The Humble Appeal to the Ear of God

By Jeremy Bell

God gives so much freedom to people, the expressions of honoring Him are endlessly creative. Because of the broken relationship with Him in this existence, there is often disagreement about those expressions. It is important to remember that there are many agreements about God among all believers. Expressions of teaching, reproof, correction, training, and application may vary, but the fundamental truths are agreed on. When believers remember and imitate the humble Jesus as their source of truth and the fundamentals of what this means, they are more easily united in celebrating their diverse expressions. Teaching, reproof, correction, and training can be administered in love.

In Psalm 10 there is support that the human condition in sin is desperate, and there is hope for the humble. Of these things all Christians agree. Consider the following foundational truth, it’s support in this Psalm, and then read the Psalm in context.

[ Psalm 10 ]

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

In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak.
They are caught in the schemes that they devise.

For the wicked boasts of his heart’s cravings.
He blesses the greedy and condemns Yahweh.
The wicked, in the pride of his face,
has no room in his thoughts for God.

His ways are prosperous at all times.
He is arrogant, and your laws are far from his sight.
As for all his adversaries, he sneers at them.
He says in his heart, “I shall not be shaken.
For generations I shall have no trouble.”

His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and oppression.
Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.

He lies in wait near the villages.
From ambushes, he murders the innocent.
His eyes are secretly set against the helpless.
He lurks in secret as a lion in his ambush.
He lies in wait to catch the helpless.
He catches the helpless when he draws him in his net.

The helpless are crushed.
They collapse.
They fall under his strength.

He says in his heart, “God has forgotten.
He hides his face.
He will never see it.”

Arise, Yahweh!
God, lift up your hand!
Don’t forget the helpless.

Why does the wicked person condemn God,
and say in his heart, “God won’t call me into account?”

But you do see trouble and grief.
You consider it to take it into your hand.
You help the victim and the fatherless.

Break the arm of the wicked.
As for the evil man, seek out his wickedness until you find none.

Yahweh is King forever and ever!
The nations will perish out of his land.
Yahweh, you have heard the desire of the humble.
You will prepare their heart.
You will cause your ear to hear,
to judge the fatherless and the oppressed,
that man who is of the earth may terrify no more.

Paul references this Psalm. Read how the New Testament writer gives revelation to more specific meaning to the Old Testament passage.

[ Romans 3: 10 – 18 ]

As it is written,

“There is no one righteous;
no, not one.
There is no one who understands.
There is no one who seeks after God.
They have all turned away.
They have together become unprofitable.
There is no one who does good,
no, not so much as one.”
“Their throat is an open tomb.
With their tongues they have used deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood.
Destruction and misery are in their ways.
The way of peace, they haven’t known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

A few verses later, Paul continues.

[ Romans 3: 21 – 27a ]

But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance; to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time; that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.

Where then is the boasting? It is excluded.

Bad News for All

The Fatherless and oppressed are in the same position with the same options as the wealthy, wicked, and prosperous. All are unrighteous, no one seeks after God. Every person ever born from King to diseased outcast is headed for the grave and there is nothing they can do to stop it. The cost of unrighteousness does not stop at the grave, in fact, experiencing the entirety of the death sentence does not begin until then. Jesus describes the punishment as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. It is terrible news for anyone who is unrighteous, which is everyone.

God’s News

How can this terrible, impartial news bring hope? Because God has reached out. God hears the cry of the fatherless, the widow, and the oppressed. He responds to the needy and the humble. God sent His son. There isn’t any work or payment any person can bring to command God’s help and salvation. There is equal opportunity for all, not equal outcome. Good may be done in this broken world; none of it has any meaning with God, or for eternal life, without Him. He reaches out, people respond or don’t, only He can repair the relationship between Himself and people.

Good News for Some

God reached out and has told us that by faith in His son, by His grace, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, anyone can have eternal life. Because of what His son accomplished, the debt and punishment for unrighteousness has been paid and righteousness has been credited to the believer. The humble have broken hearts, ready for healing and salvation. The strong and wicked resist it. Rejoice in a heart of flesh that knows it needs a God for deliverance. Not because it feels good to be broken, but because God responds. Rejoicing in Jesus in all circumstances is rejoicing in the Nature of Joy.

Resources and Notes

All scripture in this article is from the WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE (WEB). The World English Bible (WEB) is a Public Domain (no copyright) Modern English translation of the Holy Bible. The World English Bible is based on the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible first published in 1901, the Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensa Old Testament, and the Greek Majority Text New Testament.

For more related to this blog, check out my post on Practical Life Strategy Steps Created in Root Cause Abundance.

This is a reliable translation, but it is always good to read other translations as well. Biblegateway.com has a multitude of translations to read from. It is a great resource.

Biblehub.com hosts multiple translations, commentaries, and so much more. Great research can be done on this platform.

One more I use regularly is Gotquestions.org. This is a great site to answer questions and find threads of related questions.

There are many resources. The key is that God wants relationship directly with you, the individual. His primary source for revealing who He is and growing in intimacy is His word, the scriptures. Don’t just read for instruction. Analyze and read for understanding. Explore, ask questions, and be transformed in Jesus every moment you possibly can. There is no dispute this is a key desire of God. People are brough to the Father, in the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This… This is the Nature of Joy.

Jeremy is an author, musician, and business intelligence manager. His mission is to equip and encourage those in Christ, to equip and encourage others in Christ. Jesus, Christ, is the Nature of Joy and melody of the heart. Jeremy unites business analytics (business intelligence), songs, and Scripture for Christian living in the power of the Holy Spirit.