on Mount Carmel, 450 Baal worshipers gather together and they cry out to their God to answer with fire from heaven. But there was no response. And as you may be aware, the prophet Elijah begins to mock them. He begins to say to them, well, cry aloud. For He is a God. Either He is meditating or He is busy or He's on a journey. Or perhaps He's sleeping. He must be awakened. And so what do they do? They begin then to cry out all the more and to scream, even now cutting themselves, slashing themselves with knives, bleeding in hopes that they might coerce and manipulate Baal to respond and to send fire from heaven. But Scripture was clear. There was no voice No one answered. No one paid attention. Then Elijah prepares his sacrifice. He soaks it thoroughly with water. A trench with water all the way around it. He prays and immediately fire falls from heaven, consumes the sacrifice, the altar, the water, everything. Now honestly, In your experience as a Christian, if you this morning are here in Christ, with whom would you say in your experience that you more readily tend to identify with? Elijah? Or these Baal worshipers? Think of it. You see the wickedness in our nation abounding day by day. gaining momentum as a rock tumbling down a hill getting worse and worse. You see persecutions throughout the world going on in the church. You see ungodliness in the church rising up. Perhaps you're suffering some sort of affliction this morning. Perhaps you are troubled in some way. And you run off to your prayer meeting. And you pray and you see God's face. And in response to your many prayers and your much pleading, Silent. No fire seems to fall from heaven. And so then what must you conclude at that? Perhaps you begin to despair and you're troubled in your spirit. Perhaps you conclude, you think, well, you know, that confidence that Elijah had when he prayed, well, that was relevant to his day. That doesn't apply to today. God does not answer prayers in that way. Where is that confidence of Elijah today. What are we to do in our times of trouble that we face? Well, King David, he was no stranger to trouble and to affliction. His life was relentlessly pursued by bloodthirsty King Saul at the beginning. And then at the end, he's being pursued by Absalom, his own son. And he's fleeing for his life. David was no stranger to trouble and to affliction and to persecution. We don't know exactly what that incident is, what exact persecution is occurring here in Psalm 10, that which is giving rise to David's prayer in this psalm. But nevertheless, the Holy Spirit by these words is teaching you this morning that the covenant King is the Christian's confidence in times of trouble. The covenant King is the Christian's confidence in times of trouble. We will look at this. We will consider this under three main points this morning. First, the Christian's crisis or his trouble that he's undergoing. Second, the Christian's cry, his prayer, his plea. And finally, the Christian's confidence. So first then, the Christian's crisis. Look with me at v. 1-2. Why do you stand afar off, O Lord, Why do you hide in times of trouble? The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor. Let them be caught in the plots. which they have devised. In these first two verses, this is essentially Psalm 10 in miniature, both in the content and in the structure of these two verses. It's basically Psalm 10 itself. David has a problem, and he goes seeking the Lord to deal with this problem. And he asks God to do something about it. But there is a difficulty throughout this psalm that David is wrestling with, that he is struggling with. And what is that? It is the absence of God in the presence of affliction. The absence of God in the presence of affliction. It seems as though God is like a father that is indifferent to the cries of his child as he's suffering perhaps from some bully being beaten. The dad's busy texting, carrying on a conversation with someone else, and he's ignoring him. He seems so far off. He says, why do you hide yourself? Why are you hiding? It's as though God is purposefully hiding Himself from the issue so He doesn't have to deal with it. And David is left wondering what is going on here. Where are you in this, Lord? It's as though he's shouting in the dark, seeking to find the Lord. Where are you? Where is that justice of God? Where is that rock of refuge that you promised? Where is that high tower of safety that the righteous are to run into? Where is it? See, he's perplexed. It doesn't add up. It doesn't make sense where God is. You think of ISIS. You think of those that are suffering cruelly. You think, these are God's people that are suffering at the hands of these wicked men. Lord, where are You in all of this? David is saying, why must I be the one to seek You out wherever You might be and have to bring this matter before You and hope that You will care enough to do something about it? He sounds very much like the disciples in Mark 4. There they are in the boat. The winds and the waves are crashing against them. They feel like they're about to die. They cry out. And where is Jesus? Asleep in the boat. Teacher, don't you care that we're perishing? Do you not care? What is going on in the midst of this trouble, Lord? It seems like David is the only one that's really concerned about the justice of God in the face of this difficulty. And if you are honest, you have uttered similar words, have you not? Lord, where are you in this? Why are you not answering me? You feel alone. You feel as though God's not listening to you. He's not responding to you. You have the burden of some suffering in your life of those that you know and that seems to weigh down upon you and press down upon you. And God just seems to be on vacation somewhere. You don't know where. And you don't know when He's coming back. He didn't tell you. Now, is it the case that God is actually gone? Is He absent? What do we do with the words that God Himself speaks? I will never leave you nor forsake you. Jesus Himself, Matthew 28.20, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. David himself in Psalm 139 later would say, Lord, where can I go from Your presence? Where can I flee from Your Spirit? If I ascend into heaven, You are there. If I descend into hell, behold, You are there. You are there everywhere in between. Where can I flee from You? So which is it, David? Is he near? Or is he far off? Which is it? Perhaps he's near, but is it that he doesn't care about your struggle, about your particular affliction that you're undergoing? Is that the case? Well, we have to conclude, no, it's not. What does Jesus Himself say? God's eye is on the sparrow. He sees the sparrow fall to the ground. He knows what's going on with the furthest star, the furthest galaxy at this very moment, as well as the sparrow that falls to the ground. Jesus says, are you not worth more to your Father than many sparrows? Are you not the apple of God's eye? Indeed, He cares. But what is this appearing to be far off? Well, truly, we understand that there are times in the life of a Christian in the life of a believer where God, for good and wise and loving and holy reasons, apparently withdraws Himself from His children. Even in our Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 18 on assurance, speaks of this. That God will allow His children to go for a time, as it were, in darkness, having removed the light of His countenance upon them. It's not always sunshine, blue skies, rainbows, and butterflies flapping around. There are times that He will suffer His children to go through periods of darkness in their life. And why does the Lord do this? Well, we have to conclude that it's for good and for loving reasons. Psalm 119.68 tells us this much. Lord, You are good and You do good. All His ways are good. Romans 8.28 You work all things together for the good of those that love You, those who are called according to your purpose. There are many reasons perhaps why God might apparently withdraw Himself from His children, but we know this for certain. God is wise in all His ways. And God knows that we as His children, we are still sinners. We are still sinful. And we still have that remnant of sin clinging to us. And if He were to never remove that light, that countenance, that shining radiance of His presence from our lives, we would quickly begin to stride out on our own strength, thinking ourselves sufficient. We would think, you know, I can handle this. Jesus says, without me you can do nothing. We say, no, I can handle this. I got it. I can move forward on my own strength. I can handle this. I'm not dependent. God knows that that is not the case. You see, we depend upon Him for everything. For life, breath, and all things. Even our peace. Even our comfort. We depend upon Him for it all. And God will not allow us to go on assuming and thinking that we are self-sufficient. God will remind us of our need of Him. At least for this reason, He will do this. We think oftentimes, well, I don't need to read God's Word this morning. I don't need to pray. I don't need to plead with Him. I can handle today on my own. God is reminding us. You see, if God were never to do that, we in our faith, like unexercised spiritual muscle, we would atrophy. But God is concerned to grow and to strengthen the faith of His children. Think of the Canaanite woman who came pleading with Jesus in Matthew 15. There she is. Here's a woman who is in great distress. Her daughter is severely demon-possessed. And she comes and she is pleading with Jesus. And what does Jesus do as she's pleading with Him? Have mercy on me! Have mercy on me! And Jesus is completely ignoring her. completely ignores her. She comes and worships Him saying, Lord, have mercy on me. Help me. The disciples say, get this woman away. She's crying out after us. This is annoying. And when does Jesus say, hang on guys, that's a bit too harsh. That's a bit harsh. As He reprimands them, He says, well, you know, I was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. She continues after him, doesn't she? She doesn't conclude, well, Lord, you've insulted me. You're not hearing me. He calls her even a dog. It's not proper for me to give the children's food and give it to the dogs. She doesn't say, well, that's it. You know, I've tried. I've pursued you a few times. You haven't answered. You haven't heard my cry. You're ignoring me. That's it. I'm done. No. What does she think? She reckons on faith. Her faith is growing. She realizes, you have not left me. You're still here. She knows. You haven't sent me away. Your disciples may have said as much. You haven't sent me away. She continues to plead. She continues to cry out. Give me crumbs then. Jesus says great is your faith. This is the concern of God to grow and to build and to strengthen the faith. His children, even in the midst of our distresses. There are times when we at our house will play a game of hide and seek with my children. It's a fun game that we like to play at home. And as my children are getting older, it's getting harder and harder for me to find good spots where they can't find me. But I can still find a few places that they search for a good long while. As the game tends to go, I find a good spot. I'm hiding. The kids know initially it's very light-hearted. Daddy, where are you? The giggling, the laughter. You hear the feet pitter-pattering through the hallways as they're searching for me. But I continue to remain silent. And as the game goes on, the tone starts to change. Dad, where are you? Still silent. Dad, where are you?" And before they're about to lose it entirely, thinking, I'm actually gone and I've disappeared. I might cough. I might make some noise. I might just finally jump out and say, I was here the whole time. I was right here. I heard you. I could see you. I was watching you. You didn't know I was there. But I was there the whole time. See, God would draw us out to sense our need and our desire for Him and not our desire for the things of the world and be wrapped up with those things. He wants to draw us to Himself. And that is what He is doing in these times of affliction, certainly, when He appears to be silent. You see, David ultimately knows that God is near. He's not utterly despairing of faith. He knows God is near. That is why He is praying in the first place. That's why He's calling upon Lord Jehovah, the covenant name of God. He knows God is there. And He is seeking Him. And He is pursuing Him. So, brothers and sisters, this morning, if you are suffering some sort of affliction, some trial, some distress, You need to continue to pursue hard after God. You need to plead with Him. You need to pray and cry out to Him. You say, well, I've been doing that. I've been doing that for weeks. I've been doing that for months or years. I've been pleading with Him. I've been pursuing Him. Brother, sister, you need to pray on. You need to keep seeking Him. He says, draw near to Me. And what? I'll think about drawing near to you. Draw near to Me and I will. I will draw near to you. It's a promise. You need to pursue the Lord based on His promise. You need to pursue Him and seek Him. Christ says, He who comes after Me, I will in no wise cast out. No way possible will I cast Him out. I don't know your heart this morning, but if you are not even in Christ, you don't know what this is to have the Lord's presence in your life. You need to cry out to Him. You need to seek Him while He may be found. You need to draw near to Him and know for certain all who draw near to Him, He will never, ever cast out. You must pursue Him by faith. Those who pursue the Lord will find Him. If God appears to be absent, if He appears to be hiding, it is that He may indeed be found. And that is why He hides from His children at times. That He might be found by faith. Perhaps God's absence is because you have been absent from Him. You haven't been pursuing Him. You haven't been seeking after Him. Perhaps it isn't. Either case, pursue the Lord. Pursue Him in His Word and prayer. Seek after the Lord. As if having found Him now by faith, David lays out before Him, casts all of his cares before the Lord, knowing that the Lord cares for him now. Verses 3-11. Verse 3, he begins to lay it out before the Lord. For the wicked boasts of his heart's desire, Lord. He blesses the greedy and renounces the Lord. The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God. God is in none of his thoughts. David is now laying before the Lord his case. He's laying before the Lord his trouble and his grief and his anguish. And he's asking the Lord, now do something about this according to your promises, according to your faithfulness. And so he describes the wicked here, these wicked ones who are persecuting and harming God's people. And there's a continuous thread being woven throughout this description, and that is the volcanic heart of pride of the wicked, the overflowing pride that ends up spewing forth all their wickedness and their atrocities and the wicked things and deeds that they do against the people of God. all stems from a volcanic heart of pride. Notice verse 3, he boasts of his heart's desire. He thinks of himself that he is God. Whatever I will, whatever I desire will happen. He takes God's words to his own lips. He says, surely as I have thought, so it shall come to pass. As I have purposed, so it shall stand. I stretch forth my hand. Who's going to turn it back? He assumes of himself that he is as the divine. He can do and accomplish his own will and nothing will get in his way. This is his wicked attitude. He puts himself in place of the Lord. It says there, he blesses the greedy and he renounces the Lord. Now, he's the one who is able to determine what is right and wrong. He's going to bless that which is wrong. He's going to call what is evil good and what is good evil. He blesses the greedy. Those who pursue others. Those who overtake others in wicked ways for their own benefit. And so he puts himself in the place of the Lord. He renounces the Lord. The Lord there. The I Am. He renounces the I Am. The self-existent God. The God who depends upon no one and upon nothing. He renounces Him. Who is the Lord, he says like Pharaoh? Who is the Lord that I should obey Him? Who is the Lord that I should submit to Him? The Lord who has created my mouth with which I speak these words, has given me the breath with which I live and speak such words against Him. This heart that He has given me that beats and sustains me. Who is the Lord that I should acknowledge Him? This is the heart of the wicked. He is full of Himself. You see, His pride has puffed Him up so greatly. Verse 4, the wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God. God is in none of his thoughts. Literally, the wicked according to the height of his face He does not see God. He is so elevated above God that it would be too unworthy to look down and behold God. To consider Him, so he chases the thoughts of God out of his mind. And his pride, you see, excluded God from his thoughts. This one who is but as grass. Who is the flower of the field that passes away quickly. Is here one moment and gone the next. And yet, he thinks he is established and assured of himself. You see, he's fueled. He's intoxicated by his pride. And no doubt, verse 5, his prosperity helps him in this. It gives him assurance, he thinks, that my estimation of who I am is justified by my prosperity. The way that everything I pursue, my plans, my pursuits, my desires seem to be accomplished. Therefore, why should I consider and reflect upon myself as though perhaps I need to change. Perhaps I need to turn away. You go ahead and try to evangelize such a one. Go ahead and try to evangelize someone who is prospering in all their ways. They're going to say, you're crazy. Why should I have to change? Everything seems to be going my way. And here you are, you little Christian, you run off and you go worship and you go read your Bible Study and you go pray. And look at you. You're the one that's afflicted. You're the one that's poor. You're the one that's in distress. Perhaps your sovereign God is on my side. Maybe you're the one that needs to change. Maybe you're the one that needs to reconsider. You see, his pride has intoxicated him. He assumes that the prosperity, the way that his plots and his schemes seem to work out. has left him thinking that he is right in his estimation of himself. He convinces himself of his own existence as if he wills it. He said in his heart, I shall not be moved. I shall never be in adversity. He guarantees himself tomorrow. And when he survives a car accident or some sickness, he doesn't fall on his knees and praise and thanks God. No, he laughs it off. Of course, I wasn't going to let such thing get me down. I wasn't going to let that keep me down. After all, who am I? So he thinks. Verse 7, his mouth is full of cursing, deceit, oppression is under his tongue, trouble and iniquity. And while he speaks kind words, yet beneath them all is an evil scheme, an evil plot. He has a wicked design to take advantage of others and to benefit himself. And he doesn't think that he will ever be caught by it. Your judgments, back in v. 5, your judgments are far out of the sight. He doesn't consider them. He doesn't regard them. He has no need for them, he thinks. In v. 8-11, David now paints a picture of the wicked in their wicked acts. He paints the picture of them using three different images. An assassin, a lion, and a hunter. An assassin who lurks back in the dark alleyways. waiting to pounce upon an unsuspecting victim or a lion crouching low in the grass with his eyes dead set on helpless prey. Or as a hunter who is craftily laying a snare, laying a net to trap its prey. And God's people here described in these few verses, 8-10, God's people, there's clearly a mismatch, isn't there? Certainly, they're outmatched. The wicked are described as the ones who have the upper hand, who have the advantage. The powerful, the strong, and yet God's people are described here as the poor, as the innocent, as the helpless. Indeed, lambs among wolves, as Jesus would say, behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Don't fear. You're thinking, what? That would be the reason why I am afraid. But you see there's this mismatch in worldly terms. The wicked seem to have the upper hand. They seem to have the advantage. And this is how it is. I like to watch those TV programs with the lion or the cheetah going after a gazelle or zebra or whatever the case may be. And you look at these lions and you think their great strength, the musculature on them and their razor sharp claws and their fangs. and their speed, and their ferocity, and you think, you know, these are just bred to pull down the big oxen, the big strong cow, they could just tear them to shreds. But which is it? Which animals do they typically go after? But the young, the weak. The lame, the sickly, they seem to pick those off more frequently, don't they? Remember when I would watch these shows, my older sister would typically come in and she would just get so angry at these lions. How dare you? Why are you doing this? Why do you got to be this way? You know, here's this baby zebra. He's just minding his own business, cute, eating grass. Is that all? Is that too much to ask? Can he not eat some grass? And this lion with such rage and such anger. springs forward and pounces upon it and tears it to shreds. It crushes its life. And you're thinking, what is your problem? Why do you have to do that? Why do you have to be that way? What has this zebra ever done to you? See, but this is the case, isn't it? God's people. God's people here. The innocent. You think of those that are suffering throughout the world. What did those children being executed by ISIS, what did they ever do? They're the innocent ones, you see. There is nothing that would justify the hatred of the wicked against the innocent of God's people. And yet, it is the case, by virtue of the fact that you are with God, the darkness hates the light. Jesus said, if they persecuted Me, if they persecuted the Master, what do you expect? They will do so with the servant, with the follower. This is how it is. And so David is saying, Lord, Lord, do you not see this? Will you not do something about this? Will you not rise up and act? And all this that David lays out here before the Lord, notice what he ends on in v. 11. This description of the wicked. He gets to the end. In v. 11, he says, Lord, He has said in His heart, God is forgotten. He hides His face. He will never see. See, ultimately, David here ends his case before the Lord by calling upon God to act for His own namesake. For the sake of your own honor, Lord, will you not respond? Will you not do? You have tied yourself to your people. And as long as the wicked are persecuting the people and they seem to be gaining the advantage, they seem to be prospering in their wicked ways and schemes against you, they're laughing and they're mocking your name. Will you not for your own namesake rise up, Lord, and act and do. See, this is much like what we have in Deuteronomy 9. There, Moses prays for God's people whom He has delivered in the exodus from Egypt. He prays and what does He say there? He says, Lord, preserve them so that they might go on and live happily ever after in the promised land. Now why does He pray for the preservation of God's people? Deuteronomy 9, lest the land from which you brought us should say, because the Lord was not able to bring them to the land which He promised them. You see, Moses was concerned for the honor of God's name. In the face of enemies, he's concerned for the honor of God's name. And this is what David is saying here. In the midst of your affliction, in the midst of your trial, what are you most concerned for? Are you most concerned to be relieved of whatever suffering that you're in? Well, certainly you should pray for that. You should pray for relief. But is what is driving your prayer a desire to see God's name glorified in the midst of your trial? Lord, if it should be that You will be most honored and glorified that I continue down this path of suffering in this certain way, so be it. But Lord, the wicked are mocking You. The wicked are laughing at Your name. Your name has been put upon me. The wicked are laughing at You, Lord. For Your own name will You not rise up? See, this is David's ultimate concern. The glory of God's name. And this must be your concern and mine." And so you see that God through this affliction that David has been under and as he's been pleading with the Lord, we start to see that David is growing in his strength as he is coming before the Lord and seeking Him. And then we have in our next point here, verses 12-15 now, the Christian and his cry, the Christian's cry. Look at what he says in verses 12. Arise, O Lord. O God, lift up Your hand. Do not forget the humble. Why do the wicked renounce God? He has said in his heart, you will not require an account. But you have seen, for you observe trouble and grief, to repay it by your hand. The helpless commits himself to you. You are the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man. Seek out his wickedness until you find none." So, David here, you see, rising by faith. Now he's reminded of and he's appealing to the covenant. He calls upon the covenant name of God. Arise, O Lord, Jehovah. He uses not only the covenant name of God that would bring to mind the promises that God has made especially for His people. He also calls Him by His name, El. The all-powerful, the almighty Creator God. So according to your power and according to your promises to your people, Lord, rise up and act. This is what He is calling upon God to do. He says, don't forget the humble. You have attached yourself to them. They are your people. Don't forget them. Lift up your hand and do something. It's no good down at your side. Lift your hand up and act is what he is saying to God. Why, Lord? Why did the wicked renounce you? It's because he thinks you won't require an account. Verse 13. He's assuming that you are not going to do anything about this. So, Lord, act and do. Verse 14, while he thinks these things, Lord, You have seen. You do observe trouble and grief. Why? To repay it by Your hand, he says. This is why you are observing, Lord. So do it. So act, you see. It's much like what happened in Egypt. They're God's people. Exodus 2. They're crying out. The afflictions that they're under, they're crying out to the Lord. Remember, he remembers the covenant. He remembers the promises that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And for that reason, he heard their cry. And for that reason, he came with deliverance. So plead the promises of God to him in your prayers. So David reminds him, Lord, You are the Helper. This is Your job. This is what You do. So be the Helper. of the Fatherless Lord. Break the arm. Render them powerless, unable to lay hold of their prey and to carry out their schemes and their plots. He goes on, Lord, search out his wickedness until you find none. He's saying, turn over every rock. Leave no rock left unturned. Go through his life as though it's a landfill full of garbage and pick up each piece of trash and inspect it and pour out your wrath upon it and bring your justice to bear. You see, he's praying for no mercy. Show the wicked no mercy here. It's rather severe, isn't it? Brother and sister, do your prayers sound anything like David's here? And if they don't, why not? Why not? Psalm 10 is the warrant for us to pray accordingly. Lord, if You will not convert them. Lord, if You will not change their hearts. Lord, destroy them. Destroy their plots. Destroy their schemes. Lord, they are attacking Your bride. What husband here would not defend his wife if his wife was being attacked? Would he just sort of whistle and oh well? This is your bride, Lord. Your people, your church, Lord, rise up and act. Turn their schemes and the plots of the wicked against them. And let your people be set free as a bird from a trap. Notice that in these pleas of David, he's not wrestling with the sovereignty issue of God. I think perhaps sometimes in our minds we tend to have some logical hang-up in our minds. We think, well, the Lord is sovereign over all things. And so, for that reason, I don't know how my prayers are actually going to do anything. He's established what will be. He has seen the end from the beginning. He has decreed whatsoever comes to pass. So what will my prayers ultimately do? is David saying, well, you know, it might just be the case that we just ought to, you know, we deserve this suffering or we need to go through this, so maybe I won't bother praying these things. This is not at all how David is praying, is it? He's praying fervently. You see, there's no logical hang up in David's mind. He knows the Lord is sovereign over all things. He knows that God has sovereignly decreed even all the acts of the wicked. But he also knows that God promises to work his sovereign decree through the prayers of his people. And we don't have to sit here and wonder in our minds, how is God going to do this? We don't have to wonder how it might all work. We just need to get praying. We need to be praying according to God's Word, according to what He lays out for us to pray about. And we can find out later what God's sovereign plan was. We need to be praying and pursuing God in prayer faithfully according to His promises. This is what David does. He doesn't wonder. He knows the Lord is sovereign over all things and that is the reason why he is praying. He approaches the Lord boldly. Notice how he approaches the Lord in prayer. This is very interesting to me. He gives the Lord commandments here. He says, in the Hebrew, these are command forms of the words. Arise, O Lord. Lift up Your hand. Break the arm of the wicked. Seek out His wickedness. These are commands. These are commands. Now where in the world does He get the warrant to utter such things? Why can he say these things? Well, indeed, it's not as though he's kicking down the door and making his requests and God is his slave and he needs to listen up and do as David tells him to do. But where does David get the warrant to say such things to God? To call upon Him to do this? He gets it from God's Word. He is praying in accordance with God's will. The destruction of the wicked, the destruction of their schemes and their plots against God's people is God's will. I see this throughout the Psalms. We read a Psalm in the morning, my family and I, we go through the Psalms on a cycle. And time and time again, I find myself repeating myself time and time again. Here's David again, calling upon God. to destroy the wicked. And here's David again calling upon God to destroy the plots and the schemes of the wicked. It's all throughout the Psalms. It's even in the Lord's Prayer, isn't it? Thy kingdom come. The destruction of the wicked and the kingdom of darkness is part of God's will. And we should be praying as God's people for these very things. You see, brothers and sisters, we don't pray enough this way, I believe. We need to be committed to praying and to pleading with God these very things. The world seems to advance. The wicked seem to advance. And what do we do as Christians? We tend to wring our hands and fret and get worried and concerned instead of falling to our knees. Where is that full-on frontal assault in prayer? We must be committed to this as God's people. You see, David, throughout this. You see that God has been strengthening him. His tone is changing. Now as we come to the last few verses here, we see the source of this growing confidence that we have found in the words of David here. Verse 16, the Lord is King forever and ever. The nations have perished. out of His land. Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble. You will prepare their heart. You will cause Your ear to hear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of earth may oppress no more." Notice the amazing change that we see here in David. From the beginning, why do you stand afar off, O Lord? Why do you hide in times of trouble? Now he's saying the Lord is King forever and ever. You see, he is riveted upon, His eyes are fixed upon now the Lord in His eternal throne reigning and ruling over all things. Unshakable confidence now He has these few verses later. Having come to the Lord and pleading with Him. It's the eternal kingship of the Lord that is the foundation of His confidence even in the midst of this persecution. You see, He sees the workings of men, the schemes and the plots of the wicked around Him. But now his eyes are riveted upon the Lord sitting on an eternal throne. And it is as though all their schemes and their plots have been swept away and they are all moved away and they are all gone, whisked away. And he sees the Lord sitting on His eternal throne reigning and ruling for trillions of years and trillions and trillions of years beyond that throughout eternity. And all the schemes and the plots are now silent. The wicked are silent. The Lord is reigning and ruling forever. And it's just as good as they have indeed perished. He says the nations have perished out of His land. Now certainly at that time, the wicked men were still around. But David, in light of the eternal reign of God, this momentary affliction of these wicked, That's all it is. Momentary. And they're gone and they're swept away. And he has certainty in the Lord. He sees how God has used the plots and the schemes of the wicked even for their own undoing and for the advancement of the kingdom of God. and seeing such confidence that he has in the Lord's reign. Look, he says in verse 17, Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble. You will prepare. You will study. You will establish their heart. They won't be tossed to and fro. They won't be concerned and worried and troubled. You will fix them steadfast. For you will cause your ear to hear and you will do justice. You see, He knows these things for certain. Unshakable confidence in the reign of the Lord. He knows the Lord is the Father and the Defender of His people and that He will not deny Himself. That He will deliver His people. It's as though the blinders from David's eyes have been removed. It's like a kid who sees his father go off to work. The father goes off in the morning and comes back in the evening. And the kid just sees the father driving away and driving home. And what has he done all day? Probably not much. Until the kid goes with the father to work and sees that the dad had been busy the whole time. And this is David's experience here. He now sees the Lord has been working all along. The Lord has been present all along. He's been watching the ways of the wicked all along. He's not missed one of them. Nothing has escaped his gaze. He is working all things together perfectly. And so David calls on God to act according to the righteousness that David has, the innocence that David has, that he possesses by faith that has been granted to him. And he's asking the Lord to act accordingly and to bring His justice to bear and to do justice for His people. And you, with the same confidence, if you are in Christ, with the same confidence, you can call upon your covenant eternal King to act justly on your behalf. You see, what we have here throughout this psalm before us is what we find in Philippians. There where Paul says to the church, be anxious for nothing. But in everything, even in trouble, in times of affliction and persecution, in everything, with thanksgiving, supplication, make your requests known before God and what? The peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus. David has done that very thing. He was in a time of trouble. He came to the Lord and He made His request known before God. And look, by the time we get to the end, He is at peace and He is steady and He is assured of the certain reign of the Lord on His behalf. Westminster Chord of Catechism 26 says, How does Christ execute the office of a king? Christ executes the office of a king in subduing us to Himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all of His and our enemies. Just like King David The Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings. He was no stranger to trouble and to affliction, was He? His life was relentlessly pursued, wasn't it? In the dark alleyways, the innocent was being plotted against. And they came to Him, didn't they? And they ensnared Him, didn't they? And they led Him away, the innocent, the weak, the helpless. They put Him upon a cross. And there when He was hanging upon the cross, what did He pray? My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hide in times of trouble? The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor. The Lord is the innocent One. And when He hung there upon the cross, those three hours of silence, was the Father near to Him? No. The mercies of God had been removed. And He knew what it was to be forsaken of the Lord, truly, so that you, dear Christian, so that you will never truly know what it is to be forsaken of the Lord, so that He will never truly be far from you, so that He could be Emmanuel, God, with us. And so, when the wicked seem to advance, and when the troubles come, and when the world and the flesh and the devil seem to have the upper hand in your life, don't set your eyes upon those things. Turn your eyes to the covenant King, the eternal King, and cry out to Him who is near to you at all times. And at last, He will send fire from heaven and conquer all of His and your enemies. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, We do give You praise and thanksgiving. For who are we, Lord? That the eternal King of kings and the Lord of lords, the God of glory should be our God. That You have bound Yourself to us by Your covenant. You have made us to be Your people and You have become our God. We thank You, Father, that in all things we can have confidence knowing that You fight for us, that You are with us, and that indeed You reign forever and ever for Your glory and for our good and that we are among Your people. We give You praise and thanksgiving for the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered in our place so that we would never know what it is as Your people to be truly forsaken as He was forsaken on our behalf. We give You praise and thanksgiving this day through Jesus Christ, Amen.