that will cause people to want to get away from them. God is giving us a life of love, care, help, compassion, and sharing. He will keep empowering us to help people be set free from these evil people. He will use us to break this evil power over them. He will set them free from being impressed with evil. He will set them on a new path that will be wonderful, honest, loving, unifying, and successful.

Psa 10:8 (NIV) He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent, watching in secret for his victims. The wicked steal children from their homes and women from their families. They put them in sex slavery and sell their bodies without any fear. They are murdering innocent people with drugs and alcohol. They are destroying families without any remorse. They are currently watching in secret for new victims. They have no plans to stop their destruction. BUT, God is empowering us to pray against them; He is empowering us to train people to go set them free; He is empowering us to find these damaged people and give them His new life; and, He is empowering us to train these people to go out and do the same for others. He is forming an army of righteous people to overwhelm these evil people.

Psa 10:9 (NIV) He lies in wait like a lion in cover; he lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net. The wicked of this generation are like lions in secret cover. They have no compassion for the helpless. All they care about is their own appetite. They never see the damage they are doing to the helpless. They freely drag them off to slavery, addiction, depravity, and death. God wants to let us and all His people see that we are vital to these victims. We and God are their only hope for protection and deliverance. He wants to help us devote our time, effort, and money to being His people. He wants us to go forth in great power and effectiveness. He wants to empower us to care about these victims and go set them free. He wants to let us win against evil and evil people. He wants to give us His power, His love, His ministry, and His message of deliverance.

Psa 10:10 (NIV) His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength. Evil is too powerful for humans to resist. Its victims have no way to save themselves. The victims know they are in horrible trouble; but, no one is willing to hear their cry. They can’t help themselves; and, those who should love them won’t get involved. God wants to help us not be impressed with their strength; He wants to help us not be intimidated by their viciousness; and, He wants to help us not be afraid of what they might do to us. He will empower us to go forth and face them head on. He will help us be like David was with Goliath and face them on their own battle field. We just need to know that God is our power, our skill, our wisdom, and our victory. He will help us fight for His cause and the cause of these innocent victims.

Psa 10:11 (NIV) He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He covers His face and never sees.” The wicked think that God has either forgotten or is covering His face so He won’t see; he thinks he is going unnoticed. He thinks that the God of all power is going to keep letting him go on untouched. He thinks that the reason he has been so successful is because God won’t do anything about it; but, God has already begun His work. He has prepared people who are a mighty army against them. He has armed us with the power of prayer, the power of His truth; the power of His salvation; and the power of His ministry. He wants to send us and all His people against all these evil people are doing. He will help us defeat their efforts by showing the whole earth how great He is and all He wants to do to set them free.

Psa 10:12 (NIV) Arise, LORD! Lift up Your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. God is empowering His people with His power to love. He is changing our hearts so we will care what is going on. BUT, He won’t do it without us; and, we can’t do it without Him. We need Him to first lift up His hand to all of us. We need to ask Him to transform our lives so we will do what we have been called to do. We know it isn’t God Who has forgotten the helpless; we know it is us. He has provided us with weapons that are powerful. He has given them to us so we would use them to pull down strongholds. 2 Cor 10:4 (NIV) The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We need His help to believe and use this Scripture for His glory and honor.

God sees what is going on; we see what is going on. We think we are waiting on God; and, He is, in fact, waiting on us. He has given us all the equipment to do this work. But, first of all, we lack the love to respond to the situation. We must ask God to open our hearts to this situation. We need God’s help to love Him so much that we will get involved in the devastation the wicked are creating. 1 John 4:4 (NIV) You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One Who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. God is greater in us than the evil one who is in the world. All power has been given to Jesus and Jesus is alive in us. His ministry is at work in and through us. We can do all things through Him Who is strengthening us (Phil 4:13).

Psa 10:13 (NIV) Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, “He won't call me to account”? We need to realize that we are the reason why the wicked man is reviling God. Our delay in “doing what it takes” to set these people free is giving him the impression that he is safe. Our not making ourselves available to God is giving him time to do what he wants to do. We need to make ourselves available so God can call him into account. The wicked person can say or think what he wants to; but, He is wrong. God will use us and others of His people to put a stop to all these atrocities. We just need to open our heart to God’s provisions. We just need to ask Him to cleanse us from everything that is interfering with His work in and through us.

Psa 10:14 (NIV) But You, O God, do see trouble and grief; You consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless. It isn’t God Who is failing the people of this world; He cares. He sees the trouble and grief that these people are suffering. He wants to take it all in His hands. These victims have been calling out to Him; and we haven’t offered to give Him our body to handle it through. We need to realize that we are here to learn how to love a planet of people. We are here to learn how to love each individual person. We are here to learn how to be a channel through which God flows to the needs of His people.

God already knew how to do all these things. If it was all going to be done by Him alone, He didn’t need to create us. He created us to show forth His glory, His power, His love, and His principles. He wants to use us to care and respond. God is the helper of the fatherless; we are the channel through which that help flows. We must give ourselves to Him. We need to say, “Here I am, God, send me.” We need to say “yes” to the response He has for these troubled and grieving people. We need to say “yes” to helping all who have committed themselves to God.

Psa 10:15 (NIV) Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out. God wants to use us to break the arm of the wicked and evil men. God has called us to care what happens to them. It is us who need to stand up and fight the good fight of faith. It is us who need to use spiritual warfare to yield to the Holy Spirit’s power, wisdom, and training. We need to ask God to open us up to all He has for us. He wants to do a collaborative work in the world that drives out the wicked and their effect on people.

God wants us to believe in Him; If we know we are nothing in ourselves, and if we know we can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us, things will be different. God didn’t send us forth to spread His message of the gospel without equipping us to do the job. His power has been made available to drive Satan out of the lives of the people who are willing. We just need to ask Him to prepare the way for us. We just need to ask Him to bring the wicked person into account and ferret out his deeds for all to see. We need God to make it obvious that his deeds are evil and should be defeated.

Psa 10:16 (NIV) The LORD is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from His land. Those people in each nation who refuse to serve God must perish. Those who resist Him and His message must be rendered powerless. They need to be kept from being able to block God’s message. Everyone who wants to hear it, must be given an opportunity to hear it. Everyone must have a chance to know Who God is and what He has to offer them. We need to ask Him to make sure they are given a complete opportunity.

Psa 10:17 (NIV) You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; You encourage them, and You listen to their cry, Psa 10:18 (NIV) defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.

VERSE SEVENTEEN: God is holding the afflicted in His care right now. He is keeping them alive so we can bring them His message. We need to ask Him to help all of His people to get to them and provide them with His Truth. We need to thank Him for hearing their cry and ask Him to help us hear it as well. We need God to draw our heart to them. He will help us recognize them when we come in contact with them. He will help them stand out in the crowd. He will let our eyes be opened to their afflictions. He will help us feel their pain. He wants to give us His compassion for these suffering people.

VERSE EIGHTEEN: Let’s ask God to defend the parentless and oppressed people who are suffering at the hands of men. As we ask Him to keep them safe from the terror that evil men desire to inflict on them, it helps our heart to join Him in caring for them. Before we get to them with the message, God needs to prepare these oppressed people’s hearts for His delivering message. He has all they need to not only be delivered themselves; but, to start being used by God to set others free.

God wants to help us gain the victory over evil. We need His anointing to empower us to be His hands and feet to the needs of the world. He wants to help us see how great He is in us. That will help us stop seeing ourselves in the same condition we were before Jesus came inside us; He changed everything. We must be set free from measuring ourselves as if Jesus were not present in us. These false attitudes keep us from doing what Jesus has commissioned us to do. We must not tie Jesus’ hands or hinder His work. It is vital that we accept the fact that we are completely connected to Him and that He makes the difference.

The wctlc.com’s Start Page can take you to a course study book with a list of prayer examples for the first fifty Psalms. If you want to get a copy of that set of Psalms and prayer examples--on wctlc.com’s Start Page, select: “I would like to have some good MATERIALS to use to help others.” Then select “Praying The Psalms.” Then scroll down to the “Praying The Psalms Book” and select it.