MONDAY 18th
Psalm 10
NIV (v4) – ‘In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.’
ESV (v4) – ‘In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”’
I also include today from two other translations:
NET (v4) – ‘The wicked man is so arrogant he always thinks, “God won’t hold me accountable; he doesn’t care.”’
CSB (v4) – ‘In all his scheming, the wicked person arrogantly thinks, “There’s no accountability, since there’s no God.”’
In this Psalm, the psalmist is making some points about the wicked and how they seemingly seem to prosper, with no regard whatsoever for who they may hurt, destroy or steam roller over in their pursuit of earthly gain. He highlights amongst other things their ‘arrogance’ that is their attitude of ‘I don’t care’ for even God does not care. The arrogant man in his pursuit dares to think or believe that God does not care, I can do whatever I like, and I will get away with it. Before we look at this further I have included the text from some extra translations today for on the surface it would seem that the different translations are saying different things about the arrogant person and their belief in God. The NIV suggests he has no room for God, the ESV & CSB suggests he thinks that there is no God, the NET suggests that he thinks it is a simple case of ‘so what, God doesn’t care’.
The NET Bible notes for this verse says, ‘Hebrew – “the wicked [one], according to the height of his nose, he does not seek, there is no God, all his thoughts.” The phrase “height of his nose” probably refers to an arrogant or snooty attitude; it likely pictures one with his nose turned upward toward the sky in pride. One could take the “wicked” as the subject of the negated verb “seek,” in which case the point is that the wicked do not “seek” God. The translation assumes that this statement, along with “there is no God,” is what the wicked man thinks to himself. In this case God is the subject of the verb “seek,” and the point is that God will not hold the wicked man accountable for his actions. Verse 13 strongly favours this interpretation. The statement “there is no God” is not a philosophical assertion that God does not exist, but rather a confident affirmation that he is unconcerned about how men live morally and ethically (see v. 11).’ (END OF QUOTE) The CSB notes for here say, ‘The arrogance of the wicked one climaxes in a statement denying God’s existence. This is not metaphysical atheism, in which there is absolute unbelief in God’s existence, but practical atheism, which denies that God pays any attention to what people are doing.’ (END OF QUOTE)
These notes help us to understand what the different translations are all saying, the arrogant acts as if there is no God, but how foolish! For we know what Scripture has to say, that although it would seem that God doesn’t care and he seems to allow the wicked to prosper, in reality he does care, and the day is coming when an account will have to be given, when all that man has done will come under the scrutiny of the Judge of the earth and whatever verdict he gives will be final, there will be no option of a retrial. And although the arrogant seem to be getting away with it, their actions will catch up with them unless they come to a place of genuine repentance and conversion. (See Psalm 1:6b, Ecclesiastes 12:14, Acts17:31, Romans 2:16, Revelation 20:12)
It may seem odd in our devotions to be dealing with the arrogant and wicked but we need to remind ourselves that such were we before we came to the Cross, and such could we still be if God’s grace hadn’t met with us and transformed us, but we must not become complacent thinking that now I am saved all will be well, for we need to beware that we do not become arrogant and consider ourselves as being any better, for apart from the grace of God we too would stand before the judge of the world, condemned and damned to a lost eternity. I think that when we consider these things, we need to pray for ourselves to be kept in the grace of God, but also to pray for the arrogant, that their seeming uncaring attitude towards the God who really does care will change and their hearts will be opened up to the wonder of his eternal love and grace. And maybe, even as believers we think that there may be things we can get away with, but God sees all things and one day we will all have to give account for the things we have done. (Romans 14:10,12, Hebrews 4:13)