Psalm 10… About Bullies

I am sure the Psalmist didn’t have schoolyard bullies in mind when he wrote this… But as I read these words, they dredged up memories from nearly 60 years ago when I was terrorized by schoolyard bullies. Maybe David was talking about wicked men like Goliath. But where he saw Goliath, I saw my bullies. This particular devotional helped me put to bed some of the issues related to those events that occurred over half a century ago.

Here is the video link:

The audio links for Spotify and iTunes are to the right, and the transcript is below.

Intro… Let us talk of Bullies

One of the things I love most about reading Scripture is that many times whatever it is I am reading triggers a response based on something from my past. In this case, I have no doubt the wicked man/men spoken of here are enemies of David, perhaps enemies like Goliath, who mocked God and Israel. Villains of epic stature, the antagonist in an epic Biblical tale.

But what came to my mind as I read this Psalm were the bullies of my youth. I was tormented off and on by bullies from third grade through 7th grade. Because of an incredibly traumatic event that took place when I was five years old, I was scared of my own shadow, and became an easy target for the bullies that made my life in elementary school hellish.

In this Psalm, I saw the faces of my tormentors in the words of verses 2 through 11. I remember what it was like to feel like the Psalmist when he says of the victims in verse 10:

10 His victims are crushed, they collapse;
they fall under his strength.

I knew what it was like to feel crushed, completely out of control, with no strength of my own to resist. I know what it was like to be “hunted down” as the Psalmist says in verse 2, once being tricked into going behind the school where my bully was waiting to fight me.

2…the wicked man hunts down the weak,
who are caught in the schemes he devises.

This Psalm became very personal.

Let’s read the Psalm from front to back, then chat a bit.

Psalm 10

1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
who are caught in the schemes he devises.

3 He boasts about the cravings of his heart;
he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.

4 In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

5 His ways are always prosperous;
your laws are rejected by[b] him;
he sneers at all his enemies.

6 He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.”
He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.”

7 His mouth is full of lies and threats;
trouble and evil are under his tongue.

8 He lies in wait near the villages;
from ambush he murders the innocent.
His eyes watch in secret for his victims;

9 like a lion in cover he lies in wait.
He lies in wait to catch the helpless;
he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.

10 His victims are crushed, they collapse;
they fall under his strength.

11 He says to himself, “God will never notice;
he covers his face and never sees.”

12 Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
Do not forget the helpless.

13 Why does the wicked man revile God?
Why does he say to himself,
“He won’t call me to account”?

14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.

15 Break the arm of the wicked man;
call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
that would not otherwise be found out.

16 The Lord is King for ever and ever;
the nations will perish from his land.

17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that mere earthly mortals
will never again strike terror.

Difference in Perspective

Talk about a difference in perspective between then (almost 50 years ago) and now! I saw a child get bullied several years ago (the situation was taken care of) and my mind was taken back to when I was a 3rd grader and was bullied, and to another time in 7th grade when I was bullied. In both cases, the bully seemed larger than life, brimming with confidence in his power over me.

When I, as an adult, observed the scenario I mentioned in that first sentence, the one thing that stuck out was how foolish the bully appeared to me – the adult – as I watched the adolescent strut and preen and boast of his power over the victim. To himself, the bully was all-powerful, invincible. The victim cowered in fear, too afraid to fight back.

It was at that moment that I saw the truth about bullies. They are foolish. They display only fake bravery. They are not truly brave. They have no real power over final outcomes. Oh, they may win that particular skirmish at that particular time, but in truth they are powerless in the overall scheme of things. This new-found perspective was the result of time and my gaining wisdom through the years. But at the time of my being bullied, I could only operate on what I knew and saw and feared in that moment – a bully who easily dominated me. I so wished that the “Old Me” could go back to the “Young Me” and do SOMETHING… to tell the “Young Me” that the bully was not what he appeared to be.

This Psalm is all about bullies – how in the moment they are “large and in charge”. But in the larger scheme of things, in truth they are of little true significance.

I love the honesty of the Psalmist who starts with a question to God:

1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

I remember wishing there was someone who would rescue me from the bullies. I remember looking around me and seeing nobody. Where was my defender? Man o man, can I identify with this verse.

Just read this – this is a perfect description of someone who thinks that they have real power…