Break his Arm God!

Something I noticed in Psalms 10 is one of what I call the "difficult verses" of the Bible. These are verses that don't seem to match up with our notion of a loving God or a God who is the embodiment of morality. Of course these shouldn't be difficult verses for Christians because they should accept God as He is presented throughout the Word and where they might see something that is contrary to our notion of who He is they should expand their notion. But, they are difficult in the sense that they might trip up a believer in trying to explain God to the unbelieving. While no Christian can have definitive authority on God because no man can have definitive authority on God, I have always thought about these verses and what I would say if confronted by someone who does not believe on one of these verses. So in my studies I will make note of the difficult verses and offer some thoughts on them.

Psalm 10:15

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

Here we have a Psalmist calling for the loving God to 'break the arm' of someone. That's not very nice. So how is it reconciled with a loving God. Firstly, I don't know. Secondly, I don't have authoritative answers; that is not my claim here. These are just my thoughts.

My first thought is that it is in line with God's embodiment of justice. As a judge, God is within his rights to break the arm of the wicked man who has been oppressing, murdering, robbing and waylaying the weak. But, is that an effective way of ministering to someone seeking answers about God? Am I going to be able to win the lost soul to Christ by explaining that because God is perfect and can't stand sin He must crush it? Well, firstly I don't think it's my duty to win the lost soul to Christ and if I'm trying to do that then I'm being a bit presumptuous in my duties as a Christian. I think that Christians who are out to win souls for Christ are either misguided and believe too much in their own importance in God's work of saving souls or are prideful or are simply using old language that is ineffective in the post-modern age. It doesn't mean that God isn't using them or blessing them, only that God is using them in spite of them. But, I'm not in a position to criticize anyone so I apologize if that is the outcome. I just think that it's our duty as Christians to present the Gospel, not necessarily sugar coat it, but also not try and scare beings into submission either. God is absolute justice. God is the absolute judge. And, like earthly judges who mete out justice, God will level justice in the forms of punishment and He may break the arm of the wicked in doing so.

Another thought was that the Psalmist is imperfect and calling for earthly justice from a divine judge. I remember hearing someone once, I forget who, explained much of what we see as hard or difficult verses in the Old Testament as pointing to the fallibility of the human author. This may be the case. Certainly even the disciples of Jesus were looking for earthly justice against the Romans when Jesus was looking to further the kingdom of Heaven. They never could quite get into their heads what that kingdom was supposed to be and how the Romans could still be in charge if Jesus was establishing it. But, I must admit that I am uncomfortable with this notion. It may be the right answer, but it clashes with a belief I have in a strong Scriptures. But, I'll develop this further at a later point because I've got to run here in a second. And, undoubtedly this thought will pop into my head again when I stumble across another difficult verse because whoever I heard say something like this must have said it at a time when I was impressionable because it's left a lasting lineage in my line of thought.

The last thought I had simply came from the text itself. The beginning of the chapter is describing someone or some persons that are running afoul and oppressing those weaker than himself. The chapter ends with a declaration of God being above anyone with earthly power. "The Lord is King forever and ever, the nations will perish from his land. You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them and you listen to their cry; defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror" (Psalm 10:16-18). In this context, the Psalmist is asking the defender (God) to break the arm of the oppressive one. It might sound harsh, but some strong arms need some strong arming. In this way, God is defending those who cannot offer a defense themselves and defense is sometimes necessarily harsh. Again, this might not be the answer, but it was the thought that most stuck with me.